Following the publication of the new regulations for the use of tractors and farm machinery on public roads, the Irish Farmers Journal has teamed up with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to provide you with answers to queries that you may have about the changes.

If you have a question regarding the regulations, please email it to mmoroney@farmersjournal.ie and we will endeavour to answer it in the Journal.

Questions will only be answered by means of replies published in the Journal and on the Journal website www.farmersjournal.ie, so get your queries in to us as soon as possible.

Q I have a 3m mounted one-pass power harrow and seeder unit and I also operate a 3m trailed mower. Will I be able to continue to use them on the road after 1 January 2016 as they are both wider than the 2.55m and 100mm each side extension? Will there be a harvest derogation on widths during harvest time that there was in the past? And if not, what are the options when using these machines on public roads?

A. Yes. An exemption from compliance with the 2.55m default maximum width requirement applicable to agricultural trailers has been included for any equipment mounted on a tractor’s three-point linkage, including equipment used for grass-cutting, hedge-trimming or forestry operations being transported during the daytime. This exemption applies all year round. However, if such equipment is being transported at nighttime, it must comply with the requirements of the lighting regulations.

If such equipment obscures the lights fitted to your tractor, it must itself be fitted with a lighting board, displaying the required lighting.

Note that the term “fully mounted agricultural equipment” is defined in the regulations as interchangeable machinery that is fully raised from the ground or that cannot articulate around a vertical axis to the agricultural tractor or self-propelled agricultural machine to which it is attached, i.e. it includes harrows, one-pass systems etc., that are mounted on a tractor’s three-point linkage.

Q I have a tractor which is capable by design of exceeding 40km/h and which is equipped with a hydraulic braking system. My trailer is also equipped with a hydraulic braking system. Will I be able to continue using this tractor and trailer combination at speeds exceeding 40km/h?

A. Yes, but both the tractor and trailer will have to satisfy the minimum braking performance criteria required for operation at speeds exceeding 40km/h, i.e. the tractor must be equipped with service, emergency and parking brakes with efficiencies of at least 45%, 22.5% and 16%, respectively, and the trailer must be equipped with service, breakaway and parking brakes with efficiencies of at least 45%, 13.5% and 16%, respectively.

The regulations state that new trailers manufactured from 1 January 2016, which are designed to be drawn at speeds exceeding 40km/h, must be fitted with pneumatic braking systems whether or not a hydraulic braking system is also fitted.

Therefore, if purchasing a new trailer from 1 January 2016 that you wish to be able to draw behind your existing hydraulically braked tractor at speeds exceeding 40km/h, you have two options:

  • 1) Purchase a trailer equipped with a pneumatic braking system only and a hydraulic to pneumatic brake conversion kit for your tractor; or
  • 2) Purchase a trailer equipped with both hydraulic and pneumatic braking systems and use the hydraulic braking system when the trailer is being drawn by a tractor equipped with a hydraulic braking system and the pneumatic braking system while it is being drawn by a tractor equipped with a pneumatic braking system.

    • Note that both options will enable you to continue to operate at speeds exceeding 40km/h using your existing tractor.

    However, if deciding on the second option, we would advise that before purchasing the trailer, you confirm with the manufacturer or their authorised distributor that when the hydraulic braking system is in use, it will also satisfy the minimum braking performance criteria necessary for operation at speeds exceeding 40km/h.