Originally Posted by
invisiblehand
Where is Diane anyway? She was online when I first posted the questions.
Do drivers of tractors face the same penalties from auto collisions as cyclists? How does your answer effect your conclusion?
A car/tractor wreck can easily turn a tractor on it's side, with, potentially, the above mentioned results to the operator.
Something that often happens is that an on-coming driver will fixate on the tractor and drift toward it. This is a problem. It's a bigger problem when the tractor has a wide implement such as a 10' disk harrow on the back. The tractor driver can't turn away from the car without swinging the harrow into the on-coming lane.
This happened here some time back. On-coming driver fixated on the tractor and started drifting toward it. Tractor driver, rather than risk rolling his tractor in a collision, had the presence of mind to slam his harrow into the pavement. Hard on the tractor, harrow and pavement, but probably saved his life. Totalled the Cadillac. The woman driving it was dead-on-scene and found to be at fault for driving in the on-coming lane.
All pneumatic tires are affected similarly by road debris. If it's something that pierces the tire, the tire goes flat. Fixing a flat on a bicycle is child's play compared to fixing a flat on a tractor, especially if you have a CO2 inflator handy.