Part of our annual series for Canadian Agricultural Safety Week
MANITOULIN—Following road safety practices with large slow moving farm vehicles and cars, trucks and other vehicles is paramount to keeping divers of all vehicles safe, as evidenced by at least one Manitoulin farmer who said an accident he was involved in a few years ago could have easily taken his life.
“I shouldn’t be here,” stated Mike Fogal of Gordon, recalling the accident of November 2020, just outside of Gore Bay. “I farm cows and on that day in November I was heading out with my tractor to feed cattle at a farm just down the highway (at what is known as Walkers Corner). It was in the evening, and I had all the lights on my tractor/vehicle including an amber sign light at the top of the vehicle.”
“It was around 6-6:30 pm in the evening when the accident took place,” said Mr. Fogal. “A car came up behind me and ran into my tractor. I really have no idea what happened, but I know the impact flipped my tractor over and threw me out of cab of the tractor and I remember lying in the middle of the road on the pavement of Highway 540.”
| Read our other stories for 2025’s annual Canadian Agricultural Safety Week: |
| • Green Bay farmer learned a hard lesson about cattle safety • The weight of the harvest: mental health in Canadian agriculture |
“There was nothing left of my tractor or the cab, the impact broke every window on the vehicle,” said Mr. Fogal, who was very fortunate to only suffer a broken nose. “I was all bruised up and a little out of it for a while.” The driver of the car suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
“I was damn lucky to come out of that accident,” stated Mr. Fogal. “I really don’t how I got out of it (alive).”
Mr. Fogal said, “the driver of the other vehicle car was charged, I think for careless driving.
Erwin Thompson, a witness to the accident told The Expositor, “I saw it. There was a car in front of me and behind the tractor that hit him. I had nearly pulled out to pass the car just before the accident took place. The driver of the car kept speeding up and slowing down.”
“The driver of the car would speed up to about 80 kilometres hour and then slow down to about 60,” said Mr. Thompson. “It was at about 6:10 pm so it was dusk. Yes, all the lights on his (Mr. Fogal’s) vehicle were on.”
When the accident took place, “the tractor flipped over on the other side of the road, and I could see (Mr. Fogal) thrown out of the cab of the vehicle,” said Mr. Thompson. “The car was on the opposite side of the highway in the ditch on my side of the road.”
It is incidents like this that led Bill Orford, chair of the Manitoulin North Shore Ontario Federation of Agriculture and a member of the MNS Policy Advisory Committee to say, “We definitely still need to advocate for road safety, and that both farmers and lighter vehicles drive in a manner that is safe for everyone.”
“Farmers should have slow moving vehicle (SMV) signs on their farm equipment vehicles and flashing lights for instance on the back of their hay wagons, to warn motorists they are there,” said Mr. Orford. “These large, slow moving farm vehicles have as much right to be on the road as lighter, smaller vehicles (cars and trucks).”
Accidents involving SMV and other vehicles, “is still a problem all over Ontario,” said Mr. Orford.
“When a vehicle comes up on a farm equipment vehicle of any kind, they should slow right down and only proceed to pass when its safe,” said Mr. Orford. “Farm vehicles are not supposed to be driven on the shoulder of a road (they are to travel on the travelled portion of road), because sometimes this portion of the road is soft and will give way and they could potentially roll over; or there may be hazards on the side of the road.”
Mr. Orford said SLM farm vehicles are on highways and roads at all times of the year, for all kinds of farming aspects of their work such as seeding, baling of hay and taking crops off the farm. These vehicles can be going anywhere from 15-20 kilometres per hour to the limit of 40. They need to have SMV posted on all parts of the farm equipment. “We would like to see flashing lights on all these vehicles as well, to make sure oncoming vehicles know they are coming up on an SMV.”
“There have been several accidents on the Island over the years involving farm equipment and vehicles, including one involving John Lewis a couple of years ago, Mike Fogal several years ago near the Floyd Walker corner, and Ed Wright was involved in an accident in Evansville on Union and Poplar road this past summer, although the latter was due in part to visibility, as he and the driver couldn’t see each other because the brush on the side of the road was too high,” said Mr. Orford.
Mr. Wright told the Expositor, “I was involved in an accident right at the Poplar Road corner. I had a wagon behind my tractor and I was moving cut brush from my neighbours and as I reached the corner of the road I looked to see if there was any traffic. When I went to cross the road I could hear the tires squealing on a vehicle coming at me. He ran into the front of the tractor with his small station wagon and it pushed the front of my trailer in about four feet.” The other driver was going at a good speed because a black streak could be seen on the road for about 60 feet.
“I jumped off my tractor and told him to shut his car off, because there was steam coming from the car. I could barely see him (the driver),” said Mr. Wright. “I thought his car was on fire, and it appeared to be smoke inside the car with the air bag having been opened.”
Fortunately, neither driver was injured.
SMV drivers must yield half the roadway to oncoming vehicles. If you leave your lane to travel on the shoulder, you must yield to any traffic in the roadway before re-entry.
Farm vehicles on a highway between half hour before sunset and half hour after sunrise, or when vehicles are not clearly visible from 150 meters, must have at least two white headlights facing forward, and one red taillight facing rearward.
When towing implements, the rear-most unit must have at least one red taillight. Farm vehicles or towed equipment over 2.6 metres wide must have two taillights, and over width equipment have other specific requirements.
On the OFA website viewpoint April 18, 2022 Crispin Colvin, who was executive member of the OFA reported that, “The OFA wants to remind all motorists to stay alert for farm equipment. Remember to be patient, slow down when you see the slow-moving vehicle (SMV) sign and share the road with farm machinery travelling from field-to-field. A daunting 74 percent of farm SMV accidents occur between summer and late harvest. Our equipment is slow, heavy, wide and we have a limited window of opportunity to get our crops in the ground.”
“It is worth waiting the few seconds or minutes it takes to pass farm equipment safely. Passenger vehicles incorrectly passing farm equipment results in serious accidents or death. Shockingly, eight out of 10 accidents occur during the day and seven out of 10 occur with dry road conditions,” said the OFA.
