14-06-2025
Courses to teach teenagers safe tractor driving skills
Teenagers are being offered the chance to learn proper and safe tractor driving habits through a dedicated course being run in counties Kerry and Cork.
Hundreds of young people have completed the 'Safe Tractor Driving Skills' course since it was developed by North East West Kerry Development (NEWKD) around 15 years ago.
John Dalton, a member of the farm family committee of NEWKD and co-ordinator of the course, told Agriland that the training has been expanded this year to include boy and girls aged from 14 to 17 years.
He said: 'The reason we do it is we feel there's a lot of young people going up on tractors at a very young age and they don't have any idea of the safety aspects about tractor driving.'
Tractor driving
The course not only teaches important safety skills to the teenagers when driving tractors on the farm, but also includes basic first aid training.
'If they come across an accident on the farm, they will have an idea of how to handle it or what to do. As we all know, when it comes to an accident, five minutes could mean an awful lot,' Dalton said.
The courses, which run from 9:00a.m to 4:00p.m daily, are limited to 12 participants, regardless of previous experience.
'Some of them would have experience and more of them would have very little experience at all.
'Sometimes you find the one that has very little experience can benefit more from the course cause they're coming in very green and they're willing to learn. They'll pick it up fairly well during the day.
'We've see they have progressed great during the day and you'd be surprised at how well they can handle the tractor by the evening,' Dalton said.
There is a 'genuine interest' in the course with people from across the country contacting NEWKD about it.
'If you're driving a car today, you've 12 lessons to do. You can sit up on a tractor without even a lesson. The committee saw this issue years ago as something they could focus on.
'Our idea is to give them those basic skills, especially safety, and create awareness about it before they go on the road,' he said.
Course
Dalton said the feedback from participants and their families over the years has been very positive. In some cases, it has also been beneficial to the older generation.
'Last year, when I was presenting the certificates, a grandfather came into me and said: 'You saved me a lot of pain'. I asked him what he meant.
'He said: 'I never knew how to get up and down off the tractor right, until my grandson showed me. The way I'm getting up and down now, my knees aren't as painful anymore'.
'So they seem to be carrying what they learn home. Sometimes a boy or a girl will listen to a person outside their own family, and they will take it in. Whereas us as fathers and mothers, it won't hit them as much,' he said.
The one-day courses will take place on the following dates at these locations:
June 24: Listowel Mart;
June 26: Tralee Mart;
July 3: Dingle Mart;
July 15: Castleisland Mart;
July 18: Fermoy Mart.
As places are limited, those wishing to participate are asked to contact the NEWKD office in Tralee as soon as possible on 066 718 0190.
However, there is the possibility of extra dates being added if there is enough demand.
Dalton thanked FBD and Lee Strand for sponsoring the course, along with the marts for providing the use of their premises.
He also acknowledged the following garages for supplying tractors for the events: Monday Sullivan Tractors, Asdee; Samco Tractors, Tralee; Kerry Tractors, Tralee; Cavanaghs of Fermoy; and Thomas Devane, agricultural contractors, Dingle.
