Two serious accidents on Minnesota highways involving farm trucks this week have left two people dead and two others injured, one seriously. The first accident occurred at 11:15 p.m. Monday, October 5 on Minnesota SR 9, just north of Felton. 1 An empty sugar beet truck heading north collided with a pick-up truck going south when the pick-up crossed the center line. The Minnesota State Highway Patrol said that signs at the scene indicated that the truck driver took evasive action. However, the two men in the pick-up truck were pronounced dead at the accident site. The farm truck driver was taken to Essentia Health in Fargo, North Dakota, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.
Another accident involving a farm truck occurred at 3:15 a.m. on Tuesday, October 6, just west of Borup, Minnesota. 3 In this one-vehicle accident, a truck loaded with sugar beets rolled over while trying to turn the corner at Norman County Road 39 and 240th Street. The truck driver was air-lifted to a Fargo hospital with serious injuries. A spokesman for the Norman County Sheriff’s Department said that Flores did not have a commercial driver’s license (CDL.)
The accidents highlight the hazards that this time of year (harvest time) bring to America’s roadways. At the height of the 10 to 14-day sugar beet harvest season in Minnesota and North Dakota, as many as 50,000 truck loads of beets will be processed at American Crystal Sugar’s receiving sites. 2 And that’s just one company in one region of the country. The demand for drivers during this economically critical season makes it necessary for farms to hire drivers without CDLs and the extra experience and training that goes with earning such a license. This practice is within the law. While semi drivers are required to have commercial driver’s licenses, many states, including Minnesota and North Dakota, allow farm truck drivers to drive with just their regular driver’s license as long as they are traveling within 150 miles of the farm.
Why harvest time is a particularly-dangerous time for truck accidents
In America’s rural communities, harvest time, the season from from mid-September through the end of October, is especially dangerous to drivers. Combines, tractors and other farm equipment as well as open trucks heavily laden with produce take to the state highways and back roads this time of year. Since these vehicles using go slower–often much slower–than the usual traffic, accidents can occur when impatient drivers try to pass on a solid yellow line or when distracted drivers fail to realize how slow the vehicles in front of them are traveling.
If you or someone you care about has been injured or killed in a collision with a farm truck or piece of farm equipment, we can help protect your rights and find out what really happened during the accident. Contact our lawyers for a free case consultation or call our lawyers directly at 1-888-377-8900 to discuss your personal injury or wrongful death claim.
Sources:
- http://www.dl-online.com/news/accidents/3855668-beet-harvest-turns-fatal-recent-truck-accidents-puts-focus-road-safety
- http://www.inforum.com/news/3856298-amid-sugar-beet-truck-accidents-some-question-minnesota-north-dakota-regulations-ag
- http://www.agweek.com/news/north-dakota/3856460-amid-truck-accidents-some-question-regulations-ag-drivers