Northwest Iowa — With the late snow and then the recent rainy weather, it’s been a battle for farmers to get their crops planted. Now with the nice weather of the past few days, farmers have been out in force to get those crops in the ground. And that means lots of farm implements on northwest Iowa’s roadways.
Iowa saw significant planting progress last week and now 86 percent of corn and 58 percent of soybeans have been planted statewide. Northwest and north central Iowa remain behind the rest of the state, but were able to make significant progress this past week and now have right at 70 percent of corn and over 20 percent of soybeans planted, according to the latest crop report.
Iowa State Patrol Trooper Vince Kurtz tells us that motorists should always drive thinking about what they would do if something unexpected happened. He says that’s called “defensive driving.”
He says while farmers are busy, you can never be too busy to remember safety.
Kurtz says the thing you have to keep in mind is how much faster your 60 mile-per-hour car is moving than a tractor that is only doing maybe 20 miles per hour.
Authorities also remind motorists that passing — even if you’re passing a slow-moving farm implement — is not only illegal, but dangerous, in a no-passing zone, or within 50-feet either side of an intersection.
