By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

MASON, Ohio — Dave Wallace of Hamilton County can vividly recall each minor car-farm machinery mishap that has occurred along the road that passes his 84-acre farm.

One, he says, nearly resulted in the death of three teenagers. Last fall his combine was crossing the road when a speeding car clipped the end of the combine, sending the car and three passengers into a ditch. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.

“Most people forget that when they pass any farm there’s someone there working and moving a lot of equipment on and off the property,” Wallace said. “I guess they think farmers are working someplace else.”

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has ample speed limit signs in place. But most motorists still exceed those speeds. Now ODOT is hoping new state-of-the-art signs will warn motorists of the hidden dangers along rural routes near farms.

Those at the ODOT felt the old signs were not attention-getting enough. The old signs showed a silhouette of a straw hat-wearing farmer atop a small 1930s-era tractor. The ODOT intends to use modern signs, ones they hope will help better tip off motorists that there’s a farm and dangerous farm machinery lurking.

There are 14 million acres of agricultural land in Ohio and as urban sprawl increases, the number of wrecks will, too. According to Ohio Department of Public Safety statistics, between 2003-08 there were 663 wrecks reported involving cars and slow-moving farm equipment. There were seven fatalities during that time and another 140 people sent to area hospitals.

Jerry McDonald of Yellow Springs moves much of his farm implements along State Route 68 south of town. That road separates his acreage. McDonald won’t allow his two sons to operate the equipment on that road, for fear of mishaps.
“It’s just too dangerous,” he said. “Nowadays there are more and more residents moving out into the country, and they’re sharing the road with farm equipment that is a potential for danger.

“I think the ODOT is making a good effort in getting the attention of motorists with these new signs. We’ll have to wait and see. But I’m glad they’re trying to do something about it.”

Linda Matheny of Bowling Green campaigned for the change to make motorists more aware of slow-moving farm vehicles after her husband, Jerry, was killed in 1992 when a truck rammed his tractor while it was on a two-lane road.

Matheny helped design the new image, which is modeled after a contemporary John Deere tractor. She said the old sign showed an antique that motorists aren’t likely to come across.

Will all existing farm signs be replaced immediately? Probably not, says ODOT spokeswoman Faye Callahan. The new version, she said, will go up as existing signs need to be replaced.

But that may not be quick enough. ODOT figures show that traffic fatalities are occurring on the nation’s rural roads at a rate nearly three times higher than on all other roads. Wrecks on the nation’s rural, non-interstate routes resulted in an average of 22,127 fatalities annually from 1999-2003.

States in the Farm World area, though, are not among the most risky. The five states with the largest number of rural non-interstate traffic deaths in that time were Texas, California, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

ODOT officials say rural roads are dangerous, period. Most rural roads have poor roadway design, narrow lanes, limited shoulders, sharp curves, exposed hazards, pavement drop-offs, steep slopes and limited clear zones along roadsides.

“In a way it’s strange,” McDonald said. “ODOT thinks motorists need a modernized sign to give them warning, when my two large barns should be the only warning they really need. Even a large silo should be a warning, but I guess having new, modernized signs will help.”

Approximately 60 million people (21 percent of the nation’s population) live in rural communities in the United States and those at ODOT plan on curtailing the number of wrecks in Ohio. They’re hoping their new signs will help.