PALM BEACH POST March 31, 2005 Make farm vans saferThe most dangerous part of a farmworker's day doesn't come on the job but in trying to get to it. Dozens of farmworkers have lost their lives on Florida's roads in van rollover accidents. Inadequate state regulation has allowed subcontractors to pack vehicles with people and not install even basic safety equipment, such as seats and seat belts. Last year, an Interstate 95 van crash near Fort Pierce killed nine Mexican migrants; another rollover in St. Lucie County killed two more farmworkers. Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, is sponsoring legislation (House Bill 1059) that could have saved many of those lives. The bill would require owners or operators of vans and other vehicles under 10,000 pounds used for agricultural transportation to be properly equipped with seat belts and registered with the state. Operators would have to display signs in Spanish and English telling passengers to buckle up, and require display of a sticker to alert law enforcement that the vehicle carries farmworkers. New restrictions on driver licenses for foreigners are forcing more workers to rely on vans. The proposal is modeled on a law that California passed six years ago after 13 farmworkers died when their van crashed into a tractor-trailer.
But in Florida, modest and reasonable reforms still meet inexplicable resistance. Though the House Agriculture Committee approved the bill, Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Titusville, amended it to make workers responsible for using seat belts, a provision that opens legal loopholes for operators and vehicle makers to avoid accountability in lawsuits. It is another attempt to hold farmworkers to a different standard. Rep. Poppell, a past president of the St. Lucie County Farm Bureau, also voted against posting the safety information in Creole, another reasonable idea that is meeting unreasonable opposition. Legislators have before them a bill that would save lives. Passing it should be quick work — and a clear matter of conscience.
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