Spring has arrived, and every other developing season has started. An agricultural county like Wayne County also alerts the beginning of greater farm equipment and gadgets on roadways. Today’s column attracts information from the OSU Extension Agricultural and Resource Law Program. In particular, an Ag Law Blog, March 26, 2019, submit (https://farmoffice.Osu.Edu/weblog-categories/roadway-laws) and an OSU Extension Law Bulletin guide, “Rules of the Road: Navigating Ohio Roadway Laws for Farm Machinery.”
The Ohio Revised Code defines farm machinery to include all machines and equipment utilized in agriculture to plant, harvest, and deliver agricultural products. Roadway laws define necessities for signage, lighting, weight barriers, farm machinery dimensions, and motion/tour regulations. Concerning signage, farm machinery that travels at 25 mph or less ought to have a slow-shifting car brand. The SMV brand ought to be visible at 500 feet from the rear of the automobile. Any vehicle designed to travel more than 25 mph must further display a velocity identification image to the SMV logo. The SIS must also be visible at a 500-foot distance from the car and show the vehicle’s maximum possible speed.
Lighting is an important factor in roadway protection for farm equipment. From sundown to sunrise, in situations of low visibility, or anytime there may be precipitation, multi-wheel agricultural tractors of the year 2001 or earlier should have reflectors and illuminated amber lamps. The ORC says,”… The tractor’s extreme left and right projections are indicated through flashing lamps showing amber light, seen to the front and the rear, utilizing amber reflectors, all visible to the front. Utilizing purple reflectors, all visible to the rear.” The ORC says that multi-wheeled tractors of the version year 2002 and later “shall be geared up with and display markings and illuminated lamps that meet or exceed the lighting fixtures, illumination, and staining standards and specifications which apply to that sort of farm equipment for the unit’s version year unique inside the American society of agricultural engineers popular ANSI/ASAE S279.11 APR01, or any next revisions of that standard.”
According to the Extension Rules of the Road Law Bulletin, “Farm vans or equipment sporting farm commodities which include farm animals, bulk milk, corn, soybeans, tobacco, and wheat are allowed to surpass the general weight limits by way of 7.Five percent. This exception isn’t always relevant in February or March, or on interstate highways or highways, roads, or bridges that have reduced maximum weights.”
Several things outline the general weight limits on roadways. Quoting the Law Bulletin book again, “the gross weight of a vehicle with pneumatic tires cannot be greater than eighty 000 kilos. For an automobile with solid tires, the general weight cannot be greater than 80 percent of the load allowed for a pneumatic-worn-out vehicle.” If manure, turf, sod, silage, chips, sawdust, mulch, bark, pulpwood, biomass, or firewood is hauled, those automobiles are allowed to surpass the general weight limits by using 7.5 percent with no time of yr restrictions.
As farm equipment has improved in length, moving alongside roadways poses demanding situations to site visitors’ protection, and questions are raised concerning felony limits for width, length, and height. Ohio law states cars aren’t allowed to exceed 102 inches in width, 50 feet in length, or 13 feet, 6 inches in height. A commercial tractor-semitrailer aggregate cannot exceed fifty-three feet in length. However, farm equipment/gadgets this is driven or self-propelled are commonly exempted from those obstacles. The Extension Ag Law Bulletin says, “The Ohio Department of Transportation has a policy that translates this farm equipment exemption. According to ODOT, farm machinery and systems that are self-propelled or towed fall under the dimension exemption. Farm equipment that is hauled or transported isn’t exempt from measurement limits.”
