Accidents on rural roads on key focus during National Farm Safety and Health Week

IOWA CITY — 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 those crashes typically are severe, and it’s usually the people in the passenger vehicle that are killed or injured, with the passenger vehicle being at fault most of the time.

Hamann says there’s plenty that farmers can to in trying to be safe.   “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.”

Hamann says while there’s plenty of responsibility on farmers to stay vigilant, she stresses more 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.”

This is National Farm Safety and Health Week.