Request By:
Mr. G. E. Finch
Todd County Safety League
Route 2, Box 77
Guthrie, Kentucky 42234
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have written the Attorney General concerning the common practice in Todd County of persons operating farm tractors on the public roads as means of transportation rather than for the purpose of moving the tractors in the course of farm operations. The material you sent indicates that in addition to using the tractors in the manner of regular motor vehicles, persons are also using them to tow passenger trailers; some of the trailers are made from pick-up truck beds and other improvised equipment. You state that the practice of using tractors for transportation has become so prevalent that it has created a safety problem, and the material you sent with your letter, including letters to the editor and newspaper editorials, bear out your statement.
We have made a thorough search of the Kentucky statutes pertaining to traffic on the highways and have found that there are no statutes dealing specifically with the operation of farm tractors and equipment on the highways with the exception of the statute requiring slow moving vehicles to bear a special emblem. KRS 189.810. The Legislature's failure to be more specific about the operation of farm tractors is probably intentional since Kentucky is a rural state, with thousands of miles of country roads, and the moving of tractors from one field to another facilitates the industry of agriculture. Farm tractors are expressly excluded from the definition of "vehicle" in KRS 189.010(12), the chapter on traffic laws.
It is our opinion, however, that the law does not contemplate that farm tractors shall be used for transportation of persons or property on the highways outside of normal farm operations. This question was considered by the Court of Appeals (now
Supreme Court) in Davidson v. Moore, Ky. 340 S.W.2d 227 (1960) The Court said:
"It is suggested that perhaps Chapter 189, which deals with traffic regulations and equipment of vehicles, excludes farm tractors from its definition of vehicles and therefore rules of traffic safety may not be applicable to them. We think however that it was the intention of the Act to exclude farm tractors from rigid requirements as to equipment but it did not intend that tractors could operate on public highways without regard to rules of safety, including the duty to give proper signals, et cetera.
"Even if the Act had so intended, the operator of such a vehicle would not be relieved of all obligation to other users of the highway. "
In the light of this court decision, we believe that persons operating farm tractors on the highway may be held to the standard of KRS 189.290 which reads as follows:
"(1) The operator of any vehicle upon a highway shall operate the vehicle in a careful manner, with regard to the safety and convenience of pedestrians and other vehicles upon the highway.
The penalty for reckless driving under this statute is a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $100 for each offense.
We believe that when a farm tractor is being operated as a passenger vehicle or as towing a trailer, transporting passengers or property, it is required to comply with the traffic laws which apply to motor vehicles. For instance, if it is being operated at night, it should comply with the lighting requirements of KRS 189.040; day or night it should comply with all the equipment requirements of a vehicle contained in KRS Chapter 189. Day or night it should comply with all of the requirements of the operation of a motor vehicle contained in KRS Chapter 189.
From a practical standpoint it may be impossible for a farm tractor to be used as a vehicle on the highways. We believe that it was never so intended. A farm tractor should only be on a public road for the purpose of moving from one farm operation to another and when so moving all public safety rules should be observed for the protection of other users of the highway.