Safety Tips for Farmers Operating Slow Moving Farm Equipment – From a Farmer

Surprisingly, most accidents happen on a clear day

Louis Roesch, Director of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and farmer in Chatham-Kent, wants to share best practices for farmers operating slow moving vehicles. He also offers valuable advice for motorists who encounter farm equipment on the road. These tips are useful across the country.

“Farm equipment is bigger than it used to be and moves much slower than regular road traffic – no more than about 40 km an hour,” says Roesch on the OFA website. “Because of the size and comparably slow speed of farm equipment, collisions with slow moving vehicles are 5.5 times higher and result in 3.8 times more fatalities than collisions between two cars, per kilometre on the road.”

Most accidents are rear-ending collisions and passing errors, followed by head-on collisions, swerving, side-on impacts, and turning into oncoming traffic. It may surprize people to learn that almost 80 percent of collisions with slow moving vehicles happen during the day under good visibility and dry road conditions.

Roesch offers the following best practices for farmers:

• Every vehicle towing an implement must display the orange triangle slow moving vehicle sign on the back that warns drivers that they are approaching slow-moving equipment. These signs are only for equipment; attaching one to a roadside mailbox or other fixed object visible from the road is illegal.
• Make sure your load doesn’t block your view or the ability for other motorists on the road to see your signal intentions.
• Check your equipment carefully every day before leaving the farm, ensuring hitches, brakes, and tires are well-maintained and road ready. Make sure your lights are working properly and that your slow-moving vehicle sign is visible and secure.

Slow-moving vehicle signs are available from local hardware or other retail stores.

According to the Ontario Government website, the sign should be placed on the rear of the vehicle between 0.6 metres (2 feet) and 2 metres (6 feet) above the roadway, and as much as possible centred. The government websites reminds farmers that if a slow-moving vehicle is towing something, the sign needs to be at the rear of the object being towed.

Roesch offers the following best practices for motorists when they encounter farm vehicles:

• Watch out for orange triangles on the back of farm equipment. These are slow moving vehicle signs that mean we legally can’t go faster than 40 km/hour.
• Pay attention to indicator lights and remember that a gap between a slow-moving vehicle and an oncoming car or truck can close very quickly.
• Be patient and pass only when it’s safe. Farm equipment is much larger than it used to be, and many rural roads have narrow shoulders that often prevent farmers from pulling off to the side safely to let motorists pass.

For both motorists and farmers, Roesch offers one final piece of advice: “Don’t be on your mobile device while driving – distracted driving is distracted driving regardless of what you’re driving!”

“If we all stay alert and patient, we can keep our roads safe and make sure everyone gets home safely this planting season and summer,” says Roesch.