Canada had more than 20 tractor rollover deaths per year from 1990 to 2008.
The total rollover death count in that period was 392, which was nearly a quarter of all farm fatalities.
Tractor rollovers remain the leading cause of death on Canadian farms and the trend continues, as it does in the United States, where tractor rollovers claim an average 250 lives per year.
Ten percent of all tractor operators will experience a rollover at least once, according to data from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in the U.S.
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These figures remain constant on both sides of the border despite rollover prevention bars and cabs and education campaigns.
“Tractor rollovers have been killing people since the beginning of their use in agricultural production,” Bulent Koc, a professor at the University of Missouri, said in an email interview.
“Many farmers think they can jump out of their tractors in the event of a rollover, but this is seldom the case. Side rollovers can occur in three quarters of a second and most people need more than one second just to react to the event.”
However, there may be at least a partial solution in sight.
Koc has developed a new smartphone application to help change those statistics. The Vehicle Rollover Prevention Education Training Emergency Reporting System (VRPETERS) app has one simple task: it alerts 911 if a tractor rolls.
VRPETERS was developed because so many tractor rollovers occur when the tractor is working far from the home yard and the operator is working alone.
Even if the operator is conscious following the accident, he may not be able to reach his radio or cellphone to call for help. A bad accident becomes a fatal accident if help doesn’t arrive in a hurry.
The VRPETERS app uses the GPS capability built into smartphones, along with sensors that detect a rollover. The accident data is processed the moment it happens, and VRPETERS immediately sends family and emergency responders a series of emergency emails and phone messages that include the exact co-ordinates of the accident scene.
Koc said farmers have their smartphones with them almost 24 hours a day, so it was logical to use it to convey an emergency message rather than build a new device.
Many smartphones have sensors that can be used to help determine the geometry of the phone. If it is upside down, the VRPETERS app and the phone’s can instantly figure out what happened.
For smartphones not equipped for geometry perception, Koc developed external sensors that are mounted to the tractor. Data from these sensors are transmitted to the phone via Bluetooth.
VRPETERS also has an early warning that signals the tractor operator if he is getting close to the point of rolling over. The sensors are there anyway, in both types of systems, and they’re taking continuous geometry readings, so it was not difficult to include the early warning feature.
“This device helps calculate the stability characteristics of the tractor and will provide a warning to the driver when the tractor approaches its rollover point.”
Koc said the app won’t trigger a false alarm if the operator drops his phone and it lands upside down.
“A false alarm would cause too much trouble and would cause people to lose confidence in the system,” he said.
Both types of systems have fail-safes to prevent human error from triggering a false alarm.
“If the operator uses the sensors already in the smartphone, the VRPETERS app can’t be activated unless the smartphone is securely mounted in a dashboard mounting case to prevent false alarms. It will only allow the alarm to be sent if the tractor is upset,” he said.
“It’s similar in the system with external sensors located on the tractor. Those sensors only trigger an alarm signal when the tractor is upset. In both systems, it depends on the position of the tractor.”
Koc said the same fail-safe systems are used when VRPETERS is mounted on construction vehicles, trucks, snowmobiles, military vehicles, all-terrain vehicles and riding lawnmowers. He said it’s an excellent safety investment for people who mow or spray ditches.
VRPETERS works on iPhones and iPads, and Koc said he is expanding it to other smartphone systems. He expects to release the beta version in April. The app download will cost less than $20.
Koc has designed another device to be used in conjunction with VRPETERS, which is used as a backup to stream data to a smart phone or tablet. It allows fleet managers to obtain real time data on the location and operation of machines in the field.
