Rearward Visibility Issues Related to Agricultural Tractors and Self-Propelled Machinery: Contributing Factors, Potential Solutions.

Abstract

As the size, complexity, and speed of agricultural tractors and self-propelled machinery have increased, so have the visibility-related issues, placing significant importance on the visual skills, alertness, and reactive abilities of the operator. Rearward movement of large agricultural equipment has been identified in the literature as causing both fatalities and injuries to bystanders who were not visible to the operator and damage to both the machine and stationary objects. The addition of monitoring assistance, while not a new concept, has advanced significantly, offering agricultural machinery operators greater options for increasing their awareness of the area surrounding the machine. In this research, we attempt to (1) identify and describe the key contributors to agricultural machinery visibility issues, i.e., operator-related and machine-related factors, and (2) enumerate and evaluate the potential solutions being offered that address these factors. Enhanced operator safety and efficiency should result from a better understanding of the efforts to solve the visibility problems inherent in large tractors and self-propelled agricultural machinery.