FACTS
- Most equipment-related accidents on the farm are due to farm tractor rollovers.
- Others are due to:
- Caught in running machinery
- Non-highway transportation accidents (not including rollovers)
- Highway collisions between farm equipment and other vehicles
- Struck by falling machinery parts
- Equipment contacting overhead or underground power lines.
- Deadly tractor/motor vehicle collisions are increasing in the United States for three reasons.
- More people are moving to the country and commuting to work in distant towns and cities.
- Two-lane rural roads have been improved to permit high-speed driving. These improvements make the roads safer, but excessive speed creates hazards like those described in these materials, especially when highways run through farming communities.
- Many farmers own or lease land not connected to their main farm. They have to drive farm equipment on public roadways to reach this land.
STATS
- Tractors and machinery collectively are the main cause of fatal accidents in agriculture. This has not changed in at least 30 years, though the total numbers of accidental deaths in agriculture has declined. Between 2005 and 2014, of the 193 people killed in agriculture 94 have been killed in farm related accidents involving vehicles and machinery.
- Tractors, farm vehicles and machinery account for almost half of all fatal accidents on farms (49% of farm deaths).
- According to the National Safety Council, approximately 15,000 farm vehicles are involved in highway crashes annually. Studies of collisions between slow moving vehicles and motor vehicles conclude that nearly 90 percent occur on dry roads during daylight hours and two thirds are rear-end collisions.
- When a fatality occurs, the victim is usually the tractor operator.