I say this every harvest season, and every year I hope it is the last time I write this column. But instead of getting the message across, an inbox full of accident reports involving farm equipment keeps telling me the message remains necessary.
Right now, farmers are under a real time crunch. Not only are they trying to get their harvest stored or to market while the elevators are open, but they are also working around fickle summer showers. Kick in the ever present threat of severe weather with accompanying hail and high winds that devastate crops, it makes for a perfect recipe for disaster.
You get a farmer in a hurry, add in truck drivers rushing to get back to the fields for another load, then multiply the danger factor by passenger vehicle drivers who are also in a hurry and/or distracted and the answer is collision.
Tractors and those grain trucks are often heavily loaded or traveling in road gear. They take a long way to stop. It isn’t like we’re talking about a Chevy Spark here.
They can also create an odd outline in the distance. For instance, imagine zipping along toward a small bridge on a tree lined road. There is something in the roadway coming toward you but it’s hard to make out. Maybe it is early or late in the day and the light is less than perfect.
Well, instead of traveling toward said object at Mach 20, maybe pull your foot off the accelerator until you can figure out what is what.
This goes for the farmers as well as the personal vehicle drivers out there. If you pull that big John Deere out onto the road and don’t see the Chevy Spark, it is going to damage your tractor or implement and quite possibly kill someone in the other vehicle.
Slow down, pay attention, buckle your seatbelt. You just might save a life.