Abstract
BACKGROUND: Agriculture consistently ranks as one of the highest risk industries in North America and Europe. In addition to vehicle injuries and other injuries that occur on farms, farm vehicle drivers are also involved in collisions involving tractors and other slow-moving vehicles (SMVs) on public roads. These collisions often lead to injuries among farmers, family members, farm workers, and other road users.
OBJECTIVE: To conduct a demographic analysis of road traffic incidents involving tractors in Sweden during the time period 1992–2009, with special consideration of how incidents vary with driver age.
METHODS: Statistics from 2,305 police reports describing tractor-related road traffic incidents in Sweden in 1992–2009 were analysed with respect to driver age, type of incident, severity of injury, type of road user and other circumstances at the accident site.
RESULTS: Tractors of all kinds were involved in 128 road traffic incidents annually, with 7 people killed, 44 seriously injured and 143 suffering minor injuries each year. The annual number of fatalities represented 1.2% of all Swedish road fatalities. Most road traffic incidents with farm tractors involved people aged 25–55 years (mean 45 years). However, most farm tractor drivers killed or injured belonged to younger or older age groups. Drivers aged 12–16 years were over-represented in tractor incidents with no other vehicle involved. Older tractor drivers (> 55 years) were more often involved in incidents with passenger vehicles on entering traffic flows. The youngest tractor drivers aged 12–16 years were more often involved in road traffic incidents during school holidays, and both youngest and oldest drivers (>65 years) during harvest time.
CONCLUSIONS: Sweden has an ageing fleet of tractors, so increased attention to vehicle maintenance is needed to improve road safety. The over-representation of young children in tractor incidents suggests that it is questionable whether they should be allowed to operate farm vehicles. Farm vehicle drivers suffering the inevitable effects of ageing need increase their awareness of added risks. As road traffic incidents with tractors often involve private vehicles, creating awareness among the public of slow-moving farm vehicles is essential for improving overall road safety.