Huge holdup on M/way (accident at Takanini 11:00am today) B train through wire barrier into oncoming traffic. Anyway huge queues heading Sth, I get to Hill Rd o/head bridge Manurewa. and in the middle lane is a John Deere tractor with a very wide farm type implement trailer unit in tow. I'm thinking M/way minimum speed is 80kmph (hence the 50cc scooter restriction) there is noway that tractor is going to be doing 80kmh especially with what it was towing. It definitely was mowing berms etc., what's the regulations s on this?
petal_91,
Feb 27, 3:00pm
Here is the rule that covers speed on motorways. There isn't a minimum speed as such, just a safety guideline type of thing. The rule certainly precludes mopeds which cannot exceed 50lm/h, and probably tractors which have a speed limted by law of 40km/h:
2.12 Motorways
(1) A driver must not enter a motorway except at an opportunity and at a speed that will place the driver correctly in the stream of traffic without danger to any other user of the motorway.
Reading further on the subject it seems the 40km/h speed limit for tractors only applies to units under 18,000kG when driven by someone with just a car license. With the appropriate driver's license and registration for the vehicle, you can legally exceed 40km/h in a tractor and conceivably could drive it on the motorway.
brapbrap8,
Feb 27, 4:40pm
Most tractors are limited to 40km/h, a few can do 50km/h and the odd one can do close to 70km/h. I have driven my tractor on SH1 between Taupiri and Huntly a few times nowhere to pull over between taupiri and the passing lanes so I'm sure I frustrate quite a few people. Not much I can do about that though!
petal_91,
Feb 27, 4:50pm
70km/h is arguably a sufficient safe speed for the motorway I would suggest.
elect70,
Feb 27, 6:27pm
Only restriction is on times allowed on main arterial routes , ie not in peak hours .
henderson_guy,
Feb 27, 7:07pm
I remember years ago on motorway patrol a tractor was pulled over at night. He was allowed on the motorway as long as he could maintain at least 40km/h, the reason he was pulled up was that he had no red light on the back of his harrows and it was dark. Imagine running into that!
gunhand,
Feb 27, 7:13pm
Wouldn't a tractor be going just as fast as everything else on the motorways though? bout 0 to 30kph?
grangies,
Feb 27, 7:26pm
That's actually quite awesome.
mrcat1,
Feb 27, 7:30pm
Tractors aren't limited by law to 40kmh, you will find most only have a 40kmh gearbox, a JCB Fastrac can do about 70-80kmh and a Cat Challenger tracked tractor can do 55-60kmh on the road, one that I know of has even been given a speeding ticket for doing 60 in a 50 km area. I owned a Case Front end loader/ backhoe machine and I drove it from Hamilton to Tauranga on the road over the Kaimais and used to drive it to jobs around Tauranga and the mount quite often including at night with all its lights going.
tamarillo,
Feb 27, 8:23pm
You said it was mowing, so maybe it was mowing side of motorway and need to use road in some bits? Can't think how else they could that to be fair on them.
jmma,
Feb 27, 8:30pm
I think he meant to say "WASN"T mowing"
gabbysnana,
Feb 28, 7:10am
and the speed on the motorway is 100. you need to read further and the body of the legislation.
poppy62,
Feb 28, 7:20am
Yes, sorry Tamtom was, was meant to be wasn't. He was in the middle lane stuck out like a sore thumb and with so many complaints about slow drivers I doubt this rig would have got the thumbs up. Expressways and Highways have a different set of rules to Motorways and I assumed that if you couldn't do at least 80kph on a motorway yo were not allowed to use it.
pauldw,
Feb 28, 9:16am
If it was working it would be in convoy with so many traffic management vehicles you wouldn't need a B train accident to slow everything down. If everything is crawling why worry about upper limit speeds, did the tractor keep going after the accident or did it exit somewhere?
bashfulbro,
Feb 28, 10:25am
The maximum width, allowed on the Auckland Motorway is 3.10 metres, if he was wider than that, he should not have been there.
bashfulbro,
Feb 28, 10:34am
On the subject of that truck & trailer that went through barrier, that driver must have showed some real skills to keep from killing anyone coming the other way, he went through the wire, then managed to keep on the grass middle strip till he stopped it. no easy task
poppy62,
Feb 28, 11:09am
How much skill do you need to stay on your own side of the M/way and if he/she had been travelling at a safe distance and defensive driving there would have been no need to go through the barrier in the first place. I reckon that he/she will now be staying clear of the outside lane anyway and thanking their lucky stars that it wasn't a fatal.
poppy62,
Feb 28, 11:12am
No Paul, (typing error) Tractor (one of those big John Deere ones)was in middle lane held up in the queues. I dare say he himself would be causing queues once clear of the accident.
mrcat1,
Feb 28, 1:19pm
Why? I do know the speed limit on a motorway is 100kmh, I wasn't commenting on a motorway, your the one doing that.
afer_daily,
Feb 28, 4:51pm
that truck and trailer unit blew a right front tyre / so stick that in your pipe and smoke it poppy62 !
gabbysnana,
May 24, 2:01am
duh
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