Safety is no accident
Autumn 2026 officially begins this week on Tuesday evening, and that means harvest season is not far away. In fact, the seed corn harvest has already begun in our area, as evidenced by the string of trucks lining up at the Beck’s processing plant near Phillips bringing in this year’s crop.
It’s also National Farm Safety & Health Week (Sept. 21-25), which is strategically timed due to the fact that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows this is the most dangerous time of the year in agriculture.
The long hours and fatigue of the season, coupled with heavy and bulky vehicles on narrow country roads and various other hazards make this a time for heightened vigilance and caution, not just for farmers but for everyone living in rural areas.
The theme chosen for this year’s observance is “Safety today, success tomorrow,” is a good one since it reminds everyone that an important part of maintaining safety is thinking ahead about potential hazards and looking ahead down the road to give ourselves time to avoid dangerous situations.
One of the most salient points of last week’s ANR article on XPO’s driver safety program (Page C5), and one that applies to everyone on the road or in the harvest field, is “leave yourself an out.” The company trains its drivers to maintain a 6- to 8-second cushion between their vehicle and the one in front, so they can avoid putting themselves in a position where there are no good options in case something goes wrong. While that rule applies to heavy trucks which take longer to stop, the National Safety Council advises all drivers to leave at least a 3-second gap between vehicle and the one in front for the same reason.
That being said, it appears many drivers today don’t look much further down the road than the bumper of the vehicle ahead of them, causing them to have to change lanes at the very last second if there’s a disabled or emergency vehicle on the roadside or if the lanes on the interstate are going from two to one for construction.
This is especially noticeable when there is heavy fog when cars (often without headlights) are bunching up or drivers are going as fast as they would on a sunny day. Some drivers seem to have no concept of how little time they have to react if something suddenly looms up out of the fog 50 yards ahead.
Whether you are participating in the harvest yourself or simply sharing the road with those bringing in the harvest, where safety is concerned a little forethought and imagination about what could happen, and then planning ahead about how you’ll be prepared when and if it happens, can go a long way.
And, as the theme also suggests, a little bit of thinking about safety today will help ensure there is a tomorrow for you and the ones you share the road with.
Ron Burtz