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Farm workers' poor driving skills threaten road safety
- By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, December 8, 2005


(12-0 00:29 PST Visalia, Calif. (AP) --

Farm workers know when an orange is ripe for picking or how to prune a peach tree, but many have poor driving skills, which puts everyone's lives at risk, road safety experts said Wednesday.

"A lot of them just don't know how to drive," said Abel Serrano, one of about 20 farm labor contractors and farm representatives who came to Visalia to hear about the Farm Worker Motor Vehicle Safety program developed by the California State University, Fresno.

Many farm workers are recent immigrants who can't read road signs in English and didn't start driving until arriving in California's farm belt. Often, they're undocumented and can't apply for driver's licenses or take a driver's education class, said Bert Mason, a professor of agricultural economics at Fresno State who helped develop the program.

Although farming is dangerous work, field workers are four times more likely to die from an accident on their way to work than at the work site because they lack basic driving skills, according to the Department of Industrial Relations.

About 20 farm workers died and 194 were injured in car accidents in 2000-2001, the last year California Highway Patrol analyzed data. Most of the crashes happened between 5 and 7 a.m., and often involved drivers who didn't follow road signs setting speed limits or indicating a one-way road, CHP data showed.

Inspired by these grim statistics, Fresno State raised state and federal funds and partnered with the CHP in 2003 to develop posters, board games and a video to provide basic training on American road rules. Farmers left Wednesday's briefing with bags full of the materials for their workers.

At county fairs, cultural festivals and community health fairs, program organizers set up booths where farmworkers can win prizes for guessing the meaning of road signs.

CHP officials, who are often the first responders to accidents on rural roads, have developed their own farm worker safety program. They inspect cars and vans that carry workers to the fields and patrol rural roads in the pre-dawn hours.

But accidents still happen.

Just two days before Thanksgiving, a van carrying five farmworkers to an apricot orchard slid off a gravel road and into an irrigation canal near Modesto. Only one farmworker was found alive. Two passengers' bodies were found at the scene, another was recovered days later and the 15-year-old driver was presumed drowned.

"People know how dangerous is it," said Benito Feria, a safety trainer for labor contractor Hall Ag Enterprises who spent Wednesday distributing the program's materials. "They want to learn."

Last fall, the pilot program in Fresno and Tulare counties was expanded to Madera, Kern and Kings counties. The program has reached more than 100,000 workers, organizers estimate. Now they're seeking more funds to expand to the coast and other rural areas.