Proposed Legislation

Hare, Schock Introduce Legislation to Improve Rural Highway Safety, Provide Uniform Standards for

WASHINGTON, DC-Congressman Phil Hare (D-Rock Island) and Congressman Aaron Schock (R-Peoria) today introduced the Agricultural Machinery Illumination Safety Act, legislation that would improve the safety of our rural highways and provide consistency for manufacturers of agricultural machinery.

Rural highways are a serious safety concern. Fifty-five percent of all traffic fatalities occur on rural 2-lane roads where agricultural equipment is moved from field to field during the dimly-lit periods of dawn and dusk, and proper lighting and marking can enhance visibility and increase the safety of transportation on these roads.

Furthermore, there is a lack of consistency regarding lighting and marking requirements for agricultural machinery. Currently there is no federal standard for such requirements, and state laws that apply vary widely, often representing outdated technology.

The Agricultural Machinery Illumination Safety Act will codify minimum lighting and marking standards for farm equipment. These standards will be set by the American Society of Agriculture and Biological Engineers. Additionally, the legislation will grant the Secretary of Transportation the authority to improve these minimum standards as technology improves.

“By enacting this legislation, we can make our rural roads safer while providing predictability to the farm equipment industry, a key manufacturing base in west-central Illinois,” Hare said. “In addition, since this bill only applies to new equipment, farmers will not have to spend any additional money retrofitting their current fleet.”

“This legislation will improve the safety of our rural roads by ensuring the lights and markings on new machinery is standardized and has been scientifically proven as effective in warning other drivers,” Schock said. “This standardization provides the added benefit of establishing much-needed clarity to our equipment manufacturers.”

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers, National Association of Manufacturers, and North American Equipment Dealers Association all support this legislation.

Comments:

The Bill below came from follow-up on what Brad Husberg mentioned in the NIOSH NORA Ag Sector notes from the August meeting. I understand industry is pushing this Bill. One, however, might ask how can this become legislation/regulation until it (the standard equipment, location, function, and its performance as well as all the allowable, important variations) is proven to effectively reduce crashes? We do not know the equipment, location, function, and performance of lighting and marking in current crashes. I expect very few crashes with latest L&M applied and in use, but is that because of performance or population?