Farm equipment and trailers used to haul it are exempt from the oversized-vehicle rule, although other road-safety requirements still apply.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Farmers moving qualifying oversized equipment on Oklahoma highways generally do not need an escort vehicle, Attorney General Gentner Drummond has concluded.
The official opinion says Oklahoma’s escort requirement applies to vehicles or combinations of vehicles wider than 12 feet. But state law specifically excludes an “implement of husbandry” from its definitions of a vehicle and motor vehicle.
That exemption covers equipment designed exclusively for agricultural, horticultural or livestock operations. It also extends to trailers being used to carry farm implements.
The opinion was requested by state Rep. Dick Lowe, R-Amber, after an Oklahoma Highway Patrol collision report said a driver hauling a swather on a trailer did not have the required escorts. The trooper relied on the Department of Public Safety’s interpretation that the trailer was subject to the oversized-vehicle requirement.
Drummond’s opinion reached the opposite conclusion, finding that both the swather and the trailer carrying it met the statutory definition of an implement of husbandry.
“Oklahoma farm families move equipment between fields every day of the growing season, and our laws should reflect that reality,” Drummond said in a statement announcing the opinion.
Other safety rules remain
The exemption does not relieve farmers of other road-safety requirements.
Farm equipment must have required lighting, and operators must take reasonable steps to reduce its width as provided by the manufacturer. They also remain responsible for operating with regard for the safety of others on the road.
The opinion notes that implements of husbandry are prohibited from traveling on interstate and defense highways.
It also identifies an exception for retail implement dealers. The escort requirement continues to apply when a dealer transports an implement more than 150 miles from the distribution point to a farm or another location.
