By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

HAMILTON, Ohio — Farmers often risk their lives driving farm equipment on the roads, said Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones. He has supported Ohio’s Butler County Farm Bureau (BCFB) in a safety campaign with “Drive with Reason, It’s Farming Season” as its theme.

Jones is doing public service radio announcements where he repeats that theme; the message is also posted on several billboards in Butler County. In the radio promotions he reminds listeners that according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, more than 1,870 farm-related highway accidents have occurred in the last five years.

“Farmers depend on the roadway while they grow our food and fiber,” he says in the promotion. “Properly marked farm equipment has the right-of-way. Above all, be patient, be kind and stay behind working together to keep everyone safe on our roadways during the busy farming season.”

The campaign started when Jones called the Farm Bureau and asked if there was any way he could help; FB wanted to make people aware of farmers on the roadways. Drivers need to slow down and have consideration for the farmers that travel the roadways with equipment, said BCFB President Gail Lierer.
“Some of our equipment is a little oversized, but we’re in regulation,” she said. “Motorists don’t seem to have enough time to follow a farmer.”

Lierer and her husband, Dave, farm on a winding, busy road. The roadside has deep ditches that are often overgrown and hidden.
“Dave had a lady run off the road into the ditch,” Lierer said. “He was coming down the road with the grain drill, which is 15 feet wide. She thought she could just pass on the side of the road and didn’t know the ditch was that deep. She had to crawl out the passenger door and get a tow truck to get out.”

Farm Bureau Organization Director Christy Montoya and BCFB Treasurer/Secretary Cathy Minges worked on the campaign, too. “The more sprawl we see in the county the harder it is to move equipment,” Minges said. “A lot of people aren’t aware of what the slow moving vehicle sign means. We’re trying to create awareness.”
Her family was also involved in a farm equipment accident when a 16-year-old ran into a disk on back of their tractor.

“When farmers are on the roadway with farm equipment, if it is properly lighted and has the SMV sign, they have the right-of-way,” Minges said.

Jones is going to help with more than the billboards and radio announcements.

“I’m not finished yet,” he said. “I’m going to try and get some legislation introduced that will make Farming Week an entire week for farming safety and farmer appreciation.

“I’m the sheriff – it shouldn’t be my job to do that, but I’m going to make it my job.”