Stalker has some sympathy with farmers protesting about the new motorway designation for some roads in the south.
The reclassification of the roads means that farmers are forced off some new bypasses, and forced to drive through towns that are ill equipped to deal with bulky, slow-moving agricultural traffic.
The case in point is Arklow, Co Wicklow, where the redesignation of the Arklow bypass as a motorway has now forced farmers to drive through the busy town, with its narrow main street and a sharp junction particularly difficult to negotiate.
In the press, local farmer James Hill has said it is particularly galling as the bypass was originally built to relieve this problem, but now its designation as a motorway means farmers have no choice but to travel through the town again.
He hauls grain to a Glanbia depot in Inch and like many other farmers around delivers straw to the mushroom compost operation near Gorey, all of which will now involve clogging up the busy town.
When out driving we can all get a bit frustrated at a slower moving tractor, but we know that the tractor and driver are doing a job.
