Local man dies for freedom of choice

[Gator6x4]

very sad.

I don't think they can put to many safety devices on tractors and other high risk machinery. I firmly believe my life is well worth protecting, of course you hear this from someone who has experienced the "Thrill and Excitement" of surviving a roll over, my fault on a bank that I had mowed several times previously without a problem. Not that day before you could blink your eye, tractor and mower were going to the right rapidly. Have you ever looked at the blade on a rotary cutter up close while trying to regain footing and back up? Very exciting and a terrible epinephrine rush.

 

[jimmysisson]

Does anyone think there would be ROPS on tractors if the only reason was demand from users? If you weren't used to one and some gummint fella said you ought to pay for one would you go along? Bet not. I don't know the history and may be all wet, too.
Jim

 

[gemini5362]

actually some tractor manufacturers have programs to install rops on tractors without them. I know that kubota does. They sell the correct rops for your tractor at a reduced rate and then either put it on cheaply or for free. I dont really remember which. They do make it where you can afford it if you want one. Both of my tractors have ROPS and seat belts. I also am very carful how much of a slope I drive on. The slopes that I have to mow that would be too dangerous I use a wheeled type of string trimmer.

 

[horse7]

Does anyone think there would be ROPS on tractors if the only reason was demand from users? If you weren't used to one and some gummint fella said you ought to pay for one would you go along? Bet not. I don't know the history and may be all wet, too.
Jim

I would have put a ROPS on the old MF1040 I have, but although MF sold one at the time of sale (the original owner did not buy it) the gov changed the standards and MF did not make a new version that met the new standards (I presume this was because the tractor was out of production and they made so few of them).

The irony is, that the gov "improved" the standard and made old MF1035/1040/1045 potentially less safe since there are no ROPS available for them unless they have an original factory ROPS. I'm sure there are many other tractors in the same predicament.

 

[john_bud]

I felt the same way about helmets for motorcyle riders, but I've also seen a couple of studies showing the cost to the taxpayers for caring for the maimed and crippled who might not have been injured so badly had they used a seat belt or wore a helmet.

Bird,

Again you put out a jewel of a thought. I've seen studies that show the cost of care + lost productivity from cycle riders that didn't wear helmets. I've also seen studies that showed (at one point) that the MAJORITY of riders w/o helmets were also without insurance.

I don't mind a person wanting to ride free, but the cops should be able to give a huge ticket if they don't have insurance to pay for themselves after the accident. After all, WE shouldn't have to pay for someone ELSE to ride free, should we? Very similar to the click it or ticket. Maybe a Blaze orange insurange sticker on the lic plate.

Just a note - I do feel very sorry for the person that lost it all underwater with a tractor pinning them down. That is one of my personal fears. Being pinned and slowly crushed to death while having several minutes to reflect on not taking the time to properly block equipment. I use 3x rated jack stands and typically a 6x12 block of wood every time I go under something heavy. And I like ROPS and in fact wish I had FOPS too.

jb

 

[Soundguy]

survive and none of his fault. This sends a bad message. His death was most likely totally preventable with a ROPS.

Pat

Maybee.. maybee not.

in a 'water' roll over.. it depends on how violent the rollover wasor what the waterbed terain was like. If mushy/mucky.. he may have been trapped EVEN WITH a rops depending on how the tractor laid.. or what debri was under there.

Also a possibility he may have inhaled water accidentally upon entering so that he may or may not have lived with a rops.

Not enough info here without knowing exactly what happened.

I do agree, that in general.. rops and seatbelt are safer than no rops.. and if no rops.. then NEVER a seatbelt.

Hard to pass judgement when we.. or at least I, don't have all the details.

Poor guy may have been jared senseless when it rolle dover, and died there upside down, underwater, in his rops strapped to the seat with lungs full of water...

He might have 'expired' before he went into the drink...

soundguy

 

[unreconstructed]

I am with BlackNTan. Freedom entails risk. Of course, getting closely supervised by the government entails some risk too. Don't wanta pay that ticket? Tell 'em to put it where the sun don't shine and see what happens.

 

[Soundguy]

Freedom isn't free.. and it isn't always safe or EZ.. american history shows this.. I'll take freedom with risks any day vs having the government tell me everything I can / can't do. they already do that enough as it is now.

Remember ole ben f.... "when people trade freedom for security.. they soon end up with neither".

That's paraphrased a bit.. but the meaning rings true...

any rights we give up -NEVER- come back.

soundguy

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

"Local man dies for freedom of choice"

vs.

Local man lives under a dictatorship/totalitarian government.......little contradictory, there, huh......


My, my, we sure sell off our freedoms for below market values. Our forefathers would be so ashamed..........or angry depending on much blood they spilled to obtain freedom......

However, there must be a happy medium in there somwhere. We learn, so we add safety devices. Where the line is drawn, is blurry.....

 

[unreconstructed]

If those fellas freezing their butts off at Valley Forge could have looked forward a couple hundred years plus a few, I think they would have taken it to the house right then and there.

If providing for the general welfare means what the boys in Washington says it does, then lets do it up right. I want a 20 hour work week, free chow, free meds, 640 acres of my choosing provided by my fellow taxpayers not to mention a nice stable of new John Deere tractors, with all the safety equipement of course, and any thing else I can think of--oh yes, while the fed is buying up the U.S. economy, I have some stuff to sell at a nice price.....