by Denny Banister
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by Denny Banister
Imagine a day at the drag strip where you expect to see the funny cars and rails tear down the strip at breakneck speeds – the winner is determined in just a few seconds. You take your seat, hear the loud roar of the engines and watch them edge up to the starting line – two gas-turbine John Deere combines with racing slick tires and huge chrome exhaust pipes flaring out from the manifolds.
The starting lights begin their blinking countdown, and instantly the two combines lurch down the strip to the smell of burning rubber and spent fuel. The combine in the left lane blows his engine, and the combine in the right lane is a mere blur as it crosses the finish line and releases its drag chute.
While tractors and combines may cost as much or more than many race cars, farmers have no desire to tear up their farm machinery on racetracks. It is easy enough to do that just by planting and harvesting. Farmers do not require much speed from tractors and combines – the nature of their work requires a slow and steady pace.
There are times, however, when farmers would not mind having combines capable of zero-to-60 acceleration in six seconds and tractors with top speeds in excess of 80 miles-per-hour, such as when they move their farm machinery from one field to another by using local county roads.
County roads are not dual-lane interstate freeways, but many drivers using these roads do not seem to realize it. Drivers continue their excessive speeds on these narrow and frequently curvy roads, and farmers transporting heavy, slow-moving equipment cannot get out of the way.
Non-farmers may wonder why farmers need to use county roads to move their tractors and combines – aren’t the fields all connected? In many cases, they are not. To remain competitive in production agriculture, many farmers find it necessary to expand by acquiring other nearby farms. Additionally, new roads built to handle the increased traffic cut through farms, isolating a farmer from some of his own fields.
This is the first week of autumn and, not coincidently, this is also National Farm Safety Week. Harvest is in full swing. In terms of injuries and accidental deaths, farming is one of the most dangerous jobs. Working long hours to beat the weather while using machinery can take its toll. Clothing gets caught in moving gears and belts, and tractors overturn.
Another reason farming is so dangerous during fall harvest is because more farmers are moving combines, tractors and farm equipment from field to field and farm to farm using county roads, where too many drivers simply drive too fast. Farmers have the bright orange, slow-moving vehicle warning signs on their combines and tractors, but they do little good when a car tops the hill at 70 miles-per-hour.
County roads offer reduced traffic volume and some pleasant country scenery to those who take the time to look. Please, slow down and enjoy the view – do not use the county road as a personal speedway to make up time or get around interstate traffic jams. Around the next curve or over the next hill may well be an immovable object called a combine.
(Denny Banister, of Jefferson City, is the assistant director of public affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.)