Share the freakin’ road
I’m going to ask you to do something for me. This weekend, when you’re out and about visiting friends and family for the Thanksgiving long weekend, take a moment to thank those who grew and raised the food you’re going to wolf down. In fact, take that moment exactly when you’re cursing and swearing at the farm vehicle in front of you, slowing you down and stealing precious time from your social occasions while the farmer ahead of you is working.
“Why’s she being so snarky?” you wonder? Let me tell you a little story.
Last Thursday, there was a wee incident that occurred right in front of my husband’s family farm, which is east of Uxbridge, on a sideroad just off Reach Rd. This incident occurred because some twit behind the wheel of a car couldn’t hold her horses for a mere three seconds while a tractor turned a corner.
Now, for you came-from-the-city folk who aren’t wise to it yet, it’s harvest season. Wheat, corn, soybeans – all kinds of crops are ready for getting off the fields. So our farmers are hard at work cutting, combining, and hauling large loads. A lot of the time, there is only one path for them to get from field to farm, and that’s the same path you and I travel – the road. But for some reason, people in cars and pick-up trucks don’t seem to think that farm vehicles should have the right to be on the road. So they get annoyed and frustrated and do all manner of stupid things to put a farm vehicle in their rearview mirror.
Case in point – the incident on Thursday. One of the fellows from our farm was hauling a large forage wagon up our sideroad, back to the farm. Now, traffic on Reach Rd. was slow because of some work being done, and many people were deciding to forgo the two or three minute wait and deke up our sideroad, turn right at another side road and meet up with Reach on the other side of construction. This made our relatively tranquil sideroad a grand thoroughfare for impatient traffic.
As the afore-mentioned fellow was turning left into the first driveway of the farm, the sweet young thing I mentioned at the top of the column decided she needed to get around this pesky tractor and wagon combo, and proceeded to try and pass him. As he was slowing down, as he was turning into a driveway. Instead she got herself lodged in between the tractor and wagon, and lost waaayyy more time dealing with the police than she ever would have had she just taken a couple of seconds and let the tractor/wagon complete its turn.
Every single time I discover that my hubby will be driving the tractor along the roads, I tell him to be safe. Every single time he comes home from a day of driving the tractor along the roads, he says that his life – his life – was endangered by impatient drivers speeding by him, forcing oncoming traffic onto the shoulder, or even into the ditch.
Nothing. I repeat – nothing in your life is so time-sensitive and important that you can’t take a moment or two and wait for an appropriate opportunity to pass a farm vehicle. You’re racing because you’re late for work? The five seconds you may or may not save passing unsafely isn’t going to make you on time. Someone’s having a baby? Better to bring a life into the world in the car rather than get in a self-caused accident that snuffs out multiple lives. Just eager to get home? Your home will still be there, guaranteed. And it would be nice if you’d let the farmer make it home, too. After all, he/she ensures that, in one form or another, you eat. You really ought to afford him/her the respect they deserve.
My strongly worded rebuke also applies to those who feel they can bomb by school buses or blow through their flashing lights. For the love of Pete, there are children involved there! You are not one bit more important than they are; just think of how many lives you impact by making one bad decision, one poorly timed pass.
Having a driver’s licence, and a vehicle, is a privilege, not a right. While we do pay for roads with our taxes, it is not yours to own while on it.
When you take that moment I asked you to take at the beginning of this column, remind yourself that a real person is doing a tough job. Slow down, breathe and remember that nothing is so important it can’t wait a few seconds. Because that’s all it takes.