Local Farmers Encourage Drivers to Share the Road During Harvesting Periods

A tractor pulls a seed planter on a public highway.

Story by Darren Doyle, brought to you by Kentucky Farm Bureau:
Local farmers are encouraging Edmonson County drivers to use caution, have some patience, and share the road with farm machinery as planting and harvesting seasons are here in the county.

Farmers are currently cutting, raking, and baling hay and straw, while also spraying, discing, and planting fields for fall harvests. That means some pretty big pieces of machinery are now and will be on Edmonson County roads, according to Edmonson County Farm Bureau President and local farmer Scott Childress.

"Right now, we have lots of farmers harvesting wheat and hay, in addition to all the planting going on," he said. "That requires us to transport equipment on the roadways and we want everyone to be safe during these times."

Childress says there are some easy ways to avoid accidents when following machinery, which include recognizing caution lights and warning triangles on machinery, passing carefully when absolutely safe to do so, watching for hand signals from drivers (not all tractors have turn signals), and simply being aware that these machines could be out and about at anytime.

"The farmers are doing our best to be safe as well," he said. "This is the livelihood of so many people in our county and the only way we have of getting our equipment from one place to the other is by driving them on the roads."

Childress also said that most farmers driving and hauling equipment will pull over when they can to let traffic around, but that's not always ideal.

"We can't see behind a large machine in tow, so we're not always sure of how many cars are driving behind us. We have our hands full driving as safely as possible, and with wide loads, we are not only watching what's out in front, but on the shoulder and of course, oncoming traffic. Some roads don't have shoulders so we can't go right without getting into mailboxes and road signs. We also don't know the terrain of what's off the shoulder and that could cause major problems."

Childress said that Farm Bureau is encouraging each side to respect the others' spaces.

"We realize it's sometimes inconvenient to get stuck behind a tractor when you're in a hurry, but we are doing our best to reach our destination as quickly and safely as possible and we'll be out of your way as soon as we can. Our goal is for everyone to get to where they're going safely, so we all can come home safe that evening."