Threats to Road Safety by Agricultural Tractors

Farmer’s safety in workplace as well as during travel related to work is one of the crucial aspects of sustainable agriculture. There are approximately 1.3 million farms in Poland, with almost 1,480 thousand tractors, 165 thousand combine harvesters and thousands on other farm-related machines vehicles and used. Those machines travel on public roads in order to reach outlying fields and to transport products to market or processing facilities, creating danger for all road users. According to Polish National Police Headquarters, accidents involving tractors and self-propelled agricultural machines accounted for approximately 0.5–0.8% of all road accidents in 2016–2022. The year fatalities ranged from 16 to 22, whereas the number of injuries, from 144 to 166. The specific nature of agricultural vehicles and machines, including dimensions and weight, but also vehicle aggressivity, limited visibility, and poor operator skills and lack of experience are all contributing factors to these accidents. Tractors are the major contributor to the accidents involving agriculture machinery. The paper presents an analysis of selected cases of farm-related vehicles and equipment accidents. It shows that the most common causes of accidents are excessive speed; failure to maintain a safe distance between vehicles; and general lack of caution driving around farm equipment.