The current weather in central Iowa may bely the season we’re actually in, but rest assured we are at harvest time.
With that in mind, Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard offers advice to motorists when it comes to safely operating around large harvest machinery. Primarily, Leonard emphasizes that many accidents, regardless of the season, are a result of drivers not paying attention. “(This) always brings me back to distracted driving, because obviously this is Iowa and it’s harvest season and we do have slow-moving vehicles everywhere. We’ve got trucks and tractors parked on the side of the road trying to load grain trailers and stuff. So put your cell phones down, put any of the other distracting devices down, and pay attention to your surroundings. Because we don’t need to have any more accidents than what we normally do, and they usually end up pretty bad when it’s a tractor versus a car.”
As for the farmers operating the machinery, Leonard emphasizes that they should always have their lights on in order to be seen at any hour of the day. For more fall safety tips, click the link below to listen to the recent Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Leonard.