We’re not far away from seeding season in some parts of the Prairies. Equipment is going to be moving from farm to field and that situation requires care and attention.
Whether you’re one of the people moving the equipment or one of the people who will be sharing the road with it, think about this carefully.
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It was a tragedy. A well-known community member lost his life and a well-meaning farm worker faces charges of criminal negligence causing death. Specific details will doubtless be related in court, if and when the case comes to trial. The following is not speculation about the above accident.
But consider your own situation. Could something similar happen to you?
Farm equipment is large and getting larger, and it doesn’t move quickly. Yes, there are safety considerations that can be taken, but the need to move big equipment from farm to field to field poses hazards. I believe there are relatively few farm equipment versus passenger vehicle accidents on the Prairies, considering the number of occasions where the possibility might occur. That speaks to care and attention being exerted by those who frequent rural roads.
An increase in accidents could lead to more stringent farm vehicle rules. Just yesterday I read about proposed legislation in Pennsylvania that has farmers in a tizzy.
According to the website pennlive.com, the United States Department of Transportation is demanding that Pennsylvania change its rules regarding local transportation.
Among the demands relating to farm trucks, tractors and other agricultural vehicles are these:
• Anyone under 18 would not be allowed to drive any of the above on a road if it had a combined weight of more than 17,000 pounds. Note that farm equipment in Pennsylvania tends to be smaller than on the Prairies. Here, a 4WD 9030 John Deere tractor, by itself, weighs about 32,170 lb. without ballast. Add another piece of equipment to it and it’s major weight.
• Drivers would be subject to hours of service standards like those governing long-haul truckers. That means they’d have to record hours driven, drive no more than 11 hours at a stretch, take mandatory breaks and have paperwork to prove it.
• Drivers of farm equipment would have to be medically tested and have a certificate declaring them to be physically qualified.
Such measures would have a severe and expensive effect on farmers if they were implemented here. Farmers in Pennsylvania apparently feel the same way.
There are plenty of reasons to take precautions when moving equipment and when sharing the road with moving equipment: safety and courtesy, for two. If you need any more reasons than that, add in the possibility of more stringent traffic rules.
