It’s common to see farm equipment moving from field to field at spring planting and fall harvest. Unfortunately, accidents are also common on rural roads. University of Iowa Associate Professor Cara Hamann researches farm safety and works with the Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center and Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health. She says even more, unfortunately.

“Those crashes are severe, and it’s usually the people in the passenger vehicle that are injured or killed. Most of the time the passenger vehicle is the one at fault.”

Hamann says there’s plenty of messaging centered on farmers.

“Farmers make sure your lighting and marking is good, making sure you have your slow moving vehicle signs, but we don’t see as much emphasis on reminding drivers to be aware and drive safe around farm equipment.”

And while there’s plenty of responsibility on farmers to stay vigilant, Hamann stresses more onus should be on other vehicle drivers.

“I mean, it’s a shared road, everyone should have responsibility, but in terms of when we’re looking at crash data and fault, it’s usually not the farm operator that’s the one at fault.”

Still, there are trends in the data showing common factors that make up an accident.

“What we see a lot are where the passenger vehicle either fails to see the farm equipment ahead of them, they’re going too fast and rear end the farm equipment. Another common crash scenario is when the farm equipment is turning left, and there’s a vehicle coming from behind, trying to overtake the farm equipment, so they run into them as the tractor is turning left.” 

Hamann says then there’s the obvious: driver distraction when they’re on their phone or maybe reaching to grab something. So, what can a farmer operator do to avoid accidents?

“In a lot of those scenarios, there isn’t anything the farmer operator can do, but in terms of awareness, lighting, and marking is important, to make sure they double and triple check before they make a turn and pull over as much as they can depending on how big their implement is. But I would say other vehicle drivers are the ones that need to step up a little. They’re there. Be aware, get off your phones, and slowdown is a big one.” 

A lot of the accidents could have been prevented with patience, Hamann says. In many cases, when farm equipment is on the road, they’re just moving to the next field, and they’ll be off the road after a few minutes. She adds in her research on road safety, one surprise is another demographic to be informed, found between the fields of suburban areas.

“I think one of the problem areas is that suburban mixer, all the suburbanites driving around that may not be as used to driving around those pieces of equipment, so especially in the suburban areas it’s important to be aware of each other and slow down and give space.”