I wasn't wearing my seatbelt!

[Henro]

This is posted just as a reminder!

I must admit that over the recent years I've become a little sloppy about wearing my seatbelt when using my tractor in places where I figured chances were slim that I would need it

Something happened two weeks ago that struck a nerve and convinced me that when I'm using my tractor I should be using my seatbelt Just In Case!

What happened was I was working on the house I'm renovating next-door, which I bought for the property more than the house, and I was standing on an aluminum plank about 10 or 11 feet above the driveway, which is a very hard surface. Anyway I had an equipment malfunction, no need to get into the details, but something I did not consider as a possibility, ended up causing me grief.

Fortunately as I began to fall I was able to realize that I needed to propel myself slightly so that I would not fall on a metal railing that was below me. Mission accomplished: splat!

So what's the message? Message simply is that no matter how hard we try to protect ourselves there's always opportunity for something to go wrong. So no matter how safe you may think it is not to wear your seatbelt, while using your tractor, chances are that is not really 100% the case.

I was so lucky to fall 10' plus and just end up breaking my left foot and nothing else at 68 years of age. But age does not matter.

Maximize your chances of getting through a worst case event on your tractor by wearing your seatbelt at all times. My recent event convinced me that from this point forward I better be doing that!

Take this opportunity to learn from my experience!

Henro

 

[Bird]

I've been wearing seat belts in cars and trucks since 1962 when I installed seat belts in a new car that came without them. And yep, I used the seat belts on my tractors, too. And I have no doubt that the seat belt saved my life, even though it broke, when I was the right front seat passenger in a car that hit a tree head on, on December 29, 1965.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would be a lot healthier today if I had worn my seat belt in 1971. I was in a near head on collision as a passenger in a 1970 Ford Torino that was possibly the first car to come with seat belts AND a shoulder harness, neither of which the driver nor I had on. I got a broken neck plus severe knee injury from it and the driver got lots of more severe injuries too numerous to mention BUT we both survived which is not the case of the other driver.
I don't think I would have been injured at all if I had worn my full restraint system although it may not have helped my buddy a lot since his side of the interior got pretty well crushed from the engine being driven back into the seat. My neck has required 3 surgeries to date to fix pinched nerves from calcium deposits that started at the broken vertebrae and have worked up and down so that now I only have use of 3 bones in my neck to turn my head AND it hurts almost all of the time.

Needless to say, I have used my seat belt in the cars religiously since that day. I cant say the same for my tractor use though even though I guess it would be a good idea to use them, I just cant seem to get there in reality. I have seat belts on both tractors, my lawnmower, and my RTV but don't use any of them, although I do still do on all cars and trucks.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

The only time I use my seat belt on any of my tractors is mowing my pond dam, ditches or other slopes. I probably should wear it all the time, but I don't. I wear one religiously in an automobile.

 

[Threepoint]

Yup, more and more these days I remind myself that it only takes a moment for everything to change, forever.

 

[Garandman]

I was hit head on by a drunk driver at 1230pm on a Monday afternoon on a suburban street. Completely uninjured largely due to seat belt.

Nobody has to tell me twice.....And I remind fellow motorcyclists, "You are never wearing a seat belt.

 

[Utopia Texas]

Last year I was tearing down a 50 year old barn on the property and had the majority of the wood and metal cleaned off the slab so I decided to use the bucket to scrape the rest of the slab clean. The left over debris was about a foot deep and the first 15-20 sweeps across the slab went well. I then hit a 4x6 upright that had been sawed off 4 inches above the concrete at about 3 miles per hour with the front lip of the bucket. I flew across the top of the steering wheel and my face smashed into the windshield. Passed out for a few seconds and luckily the tractor stalled. I was taken to the local emergency room for a head and neck xray. Cracked the top two neck vertibrae at the base of the skull and ended up with a huge knot and bruise above the eyes. Doctors said I was really lucky. If someone had told me that a 3 mile per hour stop would have caused me to hit the windshield so hard I would have said they were crazy and that I could have held onto the steering wheel going that slow. I was a human rocket for a split second and wearing the seat belt would have prevented all my injuries.....

 

[MossRoad]

68 year old dude falls 10' and has the presence of mind to jump out of way of railing and ONLY breaks one foot! Go buy a lottery ticket immediately. :thumbsup:

Glad it was not more serious.

About 10 years ago my then 68 year old mother-in-law was putting up Christmas tree lights, thought she was on the bottom step of a ladder when she was on the 2nd to bottom step, stepped down hard and snapped the ball off of her femur! Hip replacement followed.

Anyhow, I had a low-speed wreck, was still in 1st gear and hit my head pretty darn hard on the windshield back around 1980. I've always worn my seatbelt in cars and trucks ever since. Always on the tractor, too, even if just moving a few feet.

 

[Fawken]

I always wear one in a car. Tractor didn't come with one. Guess what? Way back in 1986 when tractor and me were still newbies, I was scraping dirt on the back side of a stock tank berm. It was real steep and I rolled the darn Ford. I was young and nimble and jumped the other way unscathed. BTW, no ROPs either. Glad there was no seat belt. Now I'm old, but still pretty spry. I'll take my chances.

 

[Gcorron]

I didn't used to wear seat belts, until I went through the police academy, they convinced me. Then I became a certified fatal accident investigator. It makes you ill to send somebody to the morgue, who would have had minor scratches IF! The old figure used to be that 2% of fatalities would have been better off without a belt, good odds to wear one.

I take the owners manual instructions pretty seriously, if the ROPS is up, the seatbelt is on, if the ROPS is down, leave it off and pray you can clear!

George