Area farmers will have an opportunity to finally get answers to questions about on the road motor vehicle rules and farm exemptions that can compound the problems with truck regulations.
The Illinois Farm Bureau is offering a statewide program to help farmers find those answers with an On-the-Road Motor Vehicle Seminars designed to help inform attendees on new rules of the road, and brush up on old rules that are still in effect.
The Scott County Fairgrounds will be hosting the seminar in this area and Blake Roderick, who is the Executive Director of the Pike-Scott Farm Bureau says that the amount of rules that can apply to farm trucks can get confusing.
“There’s a lot of rules, a lot of regulations with getting on a highway with a truck. You have intrastate rules, interstate rules within the state and out of the state. Some of these are kind of confusing and what we try to do with these is meetings is answer these questions and clarify in people’s minds what they need to do to be street legal.”
The seminar is free to Farm Bureau members and will be held on Monday March 2nd at 1:00 pm in the Nimrod Funk Building on the Scott County Fairgrounds.
Roderick says that the seminar will be in two sections, with the first section being taught with the use of an actual farm vehicle and assistance by State Police.
“Kirby Waggoner, who is our Transportation Specialist with the Illinois Farm Bureau will be making the presentation, and he will also have assistance from the folks with the Illinois State Police who do the truck inspections, to go over in real time on a real truck, what they look for when they are doing a roadside check on a grain truck.”
Roderick says that the second part of the presentation will involve answering the questions many farmers have on transportation rules both old and new.
“The rest of the meeting is more of a sit down with projection information on what rules have changed from last year, such as the bridge law, and whether you need to have a medical card for CDL’s, and electronic logging devices, all those types of things which covers farmers that are hauling grain, driving semi trucks or straight trucks on Illinois highways.”
Other topics to be covered include farmer exemptions and how to qualify for them, the latest on entry-level driver training requirements, and on laws that have recently changed such as Emergency permit, waivers for insulin-related diabetic drivers, Covered Farm Vehicle options for small trucks, and the UCR payment schedule and fees for 2020.
For more information about the On-the-Road Seminar, call the Pike-Scott Farm Bureau at 217-285-2233