RICHMOND—Crashes involving passenger vehicles and agricultural equipment occur year-round, but data suggests these incidents increase in October between noon and 6 p.m.

“As you can imagine, ag equipment, given the size and magnitude of it, tends to have a bigger impact on the vehicle it collides with,” said Ed Brokesh, Kansas State University assistant professor of agricultural engineering. “Passenger vehicles take the brunt of it.”

He shared crash research and safety tips in a recent National Farm Safety and Health Week webinar for AgriSafe Network, a nonprofit ensuring access to preventive services for farm families. Themed “Don’t Learn Safety by Accident,” this year’s observance was held Sept. 15-21.

According to the National Safety Council, approximately 15,000 farm vehicles are involved in highway crashes annually. By and large, incidents involving passenger vehicles and farm equipment happen most frequently from May to October, from the start of spring planting through the fall harvest.

Studies of collisions between slow-moving vehicles and motor vehicles show that about two thirds of those are rear-end collisions. This may be attributed to the significant speed differential between cars and farm machines, Brokesh added.

“A lot of ag equipment travels in that 30 mph range,” he explained. “Highway vehicles are traveling at 55 and up to 75, so you have a lot of energy available for the incident. And some pieces of equipment are built to tear up soil, so it will have some edges that can inflict additional damage.”

Incidents most often occur in high-traffic areas with increasing populations, on roadways with no shoulder, and roads with limited sight lines. Motorists should use extra caution in these settings, especially as rural areas see more residential development.

“There are more drivers on the road with less understanding of agriculture,” Brokesh said. “And farmers are spending more time on the road traveling between farms, since a typical production farm has greater distances to travel.”

As a farmer himself, Brokesh said he has traveled up to 17 miles between farms.

With shorter days in autumn, farmers may be under added pressure to finish tasks on tracts separated by miles of highway, said Matt Nuckols, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation safety coordinator.

“They have narrow windows to work, with a lot to get done in a short amount of time,” he said. “Drivers should slow down when approaching farm equipment on the road. And remember, farm machine operators making left turns will ‘swing’ their equipment far out to the right side of the road. Give them space, and do not assume it’s safe to pass.”

Visit vafb.com/Safety or agrisafe.org for more information on rural road safety.

Media: Contact Nuckols at 804-938-2043 or Laura Siegel, AgriSafe health communications officer.