Everyone must do their bit to cut rural road accident rate

Rural roads are generally three times more dangerous than urban roads, but this risk is increased further during harvest time when tractors are more active on the roads and often travelling at slower speeds, turning in and out of fields.

Victoria Walton, motor insurance specialist at rural insurer NFU Mutual, says: "On average we see a 60 per cent increase in third party accidents involving tractors during harvest time compared to other months of the year.

"Accidents often occur when tractors slow down before turning right and impatient following drivers try to overtake without realising that the tractor is about to move across the road, or that another car is coming towards them. Our claims data reveals that one-third of serious accidents involved one party turning right."

Statistics reveal that rural roads are the most dangerous per mile travelled for every type of road user.

The same statistics indicate that car occupants are almost twice as likely to be killed on a rural road than an urban one, motorcyclists more than twice as likely and cyclists more than three times as likely.

The suggested solution to high death and accident rates is lower speed limits.

You never know when you are going to meet the unexpected round the next bend, such as a herd of dairy cows crossing the road after milking, as happened a fortnight ago to the unfortunate driver of a Vauxhall Vectra on the A51 between Stone and Nantwich, Staffordshire.

The farmer was taking the cattle across the A51 outside his farm when the car exited a 50mph zone just up the road and ploughed right through the middle of the herd. The end result was two cows killed outright, and four of the most badly hit cows shot by a vet.

Apart from the unexpected, slow-moving farm traffic on narrow rural roads can be very frustrating.

That's made worse by the dramatic increase in the use of contractors, who often move from farm to farm in convoys.

Such convoys, such as a silage-making team, can travel considerable distances between farms, and often have long backlogs of traffic behind them. Although modern tractors are faster than they used to be, most struggle to do 40mph. The more considerate pull into a lay-by or gateway and let everyone get past. Sadly, with tractor drivers under increasing pressure to get from one job to the next as quickly as possible, that courtesy seems to be dying out.

Frustration is the main killer on our quiet rural roads. It's often tempting, but usually unwise, to attempt to overtake on short stretches of the road with limited visibility, even if you know the road well.

The A76 connects Kilmarnock to Dumfries, and the stretch that runs from New Cumnock down through the Nith valley is notoriously dangerous, despite years of improvements. Oddly enough, I bet statistics would reveal that locals are more likely to be killed in accidents on it than strangers. It's almost as if their intimate knowledge of the road leads to them making reckless decisions that strangers would not even contemplate.

Another big problem at this time of year is often mud on the roads, and we could face that again if the weather changes for the worse and the dry land becomes sodden again.

Wet soil and muck from tractors and trailers carting maize silage, or potatoes and other root crops, as well as spreading slurry or muck on the land soon leaves roads covered in mud - and that is an offence under the Highways Act.

It is the legal responsibility of the farmer to ensure that every precaution is taken to avoid mud being carried off fields and deposited on roads. That is nigh on impossible in many cases, so the farmers or contractors involved should use proper signage to alert other road users of the danger, and any mud or muck on the road should be removed as soon as practical, or at least at the end of the working day. Fortunately there is good equipment available to mechanically sweep up the roads.

The key message is to take extra care when driving on our country roads.