I have always been an advocate for the importance of individuals slowing down and being aware of their surroundings when they are sharing the road with tractors and other large farm equipment.
It can be hard for a person driving an oversized piece of farm machinery to see a car that is in a hurry and trying to pass them.
Recently, I was driving back from Westfield, Indiana, when I came to the end of the road where there is a four-way stop.
For being only 10 minutes from downtown Carmel, the intersection was located in a fairly urban part of Westfield, and across from the stop sign is actually a large field.
I was the only one at the intersection, so after checking to make sure there were no cars, I started to turn on the road when I noticed a sprayer sitting in the field I mentioned earlier and a large truck waiting to fill it up sitting on the road, blocking the roadway from oncoming traffic.
In front of the big tanker truck was a guy that was trying to direct traffic. I say try because he was not a cop and was not wearing a brightly colored safety vest to identify himself either.
In fact, he was making the situation a lot more dangerous because he was stopping traffic on one end and letting cars come from the other direction, while the number of cars waiting at the intersection began to form long lines.
I was stuck in the middle of the intersection because mid-turn the guy directing the traffic made me stop so a large semi could get through.
However, since the guy directing did not really know what he was doing, the semi almost clipped me, and then after that he let several other cars through, but they began to line up at the stop sign, as well.
Sharing the road and road safety is important for everyone, and even if a piece of equipment can’t get over on the road, they need to figure out the proper channels to go through to get help directing traffic.
