Wisconsin Farm Bureau and State DOT Remind Farmers and Motorists to Use Caution on Rural Roads
Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 -- 8:35 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -The Wisconsin Farm Bureau is joining the state's transportation department in reminding farmers and motorists to use caution on rural roads during the harvest season.The Wisconsin DOT says 32 people have been killed and over 870 injured in crashes involving agricultural equipment over the past decade. Since 2014, it has been illegal to pass farm equipment in a no-passing zone regardless of the speed the equipment is traveling. Motorists should wait until they enter a passing zone and have deemed it is safe to pass. Farmers should not pull over in a no-passing zone to let vehicles pass, unless the road shoulder condition and width can allow for the farm machinery to completely move onto the shoulder. Additionally, farmers should not wave a driver to pass them as this can create additional confusion.
Farmers with wide equipment are legally obligated to yield the opposite lane to any oncoming motorists as to not impede the normal flow of traffic. The DOT recommends drivers should slow down immediately whenever they see a slow-moving vehicle emblem on the rear of a tractor or other piece of equipment. This emblem indicates that the farm machine usually travels slower than 25 miles per hour.
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