As farmers begin the harvest season and agricultural traffic increases, leading rural insurer NFU Mutual is urging all rural road users to take extra care over the coming months. The harvest season is already underway in many places, with livestock farmers making their vital first cut of silage to build stores to feed cattle through next winter. Silage cutting is followed by hay making, generally from June onwards, with arable crop harvesting taking place through July and August.
Coinciding with the hotter weather when people look to explore the countryside, harvest season brings a greater need for all road users to respect their fellow road users and the hazards common on country roads, says the leading rural insurer. The next few months will see higher volumes of agricultural traffic than in Autumn and Winter, including many tractors pulling heavy silage and grain trailers or wide agricultural machinery.
The latest claims data from NFU Mutual shows that collisions between agricultural vehicles and third parties were 52% more likely between the start of May and the end of September 2022 than in any other months. On average, there were 423 of these accidents per month during the silage cutting, hay making, and harvesting season, compared to 249 per month between October and April.
As well as an increase in agricultural traffic, the summer months also coincide with the school holidays and a greater amount of leisure traffic, with road users not necessarily used to rural roads, which can further increase the risk of accidents. The increase in agricultural vehicles in the road coincides with the sunnier weather and school holidays to greatly increase the volume of traffic on rural roads during this time.
Jade Devlin, rural road safety specialist at NFU Mutual, is encouraging rural communities and visitors alike to remain aware of tractors, trailers, and other agricultural machinery on the road:
“With silaging underway in many parts of the UK, we’re beginning to see more tractors, trailers and large agricultural machinery such as combine harvesters on our rural roads. Unfortunately, our claims data shows that accidents involving these agricultural vehicles and third parties are over 50% more likely in the harvesting season, so we’re sharing some advice on how everyone can stay safe on rural roads this spring and summer.
“Agricultural vehicles are generally large, wide and slow, which can tempt road users to overtake, but it’s vital that you remain patient and only overtake when it’s safe to do so – when you can see a clear road ahead, there are no field openings, and you have space to pass. Farmers and contractors cannot drive too quickly, but they will generally either be going a short distance to an adjacent field or will – and should – pull over to allow built-up traffic to pass. Motorists and cyclists should be patient, give agricultural vehicles room to turn and not drive too closely to them, which can be dangerous and can obstruct your view before overtaking.
“Mutual respect from those who use rural roads for work and for pleasure will ultimately help keep our motorists, cyclists, horse riders and walkers safe this harvest season.”
Reiterating the importance of staying safe on rural roads this summer, Inspector Jem Mountford from Warwickshire Police Roads Policing Unit said:
“Road safety is everyone’s responsibility. With more people using country roads during the summer months, it is important we are all patient and show respect to other road users. If everyone does this, then we can reduce the number of collisions and injuries on these roads.”
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