Child Ran Over by a Tractor Driven by a Child

[JD3520]

This is very sad! I work for a sheriff's department and today we had a call we all need to be concerned about. It was a beautiful holiday in Texas so everyone was outside and/or visiting with friends. Got a call about noon of a vehicle speeding down the road. It ended up at the emergency room. According to the driver/mother, she and her 8 year old son live in the city and were visiting friends out in the country. There were several boys riding on a tractor (equipped with a back hoe). A 14 year old was driving. The 8 year old ran to jump on the moving tractor. The tractor was wet/damp from a small rain and the 8 year old slipped while trying to pull himself onto the tractor. He fell under the rear wheel. No they weren't in soft ground. He now has back and arm injuries but apparently no internal organ injuries.

As adult owners of tractors it is our responsibility to make them safe around others; especially around others that do not know the dangers a tractor brings.

Chuck

 

[shepherd]

that is sad /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gifmy dad has always stressed to me to be safe on them thankfully and wisely i listen

 

[texredneck]

This is awful. YEah, when I was knee high my grandfather had a farm. HE actually had it long before ad long after. He had since I was a youth a farmall B and a ford 3000. The ford came later, but the B had always been tehre. Grandad to this day, im 26 lol, is afraid to let me drive the ford. Now of course I work in construction and Ive operaterated much larger pieces of quipement, but the good will is there. To him, farm tractors are no toys. They are not for children and they are very dangerous. I started driving the B when I was very young. There were dangers to it, but my dad thought it was good to teach the boy young. I managed to survive. Learned some good lessons on that B and the ford, well its a powerhouse as far as IM concerned. ID admit a good seabee dozer puts it to shame. But IVe watched that old 3000 pull two trucks and a fullsize TT out of the mud. Just lock the axle and away you you. lol. Still, they all scare me. I use them when I need to. But I got into welding cause I skeeered of gettin tore up on a tractor implement. Be careful y'all and teach your kids....they dont know no better

 

[keeney]

Kids learn to keep themselves safe because they have a natural aversion to getting hurt. Trusting kids to keep other kids safe is asking them to be too mature for their age. Heck, in my opinion even many so-called Adults are not mature enough to be trusted with kids.

Also, one of the things I learned working at Toro was that frequently injuries to children with power equipment occured when they were "playing" with the machine, not actually using it. Even adult-supervised joy rides on a tractor / mower are bad because the child learns to think of the machine as a toy, not a tool. Later, unsupervised, they may try to play with the "toy" again on their own and get hurt.

- Rick

 

[turnkey4099]

I handled a call like that once - don't ever want to do it again. Perfectly safe one would think. Dad and very young son go down to isolated barn for chores using big tractor with cab for transport and use while there. On way back dad hits a bump, son disappears and door is swinging open. Rear wheel ran over and killed him. Dad made the report, never, ever want to hear that again.

Harry K

 

[rk246]

Having a son, I can think of nothing worse in life than anything ever happening to him, scares me to death, it could only be worse if caused by me.... I don't think I could live with myself...

 

[Joe1]

Where were the parents while this was going on? I don't necessarily have a problem with a 14year old operating a tractor, but he never should have allowed anyone to ride with him. The parents of both the 14 year old and the 8 year old are at least as much to blame as the 8 year old that tried to get onto a moving tractor or the 14 year old that didn't keep an eye out for kids.

It is sad, but it was also avoidable and preventable.

 

[JazzDad]

Not necessarily where were the parents, what were they thinking? We had a terrible incident locally, last week. A 9 yr old girl died while riding a 4-wheeler. Don't know any details, other than- she was 9 years old! Isn't that too young to be out on one of these machines?

 

[JimR]

What a shame. I blame the parents for this mishap. I hope they learned something from this.

As for a 9 year old on an ATV. The small ATV's are pretty slow. My friend has one for his 9 year old son. I think it goes a whopping 10-15 mph wide open.

 

[Syncro]

This is indeed a real sad story, and I sure feel for all the parties involved. But I rather think the blame, if it can be called that, lies with teaching kids responsibility and not simply the act of driving a tractor, or for that matter anything else. 14 years old is hardly a 'child' in my book, he should have been aware of dangerous situations and taught to be responsible for his actions. The fact is that anyone, regardless of age, using a backhoe for joy rides is acting irresposible. Regardless, still a tragedy.