Wilbur Edward Stuckey, 1965
Wilbur Edward Stuckey, better known as “Bill” to many Ohio farmers and students, was all about safety. He lectured on how to prevent Christmas tree fires, sent students out to campus buildings to look for potential accident hazards, and gave helpful tips on how to have fun safely on holidays like Memorial Day. (“Play Safe – Increase the Fun,” was the title of this talk.)
His most recognizable contribution was his steadfast promotion of the orange triangle ‘Slow Moving Vehicle’ sign now found on the backs of tractors, buggies and farm equipment across the nation. Here at the Archives, he’s also known as inventor of “The Convincer,” a wooden contraption that demonstrated the hazards of not wearing a seat belt.
Stuckey was born February 8, 1911, in Bloomville, Ohio and enrolled in Ohio State in the fall of 1929. As a student, he was involved in Glee Club, the All Agriculture Council, and he was elected as President of the Townshend Agricultural Education Society for his senior year. He graduated from Ohio State with his B.S. in Agriculture in 1933.
“The Convincer”, Stuckey’s invention which used an egg on the seat to represent a person. Without the seat belt the egg would hit the box and break. With the seat belt, the egg would not break. The Convincer is held at the Archives.
After graduation, Stuckey accepted a position as a vocational agriculture teacher, but he returned to OSU in 1941 as a faculty member, teaching evening classes in Summit Station, Ohio. He received his Master’s degree Agriculture Education in December 1944, and he continued to serve on the faculty while working in the Division of Safety and Hygiene in the Industrial Commission of Ohio.
In 1955, he began working full-time in OSU’s Extension Service as a farm safety specialist, and he held that position until he retired in 1976.
Tractor with the slow moving vehicle sign on the back
Stuckey began tracking farm accidents in 1957, and this research led him to teach farmers and students across the state about the dangers of farm equipment and how to use such equipment more safely. He is credited with reducing the deaths on Ohio farms by half in the time he was safety director. In fact, he spearheaded the movement in the mid-1960s to adopt the “Slow Moving Vehicle” sign.
Stuckey died on January 12, 1981. In 1988, Stuckey was inducted posthumously into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame. That same year, the Ohio Farm and Home Safety Committee established an endowment fund at OSU in his name, designated for research in farm and home safety.
– Filed by C.N.
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