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Study: More lighting on farm equipment reduces crashes

Photo courtesy University of Iowa

Photo courtesy University of Iowa

New research suggests there would be a dramatic reduction in crashes involving farm vehicles if states adopted policies requiring more lights and reflectors on the equipment.

A study by the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health looked at regulations in nine Midwestern states. In those nine states there are, on average, 1,100 farm vehicle-related crashes a year. According to the study, accidents would be cut in half if state policies aligned more closely with standards for lighting and marking the machinery suggested by the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Corrine Peek-Asa, one of the study’s authors, says responsibility for these accidents should not fall entirely on the farmers.

“It is usually not the operator of the farm equipment at fault. More often these crashes are the fault of the other cars on the roadway,” Peek-Asa says. “I think our baseline goal is to catch the attention of rural communities, and especially awareness that rural roadway safety is a shared responsibility.”

The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Peek-Asa is a professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Iowa.

Radio Iowa and Missourinet contributed to this story.

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