Fall in Georgia means pumpkin patches, apple picking, state fairs and a chill in the air. But it also means more farm equipment will be traveling Georgia roads heading to and from harvest.
This year, officials from the Department of Agriculture and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety are once again uniting to urge both farmers and motorists to use caution when sharing the road.
"Because tractors are slow-moving vehicles and things like peanut and cotton wagons often don't have lights, we're particularly warning folks to be careful at dusk and dawn," GOHS Director Harris Blackwood said. "We want to encourage motorists to yield to slow-moving vehicles no matter how inconvenient it might seem. But we also want to ask farmers that if their equipment doesn't have lights, to add a series of inexpensive, magnetic lights to keep themselves and other motorists as safe as possible."
When approaching a slow-moving vehicle, motorists are cautioned to slow down as soon as possible. If a vehicle is traveling at 55 mph and comes upon a tractor moving at just 15 mph, it will only take five seconds to close a gap the length of a football field.
Last year in Georgia, there were 510 collisions involving farm and construction equipment. Those crashes resulted in 169 injuries and 22 fatalities. Unfortunately, that is an increase from 361 collisions, 142 injuries and 9 fatalities in 2013.
“These accidents are 100 percent avoidable,” Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black said. “But it will take the farming community and the driving public working together to ensure that our farm workers can do their jobs safely to get food on our tables and contribute to a safe and prosperous harvest season in Georgia.”
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