Farmers are gearing up for another growing season and that means agricultural equipment will soon be moving along roadways to fields and sharing the roads and highways in rural areas.
“When our producers are moving equipment down the road, they tend to move slower than regular traffic and require more room,” said Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler. “Farm traffic will be greatly increased at this time of year and our government encourages motorists to be aware and slow down when meeting agricultural equipment on our roadways.”
Eichler further noted that farmers also need to be considerate of other drivers and allow vehicles to safely pass when possible to maintain traffic flow.
Agricultural equipment operators need to:
- ensure all machinery is equipped with proper lighting, signage and reflectors when travelling on roadways, as required by The Highway Traffic Act;
- ensure lights, signage and reflectors are visible and clean;
- use a pilot vehicle when transporting oversized agricultural equipment;
- move equipment, whenever possible, during the day on secondary roads;
- ensure equipment will fit under power lines and on bridge structures (check width and height); and
- map out routes before transporting equipment and get appropriate permits from Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Infrastructure when applicable.
Motorists need to:
- slow down when approaching farm equipment as it is often travelling at reduced speeds and taking up considerable amount of room on roadway;
- pay attention to turn signals and possible lane changes;
- only pass when the operator of the equipment knows the intentions or it is clearly safe to do so; and
- be patient.
