By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The month of May and speed may go hand-in-hand for Indianapolis 500 fans.
But for farmers, May means creeping along the roadways with slow-moving tractors and implements, and impatient drivers need to be warned of the dangers of passing or following too closely.
Joyce Hysong of Boone County knows that all too well. Driving a tractor on a state road, her brother-in-law was struck and killed by a passing motorist as he was making a left-hand turn. Hysong’s husband was following him in a truck with flashers and witnessed his brother’s death.
Hysong said if the family had a choice they would not be traveling on the roads. But because of farmland being bought, their fields are spread out over several miles.
“People are angry because we’re on the road, and they’re in a hurry,” she said. “It would be better if they were patient and kind and get where they are going late than to kill a farmer.”
As a hands-on farm wife, she sometimes needed to drive the tractor and must strap her preschooler in the buddy seat, but feels a dread as she heads out on the road.
Hysong spoke in support of We All Share the Road, a nine-minute educational video to teach drivers about the hazards of farm machinery and equipment traveling on roadways.
Purdue Extension, Indiana Farm Bureau (IFB) and the Indiana State Police were partners in producing the DVD, while Lake County Farm Bureau funded the project.
Farmers are required to use slow-moving vehicle signs and to pull over in heavy traffic, but road conditions do not always allow them to do so immediately. Drivers need to be alert in farming areas, especially during spring planting and fall harvesting seasons.
Bill Field, Purdue Cooperative Extension Service safety specialist, was involved in a tractor accident years ago. He was hit from behind while pulling a vat of maple sap with a small tractor.
“I didn’t have a scratch on me, but it was frightening. I still have vivid memories,” Field said, adding that the sap served as a cushion and took the impact of the collision.
He said drivers need to be patient and slow down.
“Speed is the answer for everything these days, and that creates a problem when we start mixing our fast-paced routines with travel on rural roadways.
Trooper Bill Brooks of the Indiana State Police agreed. He said Indiana cities are spreading out, farm fields are far between and farmers have wider equipment than in the past.
“Technology has done all it can do safety-wise,” Brooks said. “Impatience is causing most of the accidents.”
He told of an accident involving a disk that was folded up with it’s flasher lights on. A woman was late to work and in passing the disk, ran into the back of it. Her cell phone was found opened beside her.
“If drivers stay aware and are patient, we’ll all get to work safely, whether work is in an office or a field,” said Isabella Chism, second vice-president of Indiana Farm Bureau and state women’s leader. “Prevention is always better than reaction.”
Collisions involving farm equipment occur at a rate of about 8,000 per year, according to the National Safety Council. Farm vehicle accidents are five times as likely to end in fatality as any other vehicle accident.
The IFB state women’s committee has distributed several hundred copies of We All Share the Road to schools across Indiana for use in driver’s education classes.
DVDs have also been sent to county Farm Bureau offices for use in civic organizations, to 4-H tractor clubs and to Extension offices for loaning. Boone County Farm Bureau is donating the funds to send the DVD to agriculture education classes in 225 schools across the state.
Lew Middleton, director of information and public relations at IFB, said he is also looking at creating 15-second public service announcements from the video for media outlets to increase awareness of safety during peak farming months. Though the video was made in Indiana, the message is generic and is being made available across the country. It has been entered in a competition of the American Society of Agriculture Engineers.
We All Share the Road is available for $10 by calling Purdue Extension toll-free at 888-EXT-INFO.
The video also can be ordered online at the Purdue Education Store, https:// secure.agriculture.purdue.edu/store This farm news was published in the May 16, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
