Safer vehicles and roads: an understanding of the use of agricultural vehicles on our roads

This presentation will cover the use of agricultural vehicles on the roads, the machines, legislation and compliance issues. It will also cover issues with trailers, many of which are used within the rural sector - not just for farming, but also equine and other uses.

Farming has the highest death rate of any industry, it should then come as no surprise that there are issues with maintenance and risk taking. No MOT in a lifetime and a car licence only required for some of the largest vehicles on the roads!

Dan Cox contends that across the UK local authorities and police ‘don’t have any understanding’ of these issues.


Dan Cox, Road Safety Officer, Avon & Somerset Police

Dan Cox was brought up driving farm machinery and trained as an agricultural engineer. He joined the police service in 1997, traffic and firearms in 2003. He joined the Roads Policing Unit in 2006, became a forensic vehicle examiner, VIP motorcyclist and TPaC advisior. He is the national lead for the police on the use of farm vehicles and trailers.

In 2019 Dan was given a new role as the Road Safety Officer for Avon and Somerset Police.

Dan says: “If we want immediate change for the better and a significant reduction in KSI figures, we need to be different and more positive than at present. The road safety community lacks the essence of immediate results, which is in the mind of every officer picking up those killed and knocking on doors. We cannot wait years to see how research goes, can we?”