ALBANY, GA (WALB) -
On the opening day of the 2012 Sunbelt Ag Expo, a Colquitt County teenager who died after a tractor crash last May was remembered.
15-year-old Jacob Sutton died at a hospital in Tallahassee, after he was critically injured on May 31st.
He was driving a tractor on Ellenton Omega Road between his family's business and their farm when a pick-up truck driven by a neighbor, William Lindsey, slammed into the back of the tractor.
His parents, James and Ellen Sutton and state officials spoke at Tuesday press conference on the rising number of crashes involving passenger vehicles and farm equipment in Georgia.
James Sutton said "Reacting safely to a tractor or any other slow moving vehicle requires that we put the mindset on pause for a few minutes, and focus on the lives of those around us."
Ellen Sutton said "We want people to still remember Jacob and if this is a way to help get that message out we are glad to do that."
Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal, Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black, and Director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety Harris Blackwood spoke on safety, and presented the family with a plaque in Jacob's honor.
Crashes involving farm equipment in Georgia rose 33% from 2010 to 2011, killing five people, and causing nearly 140 injuries.
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James and Ellen Sutton, and state officials spoke Tuesday at Expo
Georgia's Governor Nathan Deal spoke on the need for Ag safety
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