Rural Municipality (RM) of Stanley's Chris Unrau wants his story to help others avoid making the same or worse mistake than he made last Thursday. Unrau is the first to admit he made a mistake doing something he says, "I literally preach about to my family and my staff about how dangerous it can be out in the rural areas, especially during harvest when there's lots going on." Making a mistake Having been a farmer, he knows how busy it gets in the rural areas and about the reduced visibility at intersections with tall corn stalks, but on Thursday, he made a mistake when driving down a dry, dusty, country road while following a fully loaded grain truck. "I slowed down. I was probably only going about 30 or 40 kilometers an hour. And every once in a while, this big pillow of dust would come up, and I'd drive through it, and I'd lose sight. And my first thought was, 'Oh, it's going to be winter soon. We're going to be driving through this, and it's going to be snow.' And that was kind of what was going through my head. And then I would lose sight of the truck and gain sight. And then about the fourth or fifth time, I went through the cloud of dust, and it was solid in the middle." He continued, "The truck had stopped because he was at a corn corner. And so, he was doing his thing to stop and look for traffic with reduced visibility. And I just drove straight into the back of that grain truck, a fully loaded grain truck, so it didn't move. Everything in front of me just crumpled up. It was like crumpling a ball of tin foil off a hot potato." The softest and smoothest slow-motion crumple According to Unrau, it was the softest and smoothest slow-motion crumple he had ever experienced. His airbags didn't go off because his bumper went under the grain truck, which sustained very little damage. Related stories: Southern Manitoba farmers anticipate bumper crop Farmers encouraged to 'Be Grain Safe' Something 'neat' That's when something he described as "kind of neat" happened. "We have this little app on our phone with our family called Life 360, and within two minutes, it was notifying my family that I had been in an accident. It was good to know that that kind of thing works, and I could click the button 'I'm okay,' and so that was good." Learning from his regret While replaying the day's events, Unrau revisits his regret. "In our business, we have a lot of employees that are driving vehicles in rural areas. My number one concern for my employees is a vehicle accident. I think of all the different things that could go wrong, and that's the one that keeps me up at night, which is vehicle accidents, especially because we are driving in rural areas." A good reminder He is using his mistake to help others be aware of how easily something like this can happen and to remind the public of the importance of slowing down, stopping, and taking extra caution around farm equipment, especially at this time of year. "Harvest is a busy time of year. It's crucially important for our farmers. And I think we all need to remember that we live in a rural area, and agriculture is the lifeblood of our community. We have to accommodate farmers. We have to make sure that they can get the work done that they need to get done. We don't need more restrictions on agriculture, but we all need to be part of the community to be able to make it work." Unrau admits he is as guilty as everyone of being in a rush and trying to get a lot done and not taking caution like he should. Adding, it's a good reminder to slow down. Pembina Valley RCMP Sgt. Darcy Thiessen also recognizes that uncontrolled intersections with corn, which reduces visibility, can be dangerous. Although the vehicle on the right has the right-of-way, he suggests it's best to slow down or stop at these intersections and, if there is another vehicle coming, to make eye contact with the other driver before proceeding through to make sure everyone is safe. With files from Candace Derksen