1985 Suzuki AX100 v Tractor - near miss

6 months ago
7

A fabulous day out running some errands in the sunshine, after a few wet and windy days earlier in the week.
Firstly, I'm glad I caught this on camera, as it has allowed me to review what happened, so that I can learn from what I could have done better.

Secondly, I don't know what the tractor drivers intentions were. I guess he was either turning across me into the driveway on the left, saw me at the last second, then took evasive action or he was maneuvering around an obstacle on the right-hand side and was unaware of me. I suspect it was the latter, as when I beeped the horn, he suddenly looked around at me and had a very surprised look on his face.

I also raised my right hand, it wasn't a "negative hand gesture", but was more of a "hey I'm here" kind of wave. Due to inexperience, I completely lost track of what gear I was in and stalled the engine as I went to pull away!

I was traveling at just over 80km/h, lights on and no traffic behind me. I saw the tractor in plenty of time and did back off the throttle as I approached, however looking at the video, I didn't loose too much road speed. I should have slowed a bit sooner and maybe changed down a gear. I should have covered the front brake as I approached, as I can see my reaction time on the video was a second or more before applying the front brake. I should have been able to come to a complete stop before the tractor, rather than alongside it. Stopping where I did, put me at risk from being hit by the mower, if the tractor turned further to the right.

I'm happy to be able to chalk this up to experience and see where I can improve things.

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