Wi | jocoshar23 - 5/3/2014 18:08 The reason people hate em is because they put on a big show on their brand new equipment. I find them annoying. Only time i would ever use the beacon would be at night when its hard to see equipment.
Evidently you have some petty unresolved personal issues. I realize Iowa is one big cornfield, but its amazing how many people apparently don't have to deal with the large amounts of traffic others deal with. We deal with a ton of traffic unfortunately. A beacon is barely enough in broad daylight. You may think its easy to see farm equipment but try driving with your face looking at you phone and tell be those two blinking amber lights get your attention? They don't. Answer me this, why does a garbage truck that operates in town on roads with 25mph speed limits need bright LED strobes flashing everywhere? People know what a garbage truck is, they are not over width, they are massive and stick out yet apparently they had too many accidents and needed to put some serious lighting on them.
There is no reason a farm tractor should get rear ended by an alert attentive driver. Yet it happens very often. The reason is simple, whether the driver was distracted or not, the farm equipment did not get their attention adequately. Flashing hazards do nothing to get a drivers attention, in fact they simply cause confusion with turn signals enough times. The new Wisconsin laws for farm equipment were just signed last month and they now list beacons and strobes as adequate replacements for running with hazards on. Its also a lot safer for the operator of the tractor especially at night because the wide flashers tend to flash in the mirrors rendering them useless. They also flash into the cab which is annoying and disturbing.
You as the farmer are responsible for making your equipment stand out. If you life in BFE you probably don't need to worry much, but for those of us on the roads often and dealing with large amounts of urban traffic, the factory equipment just isn't enough. You need something that is obnoxious and scares a driver. Even a beacon isn't the best at this, but it still gets 90% of the peoples attention. Using real conspicuity tape thats stands out helps too as do running lights. I don't know why ag equipment OEM's dont mark the extremities with running lights in this day and age but its easy to do yourself. Truck Lite sells bright LED running lights that have VHB tape on them. Simply peel and stick and run your wires out to them. $10 each and your are done. LED strobes can help avoid confusions with turn signals and still get drivers attention. There are boxes that will do the strobe part for the lights and then cancel them when a signal is used.
These are one example, I put these on our Fendt. They mark the width of the machine and are easily visible from over a half mile and blinding up close yet they are directional meaning they do not flash to the sides much which avoids blinding the operator in the cab. Also keeps mirrors useable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5tJQwIbagU
Too many farmers feel they are entitled to the road and everyone should look out for them. Your attitude will change when a 16 year old is dead in their car due to your negligence, even if you are within the laws. Sounds extreme? In your state of Iowa on average there are over 300 accidents with injuries involving injury annually. Farm equipment versus car accidents are 5 times more likely to produce fatality than other accidents. According to the NHTSA, in 2006 there were 87 crashes with fatalities involving ag equipment nationwide. Think of how many people had smart phones then? That number is likely growing. Many say "but it will never happen to me" until it does. When someone is killed many times the others involved that are still alive wonder what they could've done to prevent it and live with that regret. Some never get over it, its traumatic and you wont know what it will be like unless it happens. The best thing you can do is do everything you can to know you did what you could to prevent any accidents. Even then if someone does get killed you will likely have a lot of emotional trouble, but the odds of a fatal accident happening are much lower when your equipment is well marked and visible from a very long distance.
Its amazing to me how many people on here use the excuse of being able to sleep better at night to justify things like 100hr oil changes, fuel additives, extended warranties etc etc but when it comes to preventing accidents they feel the world revolves around them, its not their responsibility, or in your case they are worried about what the neighbors will think and being "cool". Maybe its because I grew up in a town with a class size larger than I could count on my hands and toes, so "fitting in" never mattered, but to see supposedly successful business owners and grown men worried about something as petty as a safety device just blows me away. Find a hobby or something, apparently dirt farming really is that boring.
Edited by durallymax 5/4/2014 02:21
|
Beacons?
