As some of you may have seen, Erie Mutual hosted a seminar at the Dunnville Community Lifespan Centre on February 27, 2015 called “Protecting your Farm”. This event was planned to help educate policyholders, as well as the general public.

We had 5 guest speakers. One of the guest speakers was Constable Mark Foster from the OPP presently stationed at the Haldimand County detachment as a Community Service Officer. Mark brought a presentation on ATV and Farm safety which was very informational for everyone in attendance.

Listed below is some of the material that Mark presented. There were many things that he presented that was new to a lot of the attendees.

• Rules of the road that DO NOT apply for farm equipment: slow driving, seat belt requirements and farm equipment operating on the shoulder of the road
• Farm equipment may be driven on the traveled portion of the road, on the shoulder portion, except where prohibited, or on both portions when operating wide equipment
• If large equipment is transported on licensed trucks or trailers, oversize/overweight permits may be needed
• Slow moving vehicle sign warns other road users that the vehicle with the sign on it goes 40km/h or less, if a vehicle is going faster than that, the sign is prohibited
• The sign should be placed as close to the centre of the rear of the vehicle between 2ft and 6ft of the road
• You CANNOT put a slow moving vehicle sign on a fixed object such as a mailbox or driveway marker

Stay tuned for the next blog where we will outline Off-Road Vehicle and ATV regulations and safety

Resource: OPP Farm Guide – Farm Equipment on the Highway