Raising Awareness of Farm Equipment on Public Roadways in Tennessee.

Abstract

A program was developed to educate young drivers about laws and guidelines governing farm equipment on public roadways in Tennessee. The goal of the program was to make young drivers aware of their responsibilities and the responsibilities of farm equipment drivers when sharing public roadways. A presentation was developed outlining the topics and was accompanied by identical pre- and post-surveys. The material was presented to drivers' education classes and agriculture science classes at several high schools in west and middle Tennessee. A total of 365 students between the ages of 13 and 19 participated in the program. The pre- and post-survey scores were used to determine the effectiveness of the program. The average score of the pre-survey for all participants was 66.0%. This score significantly improved to 89.3% for the post-survey (p 0.0001 for paired t-test). Based on these scores, the students were able to gain a better understanding of the laws and guidelines in Tennessee concerning farm equipment on public roadways.