One of the most hazardous industries in the United States is agriculture with a death rate of 21.3 per 100,000 workers and 130,000 disabling injuries. The toll is huge with respect to the communities involved and national productivity of our food supply. The death and injury rates do not include victims who are not occupationally active in agriculture but who died from an incident involving farm and ranch equipment. The most common place to be involved in an incident with farm and ranch equipment is on the public roadway system. For this reason, the National Safety Council is targeting rural roadway safety during the National Farm Safety and Health Week.
There are three general types of users of the rural public roadway
system: farmers, the general public, and persons who use roads
for their exercise programs. This fact sheet will target the
general public who use the rural public roadway system.
The general public often does not know the limitations of agricultural
machinery. But since nearly everyone uses the rural public roadway
system, it is important to have an understanding of how agricultural
machinery operates on roads. Agricultural machines can be either
towed behind tractors or be self-propelled. Tractors and agricultural
machines have two major limitations. The first limitation is
speed. These machines cannot travel faster than 25 miles per
hour. The second limitation is maneuverability and will be discussed
later in this fact sheet. Machines with this speed limitation
are identified to other vehicles using the road with a Slow-Moving
Vehicle (SMV) Emblem. SMV emblems should be on both tractors
and trailing machines, however, be aware that they are sometimes
missing, faded, dirty, or damaged which results in decreased
visibility. The SMV emblem has a central fluorescent orange
triangle. The orange triangle was designed to be eye-catching
during daylight hours (See Photo 1A). The
orange triangle is bordered by red strips of retro reflective
tape. The red retro reflective strips are visible as a hollow
red triangle when illuminated by lawful low beam headlights
up to 600 feet (See Photo 1B).
To increase the visibility of agricultural machinery traveling
on public roads, extremity marking is now being used. Motorists,
however, should be aware there are many old tractors and machines
used in agriculture and marking decals used on those machines
are poor in quality, by today's 
standards,
or missing. The ideal extremity marking decals that motorists
should look for is red retro reflective tape on the rear of the
machine and amber retro reflective tape on the sides of the machine
(See Photo 1C). In addition to the use of
retro reflective tape, red and amber lights may be required for
towed machines over 12 feet wide. Tractors and self-propelled
machines are required to have both amber and red lights to the
rear. The amber lights should be visible to the front and rear
and should flash as a warning to other motorists (See
Photo 2). When looking at the amber lights, if one stops
blinking and the other continues to blink, the blinking light
is the turn indicator and the operator plans to turn in that
direction. White lights tell other motorists that some vehicle
is coming toward them. Only headlights should be on when traveling
on roadways. Working lights should be turned off. When traveling
on winding roads, machine operators may use a pilot vehicle
following the machine. If the roadway is narrow and/or the machine
is wide, a pilot vehicle may be leading the machine to warn
oncoming motorists of the hazard.
After agricultural machinery has been identified as being slow
moving, motorists must understand and react to the situation.
If a motorist is traveling at 55 miles per hour and comes upon
another motorist traveling at 45 miles per hour and the distance
between the vehicles is 400 feet, it will take 27 seconds for
the first motorist to catch the second motorist. If the same
motorist traveling at 55 miles per hour comes upon a slow-moving
tractor or machine traveling at 15 miles per hour and the distance
is 400 feet, the closure rate is reduced to only 7 seconds.
It is extremely important to be observant when driving on rural
roadways for farm tractors and machinery. If the tractor or
machine is not noticed in time, a collision may result. Because
of the size and durability of agricultural machinery, the automobile
and its occupants will probably sustain extensive damage and
injury.
The other limitation of agricultural machines is maneuverability.
Tractors with long trailing machinery may need to move to the
right prior to making a left turn. Remember: one blinking
amber light and a solid on amber light on the opposite sides
of the machine, indicates the machine operator plans to turn
in the direction of the blinking light. When following a
large machine, look for signal indicators and possible fields
and entrances the operator may want to turn into. Just because
the operator 
moves
the machine to the right does not indicate that he/she is saying
it is safe to pass. If mirrors are present, try to observe the
machine operator to see if the vehicle you are driving is seen.
If not seen by the operator, you may be surprised with the machine
turning suddenly to the left (See Figure1A).
Never pass any vehicle or machine unless it is safe to do so
in a designated passing zone, even if the tractor or machine
operator indicates to make the pass. It is best to be a defensive
driver and wait until you are a 100% certain of the machine
operators intentions before initiating a pass. If the machine
is wide (See Figure 1B) that the motorist
intends to pass, it is important to make sure there is plenty
of clearance to complete the pass. Failure to do so could result
in serious injury to the occupants of the vehicle, not to mention
vehicular damage.
Sharing the road is everyone's responsibility and being proactive
about preventing possible incidents that could result in injury
is just plain smart.
| When
traveling on public roadways: 1) Be observant for slow-moving tractors and machinery. 2) Be ready to reduce speed quickly when a tractor or machine is traveling ahead of your vehicle. 3) Watch for places, such as fields and entrances, where the operator may turn into. 4) Observe the amber warning flashers for changes that may indicate the operator making a turn. 5) Be patient. Patience is a trait that will allow everyone to go home at the end of the day. |
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