By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent COLUMBUS, Ohio — Safety remains the key message for motorists sharing the road with farm machinery, despite a new Ohio law that allows farmers to drive their tractors or other agricultural equipment faster.
Gov. Ted Strickland recently signed House Bill 9 (called the “fast tractor” bill), which increases the speed allowed for machinery that can go faster than 25 mph as designated by the manufacturer.
Dee Jepson, Ohio State University extension’s state safety leader, said with the new law in effect, outreach efforts are required to educate both farmers and motorists of what the new law means to them.
The legislation makes a few changes to traditional agricultural practices, listed below.
A Speed Identification Symbol (SIS) emblem is required for tractors traveling faster than 25 mph. The Slow Moving Vehicle (SMV) emblem is still required on all tractors; Ohio high-speed tractors need to display both emblems.
The new SIS was adopted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), Jepson said. It’s a black circular emblem on white vinyl that contains a number. The number represents the speed in miles per hour at which the manufacturer has designed the equipment to travel.
“That symbol is to identify tractors that have been manufactured to go faster than the traditional 25 miles per hour,” Jepson said.
A valid driver’s/commercial driver’s license is needed to operate a tractor over 25 mph. Operators traveling at 25 mph or slower are considered exempt when operating ag equipment.
Towed equipment must be rated and equipped to travel at higher speeds, and must display the SMV and SIS (similar to the one displayed on the tractor). The implements being towed must have high-speed tires that are rated at 25 mph.
That rating will be listed on the sidewall of the tire in most cases, Jepsen said.
If a tractor is operated on a public road going faster than 25 mph, then the operator must “possess some documentation published or provided by the manufacturer indicating the maximum speed in miles per hour at which the manufacturer designed the ag tractor to operate.” (This information might be in the owner’s manual.)
“That is going to be something that they’ll have to show,” Jepsen said. “I’m going to give the credit back to farmers that they do know how to operate and pull safely, because you can’t maintain control at higher speeds with some implements.”
Yet despite a farmer’s best intentions, they might have trouble finding an SIS symbol.
“The manufacturer should be able help you find those symbols,” Jepsen said. “After-market types of companies will be coming on board with this, and they’ll be producing them, but right now I cannot name any.”
Also, imported tractors might have the kilometers per meter rating, but Ohio law says it must be the mph rating. Manufacturers should be able to help in that case, Jepsen said.
“We’re going to get everybody caught up to speed on this law, and that’s why there is a 90-day grace period until the law goes into effect,” she said.
Ohio is the first state in the nation to pass a law of this kind. According to Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, there are approximately 200 tractors in the state affected by the law, and about 160 of them are in Wayne County.
Jepsen will be at OSU’s Farm Science Review Sept. 18-20 at the Molly Care Agricultural Center in London, Ohio, to answer questions about the new law.
This farm news was published in the Aug. 22, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
