FATAL LAWN MOWER ACCIDENT...This one hits close to home...

[CompactTractorFan]

As you don't know, I have a deep interest in firefighting (even more than tractors). So naturally when I heard sirens close by yesterday I had to find out what was going on. After going on to our county incident map website and seeing that it was a vehicle accident up the street I started listening to the online scanner for our county. While I was listening to this incident come to a close uneventfully, I heard another call come in for a unresponsive subject in a neighboring community. Further information was giving that the man was down while mowing his lawn and a elderly women was trying to lift the mower off of him. After police and paramedics arrived on scene they reported that they had a body down in the brush, requested the coroner and canceled the fire department that was responding and medical helicopter that was on standby. Later that night we got a call from a church member telling us that another elderly church member that we knew was in the hospital after her leg was injured and her son (in his mid forty's) was killed in a lawn mower accident. This is just a reminder that this can happen to anyone at any time! Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.

 

[Thomas]

Indeed a shame.
Special thoughts to all.<______________>

 

[jcmseven]

Drives the point home. These machines will kill you, even the small ones. While I do not know the circumstances of the accident you discuss, it reminds me that over the years using power equipment has gotten safer. There are now ROPS, RIO switches (hate them), seatbelts, blade brakes, operator presence switches, and the like to protect us. That said, I nearly weekly see someone (my neighbor this week) mowing a steep bank performing mower gymnastics to stay on the seat and prevent tipping while mowing with the protective chute off and the RIO disabled--and no ROPS. If there is any lesson to be learned in the face of tragedy like this, it is for us to reevaluate our personal equipment and make sure we are operating it as safely as we can--regardless of whether a factor in this case or not.

John M

 

[CompactTractorFan]

UPDATE: Apparently he had a hart attack and fell off the mower and the mower kept going and ran him over. His mom injured her leg because she was so hysterical that a neighbor's German Shepard took a chunk out of her leg.

 

[sandman2234]

Riding around south Pa over the last few days has given me thought about just how people actually mow their yards. Seems half of the yards are steeper than my roof, but yet they are still mowed nicely. Guess it must be a way of life to mow a yard with that type of slope, but it is a little strange for me since most of my property is just flat. If something were to happen to me while mowing, the mower would just keep going till I ran into a tree, not turn over, since there is nothing to cause it to turn over. Hopefully the Lady will recover from the dogbite, and the loss of her loved one.
David from jax

 

[RoyJackson]

Riding around south Pa over the last few days has given me thought about just how people actually mow their yards. Seems half of the yards are steeper than my roof, but yet they are still mowed nicely.

Yeah, there isn't much level land around here and where there is, it's mostly farmland.
On the way home from work a few weeks back, I observed a guy on a 755 going up a slope that must have been 30 degrees. You get used to to it, I suppose. I also see a lot of riding mowers traversing across slopes I wouldn't run my tractor across, but that lower C of G probably reduces the pucker factor.

My property is sloped...with the exception of one fairly shallow, but steep slope, none exceeds 20 degrees and most is less then that.