Driver Attitudes, Beliefs and Reported Behavior Associated with Sharing Public Roads with Farm Vehicles

Abstract

In previous research, farmers identified farm-vehicle public-road crashes as their top safety concern. In addition, they indicated other drivers' lack of respect as a major safety problem. One purpose of this research was to iden* non-farm vehicle driver attitudes, beliefs and self-reported driving behaviors that are associated with disrespectful public road behavior toward farm vehicles. A second purpose was to examine the relationship between non-fm vehicle driver attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and how they interpret farm vehicle driver hand signals. Pearson correlations (n = 267) assisted in categorizing nonfarm vehicle drivers into low-, medium-, and high-risk driver profiles. Drivers growing up on or near a farm significantly more strongly interpreted a description of a farm vehicle driver's hand signal to indicate a left turn. Responses of drivers not growing up on or near a farm were more variable. Implications for preventing disrespectful driver behavior and avoiding incorrect interpretation of farm vehicle driver signals are discussed.