The deaths of three Manitoba teenagers, killed when their pick-up truck slammed head-on into a protruding combine header, have prompted calls for a review of the province’s highway legislation and industry safety standards. The combine was traveling Highway 422 south of Winnipeg after dark. It was equipped with lights, but the 24-foot header attached to the front of the combine was not. The header jutted across the highway into the path of oncoming traffic, said Morris RCMP Cpl. Neil Griffith.
“It sheared the top right off the half-ton,” he said.
Killed instantly were Rachel Heinrichs, 18, her cousin Thomas Heinrichs, 17, and Michael Scott Cameron McCullough, 17, all of Rosenort, Man.
Griffith said no decision has been made whether charges will be laid against the combine driver, who was not injured in the Aug. 23 accident. Under existing legislation, no additional lights were required on the header because farm machinery is exempt from Manitoba’s provisions that regulate movement of over-width equipment.
Highways department official Greg Catteeuw said in most provinces, farm equipment must have flashing lights visible from the front and rear, as well as reflectors marking its edges.
Movement of non-farm, over-width equipment requires a permit from the province, special lighting and, in some cases, a pilot vehicle to ensure public safety. Griffith said this accident and others involving farm equipment he’s had to attend in recent years makes him question whether something is awry.
Due to the massive size of today’s farm equipment and the increased distances farmers travel because their land is not in one location, it’s time to assess the traditional leniency given to farm equipment, Griffith said.
“My personal opinion is, it’s an awful loss of life for something that, with a few regulations, could have been prevented,” he said.
Catteeuw said his staff are asking the same questions, but it’ll be a few weeks before the department decides whether changes are necessary.
Alan Ransom, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, agrees the accident raises concerns, but he’s not convinced more regulations are the answer.
Requiring farmers to obtain permits before moving machinery would be difficult to administer and almost impossible to enforce, he said.
Dr. Jim Dosman, president of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Safety and Rural Health, said machinery manufacturers must also take responsibility. He said manufacturers should design equipment with adequate safety features. But Brett Filson, general manager of the Prairie Implement Manufacturers Association, said manufacturers design with safety in mind.
The extra-wide headers are designed to be removed before road travel and transported on a special trailer, Filson said. Thanks to hydraulics, removal can be managed by one person. The problem is, farmers rushing during harvest sometimes don’t take the time, he added. “Three people are dead who shouldn’t have died. One person, by virtue of the fact that his combine was in the wrong place at the wrong time, will live with that for the rest of his life,” he said. “Maybe he will take the combine header off the next time.”