Iowa Researchers Hope to Prevent Children Dying from Tractor Related Accidents
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
Operating farm equipment is the leading cause of death among young people who work in agriculture and researchers at the University of Iowa and the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin are attempting to address the problem with a one of a kind study that looks at how children of different ages process information when operating tractors. The study will examine children’s cognitive development skills.
The statistics are concerning - teens are four times more likely to die due to a farm related injury than in any other workplace and U.S. government data shows that since the 1990s that on average two dozen more children die each year in tractor relating accidents.
"Our goal is to try to develop knowledge that makes it easier to prevent these accidents," said Tim Brown, a University of Iowa Researcher.
This research is pivotal to address the issue from a scientific way instead of government legislation. This became a sensitive issue earlier this year when the U.S. Department of Labor tried to tackle the problem through stricter laws that would limit children’s ability to legally operate farm equipment. The proposal was dropped after farm families saw it as an attack on their rural way of life.
The research study will involve eighty-eight farm children, all whom have previous tractor operation experience, ages 10-17 and will be tested through the National Advanced Driving Simulator. The Simulator will have a tractor and a movie screen that will project real-life images of a typical farm setting. The children will be required to drive along gravel roads, merger, stop at intersections and maneuver around people, buildings and other vehicles. While the children are in driving mode, the simulator software will record their every move.
One of the key goals of the study is to attempt to see if the simulator can pinpoint the differences between adults and children’s driving performance utilizing farm equipment. In conjunction with the eighty-eight children participants, there will also be a control group of 10 adults who will act as a comparison for skill assessment. If the study proves to be successful, it may lead to a larger study sample.