With Iowa being 92 percent farmland, Agriculture is an important part of the state’s culture. Referring back to the previous blog, “Agriculture Fatalities Largest in State of Iowa”, farming is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. With agriculture, come tractors – tractor accidents makes up more than half of all fatal farm accidents.

Many tractor accidents occur when they could have been prevented by taking stricter safety measures on the part of the manufacturer or by tractor operators practicing greater caution.

The most common type of tractor accident is a tractor rollover, followed by falling off the tractor, run-over accidents, getting crushed by/in the tractor and entanglement.

Some causes of a rollover tractor accident are:

• Poor hitching
• Traveling up incline that’s too steep for the tractor
• Improper ballasting, driving too close to a ditch
• Holes in fields
• Excessive speed during turns.

Many of these accidents could have been avoided by using seat belts, roll bars and protective cabin. Because of the reoccurrence of the tractor accidents and fatalities, the U.S. Department of Labor has set in place the Roll-Over Protective Structure Standard to improve the tractor safety. All drivers of tractors must undergo higher-levels of training before operating a tractor and all tractors must have a roll over protective structures.

Like driving any vehicle, extra precaution and defensive driving must take place.

The Beattie Law Firm has extensive experience in agriculture-related cases. If you or a loved one have a related case or have any questions, don’t hesitate to call or email.