Spring is on its way, which means farmers are gearing up for another growing season and moving their equipment around.

The province sent out an alert to warn drivers about the increase in farm equipment on roadways. This includes roads and highways in rural areas.

"When our producers are moving equipment down the road, they tend to move slower than regular traffic and require more room," said Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler in a release. "Farm traffic will be greatly increased at this time of year and our government enourages motorists to be aware and slow down when meeting agricultural equipment on our roadways."

Eichler noted that farmers also need to be considerate of other drivers. They should allow vehicles to pass when possible.

Farmers operating agricultural equipment need to:

• ensure all machinery is equipped with proper lighting, signage and reflectors when travelling on roadways
• ensure lights, signage and reflectors are visible and clean
• use a pilot vehicle when transporting oversized agricultural equipment
• move equipment, whenever possible, dring the day on secondary roads
• ensure equipment will fit under powerlines and on bridge structures
• map out routes before transporting equipment

Motorists approaching farm equipment need to:

• slow down when approaching
• pay attention to turn signals and possible lane changes
• only pass when the operator knows the intentions or it is clearly safe to do so
• be patient

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