A local farmer is reminding people to keep safety in mind during the harvest season after being involved in a serious accident.
Dennis Duncan, owner of Coulee Ridge Farm near Bentley, was hit by another car while in his swather, roughly a mile from his home.
He says another car driving 100 kilometres an hour hit his swather, causing damage to both vehicles.
“My world just exploded,” Duncan said. “I ended up on the floor. When I got my whits about me I saw [the other car] had his brake lights on up ahead of me, and then just took off,” Duncan said.
The other vehicle reported hit the corner of Duncan’s swather travelling roughly 100 km per hour, which set off the vehicle’s airbags broke the front window of the vehicle and left the driver bloody.
Duncan says if the swather had been any lower to the ground it would have “taken the driver’s head off.”
During the harvest season, tractors, swathers and other farm equipment are commonly seen on the roads as farmers work to get the crops harvested before the frost sets in.
Farming equipment moving on the roadways are supposed to have lights on and flashing so other motorists know they are there.
Duncan says he followed that protocol to the letter.
“I had my lights on, my four-ways flashing, basically any light I could have on was on. There was no way the guy missed me,” he said.
The RCMP responded to the accident and Duncan gave a statement about the incident. The RCMP also received a call about an adult male who hit a swather.
Duncan says motorists need to slow down and stop for farm equipment, or someone could get seriously hurt.
He does not recommend trying to find a way around the large pieces of machinery, as it could cause a vehicle to roll in the ditch.
“We normally try to take up the whole road, because if you give them six feet, then they will drive past going 100 kilometres.
“We’ve seen cars try to inch around us and almost role into the ditch,” said Duncan.
Now, Duncan is working through insurance for his damaged swather and is looking for a replacement to be used for the time being.
“I’ve got a harvest that I need to get in, so I’m on a deadline,” he said.