Road safety and agriculture should go together

Courtesy and respect are qualities that could play a role to create safer Oconee County road travel, especially when it comes to the slow-moving but the very valuable farm machinery so common in the county’s agricultural heartland.  Last night’s meeting of the county agricultural advisory board zeroed in on a need for an awareness program directed toward the non-agricultural driving public to be more aware and careful in and around farm equipment and machinery on the roads. Farmers are mindful of the cars and trucks that back up behind them and do look for areas to pull over to allow the faster traffic to go by.  But as Andy Whitten of the Young Farmers and Ranchers of the Oconee Farm Bureau says finding those safe spots to pull over is becoming harder and harder.  Speaking to the agriculture board, Whitten says the postal service could help by requiring roadside mail boxes to be set in place farther off road and the DOT could help by widening road shoulders and better maintenance of roadside ditches.