[Ellendra]

-- The new regulations would prohibit teenagers from talking on cellphones or texting while operating a tractor.

I'll admit, I think texting while driving any sort of vehicle is a stupid and dangerous thing to do. But it is not the government's place to regulate stupid.

[farmer matt]

— The new regulations would prohibit teenagers from talking on cellphones or texting while operating a tractor.

Actually, here’s what the proposed reg would say from MCRF: “The use of electronic devices, including communication devices, while operating power driven equipment, including motor vehicles.”

As I read it, it’s not just limited to cell phones, but also 2-way radios (cb, business band, amateur), digital display broadcast radios, monitors for seeding, spraying, etc. Any tractor or harvesting unit made in the last 30 yrs has come standard with some sort of electronic monitoring display unit. If actually written this way, this leaves the door wide open for whatever level of enforcement the enforcer desires.