Published: April 28, 2008 09:44 pm            

Slow-moving vehicles ahead

Hoosier farmers planted 5.7 million acres of corn and 5.6 million acres of soybeans in 2004, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reports.

That’s a lot of grain. And it requires a lot of equipment to put it in the ground.

Lt. Mike Nichols, district commander of the Indiana State Police post in Peru, reminded us last week that planting season is upon us. Motorists can expect increased traffic of farm machinery on county roads. They should watch for heavy equipment entering and exiting farm fields.

“Farmers are on the roads because they are trying to get to their place of work, just as motorists are trying to get to their place of employment,” Carolyn Hegel, former second vice president of the Indiana Farm Bureau, said just before planting began in 2006. “The days of a farm family just working on their homestead acres are long gone. Some farmers must travel many miles to get to their fields.”

The Purdue University Agricultural Safety and Health Program reports 25 percent of work-related fatalities among farmers were a result of traffic accidents in 2004. And one of the main causes of those fatalities is motorists not accounting for slow-moving farm machinery.

If a car traveling 55 mph comes upon a tractor moving at 15 mph, the Farm Bureau says, it would take just five seconds to close a 100-yard gap.

“When motorists see a slow-moving vehicle sign or flashing lights, they need to slow down,” Hegel said. “Farm machinery can be very wide. Motorists should follow behind until there is a safe place to pass.”

But passing can be tricky, as well. Besides rear-end crashes, studies by the Iowa Department of Transportation show left-turn and passing collisions are among the most common types of farm-vehicle accidents.

A left-turn collision occurs when a tractor is about to turn left, and a motorist attempts to pass. A passing collision takes place when a motorist fails to negotiate the extra width or length of a farm vehicle.

Exercising courtesy and common sense are the best ways to travel safely during planting season, the Farm Bureau says.

Watch for slow-moving farm vehicles.

Be patient, and don’t assume a farmer can move aside to let you pass. The shoulders along county roads might not be able to support a heavy tractor.

And slow down as soon as you see the triangular, red-and-orange slow-moving vehicle emblem.

As Hegel said, “Safety is everyone’s responsibility.”

        

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