In Belgium, between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007, 1.424 accidents happened in which at least one tractor was involved. Those figures were reported by the Belgian government. These accidents resulted in 68 people being killed, 388 people getting heavily injured and 1494 people getting slightly injured.  

The Belgian government emphasized that relatively little lethal accidents happen in which tractors are involved. Comparing e.g. with the Netherland, in the period between 2003 and 2006, the number of deadly victimes  and heavily injured victimes due to an accident with a tractor was significantly lower in belgium. On the other hand the number of slightly injured was clearly higher in Belgium.

There is a presumption that this Belgian result is related to the more stringent legislation. For more than 10 years a driver’s licence for driving tractors in Belgium is obligatory.
Also the Netherlands are drafting such a legislation where farmers that like to drive more than 25 km/h would be obliged to have a driver’s license.

Main conclusion is that safety of tractors is not only an issue for the manufacturers. Certain remaining risks are out of the manufacturer’s control. The identification of the background of individual accidents  allow to pinpoint much better the reasons why dangerous situations happen in the first place. The collection of  such data would allow the detection of reoccuring trends and make it possible  to respond accordingly.

A European accident database is exactly what CEMA wants to establish with a new project team in order to deal with the saying “a bad workman blames his tools“.