Beech Tree News Network

Harvest season is in full swing and that means a lot of farm equipment is on the roadways.  Farmers are forced to move large equipment from field to field and farm to farm as they harvest their 2019 crops.  Today’s farm machinery is much wider than that of just a few years ago.  A typical farm convoy you will encounter will have a pickup truck with flashing lights, a large tractor with dual wheels that might be 17 feet wide pulling a large wagon, and a combine with dual wheels that could easily be over 17 feet wide.  These machines are operating legally.  If you meet one of these farm machines please get off the road as far as you can and make sure there is nothing directly across the road from you.  Sometimes a driver meeting a farm vehicle will pull over directly across from a mailbox, road sign, guard rail, or other obstacle that prohibits the farm machine from getting off the road on their side.  A little awareness and patience goes a long way.  If you should get behind a farm machine on the road please be patient.  Do not try and pass them, and stay way back so the operator has a chance to see that you are behind them.  According to the CDC in 2016 (the last year data was available) 417 farmers and farm workers died in accidents while working.  Transportation incidents caused the majority of these deaths.  The Butler County Farm Bureau encourages everyone to share the road and wants everyone to have a safe harvest.