Reminder to be safe

[Bmyers]

First article is a man ran over by his tractor:

Tractor runs over man in Dodge County

TOWN OF CLYMAN (WLUK) -- A 67-year-old man was severely injured when a tractor ran him over Monday in southern Wisconsin. Dodge County sheriff's officials say they were called to a location on Highway J in the town of Clyman just before noon. Investigators determined the man was working on a...

fox11online.com

TOWN OF CLYMAN (WLUK) -- A 67-year-old man was severely injured when a tractor ran him over Monday in southern Wisconsin.

Dodge County sheriff's officials say they were called to a location on Highway J in the town of Clyman just before noon. Investigators determined the man was working on a tractor. He started it, but the tractor was in gear. It ran over the man and went through the wall of a machine shed before running into a tree.

The second article involves a child and a lawnmower:

Child Is Airlifted To St. Louis Hospital With Severe Foot Trauma After Lawn Mower Accident

ROSEWOOD HEIGHTS - A young child was transported to St. Louis by Air Evac Lifeteam Medical Service after an incident with a lawnmower on Monday night i

www.riverbender.com

ROSEWOOD HEIGHTS - A young child was transported to St. Louis by Air Evac Lifeteam Medical Service after an incident with a lawnmower on Monday night in the 500 block of Brookwood in Rosewood Heights.

“A family member was mowing with a riding lawn mower and a child came upon him, and he didn’t see the child and the lawnmower accidentally struck the child,” Williams said. “There was severe trauma to both of the child’s feet. Alton Memorial was also called to the scene and then Air Evac was called to transport the child to a St. Louis hospital.”

The helicopter arrived in the parking lot of the old St. Kevin’s School and Church.

Stay alert out there. Nothing is that important to be in a hurry and take a shortcut that hurts yourself or someone else. My heart goes out to the family and the operator who was mowing and struck the child.

Just a couple of sad reminders that we can hopefully learn from to keep ourselves and our families safe.

 

[GeoHorn]

Instruct ALL your family members to STAY AWAY from equipment being operated by anyone.

My wife is not dumb or stupid. She has a high degree of safety-consciousness. Last year we had a discussion-of-horror regarding a local news-story of a child who ran up behind his Daddy on a riding lawn-mower to tell Daddy his lunch was ready…. only for Daddy to have JUST-Reversed the mower to double-back-over a high-grass area. The child lost a foot to the mower.
======
I thought this would be obvious… BUT…. I was using the bucket to back-drag/spread-out a pile of gravel which had been dropped onto our dirt road. Our road is about a half-mile long…served by a security-gate a half-mile away. We are in the middle of 1500 acres of NO-Where.

I was raising the bucket (which was in the partially-dumped position),…. moving forward, …dropping the bucket beyond the gravel-pile,… and back-dragging to spread the gravel. Forward and back….Forward and back… Forward and back and HIT something!
My wife had returned from grocery shopping and pulled RIGHT UP behind me and stopped.

SHE said she had only seen me pulling forward and came up behind me as if I were common traffic on a public road and STOPPED. When I reversed-direction…the finish mower on the 3-point collided with the front/grille of her car.

“Why didn’t you at least BLOW YOUR HORN when you saw me backing UP?”

”I didn’t think of that…. I just tried to step on the brakes HARDER!”

Don’t think it CAN’T HAPPEN TO YOU.

 

[NCL4701]

Got me to thinking about some of the more memorable farm equipment accidents I’ve been involved in dealing with.

First one about 31 years ago was a young boy out for a bit with his father. They stopped to discuss something about the tractor grandpa was working on. Dad and grandpa took their eyes off the kid for a minute and his fascination with the fan on the idling JD 4440 with the side plates removed caused him to stick his little hand in the fan and that was the last place he stuck his hand.

I’ve about gotten my fill plus some of old dudes running over themselves starting/jump starting tractors while standing 0” in front of the back wheel (I don’t know why it’s always old guys doing that but it just is); people of all ages flipping antique CUTs over backward on themselves; guys with loaders that can’t figure out that lift/curl thing and dump round bales, logs, rocks, etc. on themselves, usually while lifting with a pin on bucket that’s the wrong implement for the load (a seat with a back is nice until you have a large log roll down the loader boom and off the back of your open station tractor); and modern tractor loaders rolled sideways with some part of the operator stuck under them on obviously sloping ground while the loader is near max height for no apparent reason, ROPs folded, and seatbelt unused.

There were some other memorable ones. The guy that ran his Ford 3000 over a cliff 100 yards from the edge of the field he was mowing. He was wearing sandals. Nothing else. Just sandals. I’ve driven a Ford 3000. Not a clothing optional activity IMO.

The meth addict who tried to break into his neighbor’s antique safe. Safe was on the ground floor and weighed around 3500lb. Thief worked on it a while but got nowhere so he decided it would be best to take the whole thing home where he could work on it at his leisure. Took the victims old MF35 from his shed, sledgehammered a couple holes in the wall, wrapped a chain around the safe, and pulled the whole thing out of the house along with a chunk of wall. Didn’t exactly take CSI to follow the trail. Safe was stopped at the end of the ditch it had plowed to the bottom of the first hill he had to climb. Tractor had flipped backward and squashed the thief. Thief was a pretty good guy before the crystal meth got hold of him. Don’t know what was in the safe. Owner said it was just a bunch of sentimental stuff like pictures, birth certificates, nothing of any marketable value but he could have been sandbagging and it didn’t really matter.

The man who was pushing down on a 3 point post hole auger with no PTO guard while wearing a floppy sweatshirt. That one was memorable mostly because his head wasn’t completely off but there wasn’t much left holding it on.

The little girl who squirmed away from her grandfather while riding on his lap on a Farmall M with spoked wheels and no fenders. She did survive.

The cute little teenage girl with hair down to her waist that was experienced working equipment on her family’s farm but still couldn’t keep that long hair clear of rotating shafts. Skin grafts from other areas don’t grow scalp hair but wigs are readily available.

Sorry for rambling. There have been a lot. It gets old.

No reason to be scared, but respect the risks, be thoughtful of the risks, mitigate the risks. Kind of like driving a car, there’s risk but sitting at home 24/7/365 has risks, too. I know, sometimes when we’re running the chipper and we come back from a break I start to crank the tractor while standing on the ground, but I don’t do it. Sometimes it’s tempting to hook up a PTO shaft real quick without shutting off the engine, but I don’t do it. Take a few more minutes. Think about it. Do it right. Curiosity may kill the cat; complacency and over confidence kills the equipment operator.

 

[Dieseldonato]

Confidence and complacency. Short but memorable story. We were tree trimming with the old 624h deere. Had the man basket on and my (at the time) Forman up in the air. I was running the loader. Cam across a half dead brach that was with in the reach of the loader. Cut it off and it fell across the road. I called up one of the clean up guys to cut it into a few chuncks so traffic could continue. Guy came up made a few cuts and dissappear from my line of sight. So testing to be a wear of where the guys were I opened the cab door an leaned over. Loader moved forward about 6 inches. Jammed the brake just as I heard the guy yell. Here we was right next to the loader, with his foot under the log, and me letting the loader coast front hit the log and spun it onto his foot. Fortunately no major injury. Had a cracked something or other in his foot. We both screwed up. I never put the park brake on, and he went in a blind spot and had his foot under a sizable tree branch. I figured we had done this same thing a million times, he knew where I could see him from the loader. Definatly an oh crud moment I was not proud of. I was greatful there was no lasting damage to his foot, but I think about it everytime I get in equipment now. We worked together daily for nearly a year at that point. We were just in that routine and forgot to do a few simple things that could and should have avoided the situation.

 

[ejb11235]

I got my first tractor, a BX23S in February. I developed a rule that I never move it without having the seat belt on. In recent weeks I've lightened up a bit on my rule a couple of times, but this thread makes me think I should go back to having it be a no-exceptions rule. ROPS is always up. I also am aware that as I enter this next stage of comfort and competence, my risk might actually increase, so I need to be extra careful.

 

[Captain13]

Yesterday, my elderly (eighties) neighbor decided to mow his five acre pecan grove. ROPS up, he caught a limb, the limb snapped and fell. With the drought we are having, large limbs are susceptible to breaking and falling, even when they aren’t struck by a moving object. The limb was about 10 Inches in diameter and maybe 20 feet long. The large part of the limb fell between his back and theROPs and a smaller limb maybe six inches between his mid-section and the steering wheel thus trapping him in the seat. My other neighbor was driving by, saw him waving, grabbed a chain saw and cut the Limb off of him. I like ROPS but some of these limbs are low and can flip a tractor backwards.

So, yes, be careful out there. These groves we have are unforgiving here and many tractors have steel cages on them for protection.

 

[Biker1mike]

For most of my married life my wife required that I carry a million dollar life insurance policy. As she said , " I love with you all my heart , but , it takes a ton of money to raise this family without you. Just in case you do something REALLY stupid. "
I no longer have the policy as the kids are grown but it made me think about the importance of family before taking a short cut.
I did survive stupid many times.

 

[Fordtech86]

Man driving tractor dies in crash with Peterbilt - L'Observateur

Sabine Parish – On September 19, 2022, at approximately 1:20 p.m., Louisiana State Police Troop E responded to a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 171 south of Noble. The crash claimed the life of 68-year-old Edwin G. Procell. The initial investigation revealed that a Kubota tractor, driven by Procell...

www.lobservateur.com

 

[Flintknapper]

I got my first tractor, a BX23S in February. I developed a rule that I never move it without having the seat belt on. In recent weeks I've lightened up a bit on my rule a couple of times, but this thread makes me think I should go back to having it be a no-exceptions rule. ROPS is always up. I also am aware that as I enter this next stage of comfort and competence, my risk might actually increase, so I need to be extra careful.

^^^^

I'm going to have to get better about this. This past Sunday I got up early to mow a small stretch of highway frontage on my property. Normally, the FM road has quite a bit of tanker truck traffic and I wanted to finish before all that started as my first pass would be right up near the road.

I don't mow fast (was using low range and 3rd gear, so no faster than a slow walk). I am well aware that my L2350DT (compact tractor) is 'tippy' side to side and corner to corner....so I am usually very careful.

I am familiar with the area I was mowing....but this is where complacency set in. The roadside was heavily grown up (about 30" tall) with Johnson Grass and Goatweed. So you can't see the terrain underneath it.

As I got to a spot where my drive leads to one of my barns (not an entrance I ever use) my right front tire suddenly dropped down into a small sink-hole that had not been there before. The hole was deep enough that it nearly engulfed the tire. Of course, that tipped the tractor (right front tire and left rear) and also abruptly stopped it. As I felt the tractor going down....I stabbed at the clutch....but the sudden stop threw me from the seat and up against the steering wheel since I was NOT wearing my seatbelt.

Thankfully I was in two wheel drive at the time and all the power biased to the left rear tire with no traction. I plopped back down in the seat regained my composure and thought about what just happened. Good thing I always keep my front loader LOW when mowing as in this case it helped to attenuate the corner to corner tipping action. I was able to lift the rotary mower, put it in 4 wheel drive and slowly back out of the hole.

So despite being careful to mow slowly and watch for hazards....I was still caught by surprise. I DO keep my ROPS up always and if traversing any significant side hills....wear my seat belt. But this time on level ground, going slow.....I opted not to wear the belt. Though I wasn't injured or thrown from the tractor...it did toss me up against the steering wheel pretty good. Enough to get this Old Man's attention, I can tell you that.

 

[Bmyers]

^^^^

I'm going to have to get better about this. This past Sunday I got up early to mow a small stretch of highway frontage on my property. Normally, the FM road has quite a bit of tanker truck traffic and I wanted to finish before all that started as my first pass would be right up near the road.

I don't mow fast (was using low range and 3rd gear, so no faster than a slow walk). I am well aware that my L2350DT (compact tractor) is 'tippy' side to side and corner to corner....so I am usually very careful.

I am familiar with the area I was mowing....but this is where complacency set in. The roadside was heavily grown up (about 30" tall) with Johnson Grass and Goatweed. So you can't see the terrain underneath it.

As I got to a spot where my drive leads to one of my barns (not an entrance I ever use) my right front tire suddenly dropped down into a small sink-hole that had not been there before. The hole was deep enough that it nearly engulfed the tire. Of course, that tipped the tractor (right front tire and left rear) and also abruptly stopped it. As I felt the tractor going down....I stabbed at the clutch....but the sudden stop threw me from the seat and up against the steering wheel since I was NOT wearing my seatbelt.

Thankfully I was in two wheel drive at the time and all the power biased to the left rear tire with no traction. I plopped back down in the seat regained my composure and thought about what just happened. Good thing I always keep my front loader LOW when mowing as in this case it helped to attenuate the corner to corner tipping action. I was able to lift the rotary mower, put it in 4 wheel drive and slowly back out of the hole.

So despite being careful to mow slowly and watch for hazards....I was still caught by surprise. I DO keep my ROPS up always and if traversing any significant side hills....wear my seat belt. But this time on level ground, going slow.....I opted not to wear the belt. Though I wasn't injured or thrown from the tractor...it did toss me up against the steering wheel pretty good. Enough to get this Old Man's attention, I can tell you that.

Glad you are safe and got to learn a valuable lesson without anything more than damage to the pride.

 

[TheMurf]

Several years ago in our town a grandfather was mowing his lawn. The tractor was in reverse with the deck blades engaged, he did not see his grandson approach him directly behind the machine when the child was knocked to the ground, run over, killed and tore to pieces. It was horrifying to the point the rescue team were physically sick and needed counseling as to the effects of what they witnessed. I always told my family,if they see me on the tractor, wait on the porch until I see you.. Don't walk up to a running machine, any machine until the operator acknowledges you.

 

[Flintknapper]

Several years ago in our town a grandfather was mowing his lawn. The tractor was in reverse with the deck blades engaged, he did not see his grandson approach him directly behind the machine when the child was knocked to the ground, run over, killed and tore to pieces. It was horrifying to the point the rescue team were physically sick and needed counseling as to the effects of what they witnessed. I always told my family,if they see me on the tractor, wait on the porch until I see you.. Don't walk up to a running machine, any machine until the operator acknowledges you.

I am very careful backing up anyway.....but as I get older, I find it increasingly uncomfortable to turn in the seat and look back over my shoulder. I manage it....but also added a convex mirror to my tractor so I can check at any time what is behind me. It also allows me to see traffic coming from behind when I am mowing the road frontage to our property. I try to mow facing traffic but its not always possible.

 

[Flintknapper]

Glad you are safe and got to learn a valuable lesson without anything more than damage to the pride.

Thanks, me too.

Had something been different (FEL up high as some folks like to do), the outcome might not have been pretty. I will learn from this. Managed to go 68 years so far (by the grace of God) without getting killed or seriously injured....but you have to be ever vigilant.

 

[TheMurf]

The rear view mirror is a great idea. I was think of the same thing for my BX looking of where to mount one.. My front lawn runs parallel to the road and I always find myself turned around to see behind me. Can't be overly cautious.

 

[DustyRusty]

If you are concerned about cutting at the front edge of your property, then park your car at the curb so cars going by will have to stay closer to the center of the road to get by. I used to do this when cutting the grass in front of my home which was located on a state highway. If the car wasn't there, the traffic would almost always be closer to the curb making cutting the grass dangerous. After making 2 passes I would then put the car back into the driveway.

 

[TheMurf]

Dusty, In our neighborhood that would practically block the road. Basically it's a one lane dead end street.. Some folks drive with caution others not so. They're the ones that worry me.

 

[pigdoc]

When I was 14 years old, I flipped a Ford Jubilee and almost killed myself.

As I was tasked, I used the tractor in our back-40 to bring in the stock cows every night, before they had figured out our calls for them to come in. Being a bulletproof 14-year old, I would commonly run across the pasture in road gear.

One old biddy turned on me, and I instinctively stomped on the left rear wheel brake, in a fit of rage. The tractor whipped around, threw me off the seat, rolled, and the left rear tire landed squarely on my back. It is a wonder it didn't kill me on the spot. The only thing that saved me was that the ground was soft and the engine kept running long enough for the rear wheel to churn itself off my back. I sat up, blacking out, and within a few seconds, understood that, if I didn't get moving, I was gonna die.

I stumbled my way 1/2 mile back to the house, totally blacked out and waved desperately to my mom, who was just driving away (she waved back), and then raised my dad on the two-way radio. 1/2 hour later, I was in the hospital, and didn't leave there for 10 days.

I had scars on my back from the rear tire lugs that lasted a year.

-Paul

PS, the damages to the Ford? A bent steering wheel. After that, every time I sat on that tractor, my fingers caressed those spots on the steering wheel missing the rubber coating...

 

[Flintknapper]

If you are concerned about cutting at the front edge of your property, then park your car at the curb so cars going by will have to stay closer to the center of the road to get by. I used to do this when cutting the grass in front of my home which was located on a state highway. If the car wasn't there, the traffic would almost always be closer to the curb making cutting the grass dangerous. After making 2 passes I would then put the car back into the driveway.

Well in my case we are talking a Farm to Market Road with petroleum tanker trucks running 60 mph up and down it. And about 1/3rd of mile of frontage to mow. I like your idea....just wouldn't work for me.

 

[Flintknapper]

The rear view mirror is a great idea. I was think of the same thing for my BX looking of where to mount one.. My front lawn runs parallel to the road and I always find myself turned around to see behind me. Can't be overly cautious.

I make my first pass (closest to the road) facing traffic, but have the traffic at my back when I turn around and come back, so that is when I want the mirror. These days you never know who is 'texting' on their phone while driving or are otherwise distracted and not paying attention.

I keep the large emergency blinkers on and flashing... and have mounted a 5' fiberglass rod with a florescent orange flag on the shredder to make me visible....but there are some real monkeys out there driving.

 

[Flintknapper]

Years ago...I guy I knew at work bought some property outside of town for the purpose of building a home on it.

He bought an old Ford 9n tractor (his first tractor and no prior experience on one). We got the news one Monday when he didn't show up for work that he had had a tractor accident. Broke his femur in two places when the tractor turned over backwards on him.

He was trying to pull a stump (not a good idea to start with) and had hitched the chain around the AXLE housing of the tractor instead of below it to a draw bar. He thought if he 'snatched' the stump hard enough it would come out (also not a good idea).

Anyway, as one would expect (well not him)....the tractor pivoted about the axis of the axle raising the front end and flipping him and tractor over backwards.

He said he hit the ground just a second before the tractor did and tried to roll out of the way. He managed not to have his torso crushed...but the tractor made a mess of his leg.

He was by himself at the time and this was before the age of cell phones. Wife found him when he didn't come home at dark. He was the better part of a year healing and learning to walk again on that leg.