NORWICH – The Chenango County Farm Bureau is pushing an initiative that it hopes will improve road safety in the county for both common motorists and farmers.

Efforts to educate motorists about the importance of rural road safety has become a priority for the organization, fueled by a number of factors including increased traffic flow by the public as well as larger, faster equipment used by farmers.

The Farm Bureau is working closely with Nationwide Insurance in a promotional campaign to spread a message to share the road responsibly.

“Most of our concerns are focused around ag equipment on the roads,” said Chenango County Farm Bureau President Bradd Vickers. “Obviously farmers have to transport large machines, and they need the ability for agriculture machinery to be transported on the road.”

Vickers said the Farm Bureau also aims to work more closely with New York State Police in the future in order to crack down on people’s illegal use of slow moving vehicle signs to mark stationary landmarks such as driveways and mail boxes.

“People get used to seeing those signs,” he added, “and then they aren’t accustomed to seeing those signs on slow moving vehicles. It’s a thing you really need to be aware of.”

The National Safety Council estimates that 15,000 collisions involving farm vehicles occur on U.S. roadways each year, and more than 16,000 traffic fatalities occur on rural roads.