Government inspectors report workers have died from slipping under wheels, or being squeezed between tractor and trailer, when no one was at the controls. Farmworker advocates tell of family members calling out helplessly when loved ones were run over. Often victims are drivers themselves, told to jump on and off the tractor to perform additional tasks. These dangers are well recognized. California law forbids abandoning the wheel.
Violators are hard to catch.
On one recent day while traveling with CRLA community worker Ephraim Camacho, driverless tractors were as evident as those properly manned. Ruefully, Camacho admitted that a foreman or grower who sees fields being observed can simply tell a worker to board the cab. Another ruse is to place a child at the wheel to make it seem from afar that the tractor is manned. For the past year, a group of some 40 growers has been petitioning for an exception to the safety law, which would make their driverless tractors legal. They propose using a kill switch at ground level, with an operator no more than ten feet away.