With rain comes mud. With mud comes dirty tires and the risk of a $200.50 fine if you track debris onto the road.
Lieutenant Bill Berger with the Wisconsin State Patrol reminds farmers that leaving mud and manure on the road is against the law. He recommends taking an ice scraper to the tire to get mud off. He also recommends moving at a high speed at the edge of a field through a grassy area to fling mud off of tires.
“The best thing that farmers can do when dealing with is is to just minimize the debris tracked on the roadway in the first place,” he says.
Berger says it’s common for farmers to remove mud or manure from the roadway with a skid loader or a mechanical broom. However, that’s not an ideal solution.
“Technically this would require a right-of-way work permit from a regional DoT highway office,” he says. “With that being said, even though the farmer should be contacting officials in charge of the maintenance of the roadway, I’m not so sure they’re always going to be doing that.”
If you are taking it upon yourself to clean the road, take into consideration some liability concerns.
“When removing the debris from the roadway, they should be conscious of safety considerations for the equipment operator and the general motoring public,” Berger says.
Remove debris when traffic is light. Keep in mind that hills or curves could limit your visibility. Have flashing warning lights on equipment. Have a spotter to watch for oncoming traffic, and make sure that spotter is wearing a safety vest and waving an orange or red flag.
The Wisconsin State Patrol does not endorse farmers clearing the road themselves.