Slow down and be safe! Tractors and oil rigs don’t mix on highways
By Rebecca Colnar
Accident statistic: in 2008, the Williams County Sheriff’s Department reported 168 accidents. In 2011, that number increased to 700. Even though Sheriff Scott Busching noted the department doesn’t track types of vehicles involved in the accidents, the fact of the stunning increase is enough to make anyone realize the risks of driving in the Bakken area, especially if you’re a farmer creeping along in a slow-moving vehicle. It’s spring and that means farmers will be traveling the busy highways and county roads around the Bakken oilfield development. A few years ago, traffic wasn’t such an issue, but with the increased energy development activity, some farmers feel they are taking their life in their hands every time they have to move a seeder, combine or baler. The Steinbeisser family has been farming near Sidney for many years, traveling along Highway 16 to get from field to field. They farm sugar beets, soybeans, potatoes and alfalfa hay, farming land on both sides of Highway 16, which often necessitates moving their large equipment along the road. “Last fall during beet harvest, we had to let our 12-row beet digger sit for two days until I could move it on a Sunday, when there wasn’t so much traffic. It was too spooky moving it during the week. If I didn’t have to move it, I didn’t,” explains Don Steinbeisser, Jr. Steinbeisser says that it’s ridiculous that a farmer can sit for 10 minutes trying to turn onto the highway because of all of the traffic, as well as the speed of the traffic. “We really need those truck drivers to slow down,” says Steinbeisser. “A lot of these trucks drive way too fast. Just because a truck can reach speeds of 75 mph, it doesn’t mean the drive has to go that fast. We need drivers to be more courteous; it always seems they are in a hurry.” The Sidney farmer says trucks will be doing 75 mph, but the top speed of tractor pulling farm equipment is closer to 15 mph. “If I have a combine with a drill on it, I can’t see around it very well. We have flaggers, but I can’t figure what a person is thinking who passes me around a corner going up a hill.” Steinbeisser explains that their newer machinery has turn signals, blinkers and flashers, “but a light flashing back there doesn’t mean they’re going to slow down. When I’m doing 148
BAKKEN OIL REPORT – SPRING 2013
about 15 mph and they’re doing 80 or 90 mph, that gap closes really fast.” “We don’t have a problem with the development or the oil industry, and our main highways are standing up pretty well, but people need to slow down and I think speed limits need to be lower, and also be enforced,” the beet farmer says. “A lot of drivers aren’t used to being around farm machinery,” Steinbeisser says. “It’s not our goal to slow them down; we’re just trying to do our work, too.” Ron Sylte, who has been farming in Williston since 1976, says the problem of farm equipment/oil truck conflict is that some truck drivers don’t understand agriculture. “They assume we can pull over and let them by. Well, we are 30-feet wide and we can’t just pull over,” he says. “Some of the drivers will get upset and drive in the ditch, flip us off and scream at us, showing no respect at all. We are trying to move this equipment up and down these roads. We have no other choice. They don’t seem to understand it. We take our lives in our hands every time we move our equipment because the trucks drive 60 mph down the middle of a gravel road. I was always taught if you come to a hill, move over to the right. These guys don’t; they expect you to get off the road. It’s tough.” Sylte explains that generally most farmers will be moving tractors, drills, combines and grain carts for less than a mile, so patience to those following works best. “Our equipment might be 20-feet wide, 18-feet high and 70-feet long, and that’s hard to hide on the road. But the only people who slow down for us are the locals.” Cowboy-turned-crude oil hauler Paul Woods is cognizant that spring finds a lot of farm machinery on the road. “The farmers are doing the yearly routine as they have for years, and certainly traffic on the roads has increased very significantly since the boom. As a truck driver, one should always be cognizant of potential hazards on the road such as slow-moving machinery. In other words, slow down and be courteous and respectful of others. Above all, be safe. Others have their place on the road as well,” Woods explains. He acknowledges the resentment among locals toward truckers because of the increased traffic and particularly the enormous amount of dust that is created in the dry months. “It coats everything from crops to feed to cattle,” he says.