Courtesy urged on harvest roads

You might feel frustrated when you get stuck driving behind a combine or a tractor pulling farm equipment down a highway.

But put yourself in the farmer's shoes — well, work boots — to come up with an alternative.

“I can't help it,” said Norman Raabe, who farms near Hadar, in northeast Nebraska's Pierce County. “I've got to go from field to field on the highway.”

Raabe's combine goes about 20 mph max, he said. That obviously is below highway cruising speed.

“I try to get off the roads as far as I can,” he said, “but I can't get all the way off the road.”

The Nebraska State Patrol sent out a reminder that motorists can expect to see more farm equipment on state roadways as harvest season gets under way.

“It's easy to become a little antsy when sharing the road with slow-moving agricultural equipment,” Maj. Russ Stanczyk, the patrol's traffic services commander, said in a press release. “However, this is the time for all drivers to exercise caution and take great care when following or passing these big farm vehicles.”

An average of 91 fatal crashes between farm equipment and motor vehicles occurred each year in the United States from 2003 through 2008, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics. The most such fatalities in Nebraska since 2004 was three, recorded in 2007. Iowa Department of Transportation figures from 2004 through 2008 show 2004 as the worst year for fatalities, with nine.

Raabe, who has been farming for 40 years, said he has had some close calls over the years, but no collisions. To get to the field farthest from his place, he said, he has to go about four miles on the highway.

People seem to be more impatient today than in past years, Raabe said.

“It seems like they're always in a hurry,” he said.

“They all pull out and pass. Sometimes they'll pass and look at you (as if to say), ‘What are you doing in the road? Get out of the way.' ”

Contact the writer:

444-1109, bob.glissmann@owh.com