GUELPH – Fall is a busy time of year. School has started up again, people are enjoying the warm temperatures to get some additional cottage or camping days in, and farmers are harvesting a wide range of crops, from field tomatoes to soybeans and more.
All of this means that Ontario’s roads are busy, and motorists have to share those roads with slow moving vehicles and farm equipment.
This can quickly lead to frustration and impatience – which is often when accidents happen.
Road safety is always important, but even more at this time of year when farmers move between fields, farms and other locations to harvest crops and get them to market, processing or storage.
It’s even more critical in northern Ontario, where there aren’t as many roads as in other parts of the province, giving motorists fewer alternatives, and where the roads we do have can quickly become clogged, even during the tail end of tourism season in the fall.
I farm just outside of Thunder Bay with my wife and our two sons and their spouses, raising beef, chicken and growing crops.
I also represent northern Ontario farmers on the board of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. In addition to Thunder Bay, this includes Algoma, Cochrane, Dryden, Kenora, Manitoulin-North Shore, Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Temiskaming and Thunder Bay.
Several years ago, following a resolution brought forward by some of our northern Ontario members, the OFA began taking an active role in promoting road safety and slow moving vehicle awareness.
Since then, we’ve undertaken a variety of initiatives, including signs, videos, billboard campaigns and partnerships with other organizations to encourage drivers to be patient and alert around slow moving vehicles.
At the same time, we’ve stepped up our efforts to remind farmers that they also have a responsibility to be cautious, courteous and safe when they’re taking equipment on the road.
Our local federations are also taking an active role here, with many of them applying for funding from the OFA Revive Fund for road safety and slow moving vehicle awareness projects in their areas. These range from roadside safety signs and radio ads to reflective farm equipment stickers and signs and more to remind fellow drivers how to be safe around slow moving vehicles on the road.
The Revive Fund was first launched in 2021 to help our county and regional federations with matching funding for projects and initiatives to support agriculture in their local communities, and to date, about $975,000 has been invested in the program – and it’s still going strong.
Here are some top tips for motorists that will help prevent road accidents this harvest season:
– watch out for orange triangles on the back of farm equipment. These are “slow moving vehicle signs” that mean we legally can’t go faster than 40km/h;
– pay attention to indicator lights and remember that a gap between a slow moving vehicle and an oncoming car or truck can close very quickly; and
– be patient and pass only when it’s safe. Farm equipment is much larger than it used to be, and many rural roads have narrow shoulders that don’t let farmers pull safely off to the side to let someone pass.
Farmers can also do their part to keep our roads safe, such as:
– conducting a daily 360-degree safety check of their equipment before leaving the farm;
– ensuring hitches, brakes, tires and PTOs are well-maintained and road ready;
– making sure lights are working properly and that the slow moving vehicle sign is visible and secure; and
– staying off the mobile device while driving. Distracted driving is distracted driving whether in a car, truck, tractor, or combine.
We all have a role to play in keeping roads as safe as possible and by working together, we can make sure everyone returns home safe and sound this harvest season.
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Bill Groenheide is a director on the board of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.