TOWN OF HOUNSFIELD, New York (WWNY) – Now that harvest season is upon us, farmers are urging drivers to watch out for tractors, combines, and choppers on the roads.
All farming vehicles tend to have symbols on them to alert others.
“The slow-moving vehicle emblem that we have, it’s fluorescent orange for the daytime visibility. We want to make sure it is visible for at least 500 feet. You can see these up to 1,000 feet,” said Mike Hunter, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County.
Most of the machines travel up to 25 to 30 miles per hour. Some farmers say when drivers are behind one of them on the road they should pay attention to the farming vehicles’ signals.
“Seems like a lot of the times people are too much in a hurry to respect that turn signal or they don’t understand that it is a turn signal I guess,” said farmer Dan Shirley.
“Sometimes people feel like, oh, they are slowing down allowing me to pass. They may be slowing down so they can make this left-hand turn,” said Hunter.
Hunter says this can then turn into a collision if a driver is also making a left turn.
Farmers say it’s most likely drivers will see the farm machines before the operators see them.
Plus, there are also other warning indicators like flashing lights for nighttime on the farming equipment.
Farmers say they can often travel anywhere between a 15 to 20-mile radius.
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