Farm Contractors Ireland (FCI) met officials from the Department of Transport last week to discuss the proposals for changes to legislation regarding agricultural tractor and trailer use on the public road.
The contractors were told that the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is proposing that tractors and trailers, that are technically capable, may operate at higher weights than those originally proposed in 2009, but only when engaged in agricultural activities.
The proposed weight increases will depend on a number of factors, including the capacity of the tractor, the type of coupling used to hitch it to the tractor, the number of axles and their spacing on the trailer. Agricultural trailer weights may be up to 28 tonnes if used with the largest tri-axle trailer axle spacing. It appears that ball and spoon-type hitches will be getting a greater load capacity across all axle arrangements.
The Department is understood to be close to finalising the necessary Statutory Instruments on areas such as weights, lighting, couplings, dimensions, side guard protection and speed discs for agricultural tractor trailers, for the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadakar, to sign.
Timmy O’Brien, chairman of FCI, said that while the increased weights were welcome, there will be a considerable cost on contractors.
Tractor trailer owners will have to carry out significant modifications to trailers to reach the maximum legal load weights. These modifications may include the use of ball and spoon hitches and changing the axle spacing distance on the trailers.
Most trailer manufacturers will require using a steering rear axle in the tandem or tri-axle design to extend the axle spacing needed to reach the maximum load capacity.
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