The death of a woman thrown from a hay wagon during a ride at a county fair has opened a debate over whether Kentucky needs stronger laws on farm equipment safety.
Dale Dobson, head of the Farm Safety Program through the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, thinks it’s fine that the state has no regulations governing who can operate farm vehicles. “There are no laws, and we don’t need any laws,” he said.
Others disagree. “A lot of trailers out there are in bad condition,” said Ron Melancon, a former medical technician in Richmond, Va. “There is no training in how to drive one with people in it; they are meant for cargo.”
Investigators say Terri Hurley was killed July 3 when a wagon carrying 30 people jackknifed on a hill at a Mercer County farm. Dobson said deaths from farm equipment accidents have dropped from around 50 a year in the mid-1990s to just 13 or 14 annually in the late 2000s.
Still, Melancon insists more crashes could be prevented. Many wagons used by families are homemade and don’t require a license, he said. “Nobody is verifying what you are building is safe,” he said. “We are using 1930 laws in 2010.”.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Global Tech Outage Disrupts Industries, Highlights Online Risks 
Man Admits to Tracking Drivers, Programming Keys, Stealing and Reselling Vehicles 
Travelers Reverses Q2 Income Loss, Narrows Underwriting Loss 
Study Urges Rethinking of Disaster Management in Era of Compounding Events From This Issue
