5/8/14 Safety campaigns raising awareness of dangers of farm tractors as passenger vehicles

  • By Nick Sabo
  • May 8, 2014
  • 433
                        
SUMMARY: The Farm Bureau, sheriff, highway patrol and others are talking more about the hazards of using farm trailers to haul passengers. The prevalence of unsecured lawn chairs as seating is a particular concern. Tractors with a trailer full of people in tow are a common sight on the backroads and highways in Holmes and Wayne counties. It’s also a sight that makes Holmes County Sheriff’s Captain Dale Renker cringe every time he sees it. Whole families seated in lawn chairs in an open trailer with traffic shooting by at 55 miles per hour is a tragedy waiting to happen, Renker said. “Those trailers are not designed to to haul people,” Renker said. “If they get into an impact with another vehicle, everyone on board will go flying. You see five or six people in these trailers and you can imagine the injuries you’re going to have.” So far, it’s a scenario that has yet to play out. There have been no serious accidents involving agricultural tractors being used as passenger vehicles in Holmes or Wayne. And, as Ohio law currently stands, there‘s little law enforcement can do about it on the roads. But sheriff’s deputies and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers have seen enough crashes to know what happens to unsecured passengers in a collision. In recent years, public safety campaigns by law enforcement are being directed more and more toward awareness of the dangers of riding unsecured in a farm trailer. The message is not one of tractor passenger safety, but rather how unsafe such a mode of travel is. As the law stands, using a farm tractor for transportation is perfectly legal. Under Ohio law, tractors may haul persons in open trailers on public roads so long as the tractor is traveling at less than 25 miles per hour. However, Lt. Stephanie Norman, commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Wooster Post, said the speed of motor vehicle traffic coupled with slow moving tractors carrying passengers is a formula that makes an accident inevitable. “The majority of our crashes are speed-related,” Norman said. “Rear end crashes are mostly due to excessive speed. We all know how fast a car can close on a buggy. It’s just a matter of time before we get a serious crash.” Norman said use tractors as transportation appears to be increasing. Local organizations are looking at tractor passenger awareness efforts as well. Law enforcement, working with Holmes and Wayne County Safe Communities, staged a mock crash involving a tractor and trailer accident at last year’s Amish Health and Safety Days. The Farm Bureau met with the Holmes County Commissioners last week to see if county resources could be part of a campaign. John Fitzpatrick, organization director for the Ashland, Holmes, Medina and Wayne counties Farm Bureau Federation, said the campaign would focus largely on unsecured seating in a trailer. “I think specifically we want to address the lawn seats in the back,” Fitzpatrick said. “There are tractors now that can go more than 25 miles per hour. If that was an English farmer in a pick-up with his kids in lawn chairs in back, that wouldn’t be tolerated.” Myron Schlabach, with the Holmes Farm Bureau, said families will use tractors for short trips because it is quicker than hitching up a buggy. The Farm Bureau campaign is still being hammered out and may also involve awareness on the part of motorists. Law enforcement and Safe Communities are planning further safety projects for this year, Renker said.


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