By Cole Lauterbach/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – Every fall, Illinois’ rural landscape becomes a manufacturing environment. Both farmers and commuters passing through the fields need to be cautious.

The risk for injury is as much as 50 percent higher this time of the year, as well as in spring when crops are being planted, according to the Illinois Farm Bureau.

“We definitely stress safety all year long but especially during these few months here with harvest,” said Jackie Jones, associate field support director with IFB.

It only takes five seconds for a car driving 55 miles per hour to close the distance of a football field behind a farmer moving at 15 mph. A study from the University of Wisconsin said this likely attributes to rear-end farm equipment collisions, the most common type of accident.

“If you’re not watching out and don’t see that they’ve got their hazards on and moving slow, you can come right up on them,” Jones said.

Some newer tractors are able to reach up to 45 mile per hour.

With unmarked intersections across the Illinois countryside that are now obscured by corn, someone may be speeding toward the same crossing.

“You’re going to have to stop all the way and then inch out because the corn is so tall and you can’t see around it,” Jones said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 100 agricultural workers suffer a lost-work-time injury every day. In 2015, 401 farmers and farm workers died from a work-related injury.

This week is National Farm Health and Safety Week.