Planting season is here for Brookings County farmers.
It is that time of year again, strange how it occurs every year around the same time. With the warm weather and sunshine, motorists will also see more large slow-moving farm equipment on South Dakota’s rural roads and highways. We want to encourage all motorists to be alert, be patient, and be courteous when traveling on rural roads this spring.
I want to start this discussion off by discussing roads. I am not using the U.S. Department of Transportation definitions here; I am using my definitions.
In towns, you have blacktop roads or, in some cases, concrete. Every now and then, you will encounter a gravel-surfaced street.
In the county, you have federal highways, Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 14, state highways — such as SD13, SD30, and SD324 — and then you have township roads.
I like to classify the roads as either hard-surfaced asphalt, concrete, or gravel.
The state road system is hard-surfaced roads. The county road system is a mixture of both hard-surfaced roads and gravel, and the townships are 99% gravel.
Speed limits on most roads are 55 mph unless marked otherwise. I personally do not drive 55 mph on a gravel road very often. There are a lot of factors why but mostly because I don’t feel safe. Regardless of your driving habits, you must remember that driving on hills, especially during planting and harvest season, requires extra caution due to factors like limited visibility, slow-moving farm equipment, and potential for soft shoulders. To ensure safety, you should slow down, maintain a safe following distance, and be aware of your surroundings, especially when approaching intersections, hills, or curves. Exercise extra caution on blind hills and curves and all roads during sunrise and sunset. Please do not overdrive the road conditions and then suddenly come upon a piece of farm equipment. They cannot react very quickly, and unless you are driving an extremely large vehicle, you will lose the battle. No one wants that to happen.
In South Dakota, I have never encountered a piece of farm equipment on the interstate, although I did encounter two large John Deere Combines on I-29 in Fargo, North Dakota. If they are on the interstate, you will generally encounter them being transported on the back of tractor-trailers.
On the other roads that I mentioned, you will find everything from a manure hauling tractor to the latest planter being pulled by a tractor bigger than my house.
While the term “farm equipment” encompasses a wide range of vehicles, the most common types of farm equipment motorists will encounter during planting season include sprayers, tractors pulling planters or tillage equipment, and large trucks hauling agricultural products. These vehicles are wide, sometimes taking up most of the road, and often travel at speeds no greater than 25 mph.
The following list includes several safety tips for motorists approaching large farm equipment:
• Farmers will pull over when they are able to let motorists pass, but it may take time for them to get to a safe place to do so. You may be following a farm vehicle for a while. They cannot simply pull over on a gravel road and let you pass. The weight of their equipment can easily cause the side of a road to collapse, overturning the tractor. The best advice is just to follow them at a safe distance. Why not tailgate them? Please use common sense. If you are following a large piece of machinery too closely, they often cannot see you; the large tires tend to throw rocks, and they often slow down or stop when making turns. They do have flashers, and when they turn their turn signals on, people often do not notice them due to the other lights being on.
• Be patient. Farm equipment is wide, sometimes taking up most of the road.
• Be careful when passing. Do not pass in a designated “No Passing Zone” or within 100 feet of any intersection, railroad grade crossing, bridge, elevation structure.
• Do not try to pass slow-moving farm equipment on the left without ensuring that the farmer driving is not planning a left turn. It may appear that the driver is pulling over to allow a pass when the farmer is preparing to turn. You will drive right into its path, endangering yourself and the equipment operator.
• Allow plenty of time to get to a destination, be aware of alternate routes, and avoid distractions.
When I come upon farm equipment while doing my county duties I try to pull over and let them drive by. It is much easier for a single vehicle, such as a pickup truck to pull into a field approach and let the larger vehicle pass. Depending on what type of road I am on will dictate my actions.
Safety tip reminders for farmers:
• Ensure your equipment is properly marked: use SMV (Slow-Moving Vehicle) emblems and other reflective signage to increase visibility.
• Use hazard lights when driving on the road.
• Signal your intentions clearly: use hand signals and turn signals to indicate your intentions, especially when turning or changing lanes.
• Minimize width when possible: fully fold large equipment to its transport position to reduce its width on the road.
• Avoid peak traffic hours: consider traveling on the road during off-peak hours to minimize interactions with other vehicles.
• Pull over when possible: if there is not a lot of traffic, pull over to the side of the road to let other vehicles pass when it’s safe to do so.
As always, keep an eye on the sky and be safe when outdoors.
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