Local man dies for freedom of choice

[WarrenF]

I'll bet the folks here that are spouting off about personal freedoms would be the first to file a lawsuit if their child was injured by a toy that malfunctioned and put the kid's eye out!

I would say that you would be wrong. It is the folks who scream for safety regulations on EVERYTHING, that are the ones who are quick to sue.

It is those who want safety regulations on everything that will not allow their children to climb trees....might break their arm in a fall. It is those who want regulations on everything who think they can remove all risks in life....and worse yet, want to remove all risks from life.
Let's get this thing right down to the bottom line. If you think there should be ROPS and seat belts on a tractor, then why don't you leave the choice up to the individual? You pay for the safety devices you think you should have....and I will pay for the ones I want. If you are stupid enough to stick your foot under a mower while it is running, then you deserve to lose your foot. Should you be so stupid as to put your hand near or around a pulley or PTO shaft while it is running, then you deserve to lose your arm or hand.

Good grief, LIFE IS LIFE, and bad things happen at times. Trying to tie food safety and prescription medicine safety to this discussion is mixing apples and oranges. Equipment safety is a choice one would make. Food and medication safety is something that generally people need. I had a dog one time that I tried to break from eating.....we almost had him trained but then he died. That is an absurdity to illustrate the absurdity of the argument.

Here is the one regulation I would support regarding equipment safety. If you are going to operate this equipment, then you MUST do so at your own risk. It will be very helpful if you can read and COMPREHEND English. You must be able to pour sand out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel!!!

 

[Soundguy]

The leading cause of death is life.. and i don't expect that to change much in the future..

soundguy

 

[scott_vt]

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.

Good Afternoon horse7,
Thanks for that interesting info ! I have owned my MF1040 about 4 or 5 years and wasnt even aware of that. Its been a great tractor but Im also painfully aware that its ROPS free also. Along with my two old Farmalls. I am very cautious using this tractor on my hills while mowing my fields, Im not anti ROPS, infact my next CUT will have a ROPS and seatbelt and I plan on using them !

In conclusion I like the freedom to make my own choices, and Im also man enough to accept any consequences that may occur through any fault of my own !

 

[Soundguy]

I still get a kick out of that quote line..

soundguy

 

[3RRL]

I would say that you would be wrong. It is the folks who scream for safety regulations on EVERYTHING, that are the ones who are quick to sue.

It is those who want safety regulations on everything that will not allow their children to climb trees....might break their arm in a fall.

I have to agree with Warren,
I think they would try to sue the tree if they thought it would pay.

 

[scott_vt]

I still get a kick out of that quote line..

soundguy

Good Afternoon Chris,
Are you refering to this line ...

"In conclusion I like the freedom to make my own choices, and Im also man enough to accept any consequences that may occur through any fault of my own !"

I stand by my statement whether often used or not..... some people get out of bed in the mornin wondering who they can suit today..... I have never even entertained that thought, not even for a second !

If there were more people that had my feelings on this subject, there would be a heck of a lot less lawyers out there !

 

[Soundguy]

Actually it was the tag line by thingy.. but yeah.. I like that line.

and ditto the sentiments of your message.. if people were more concerned about personal responsibility.. than who they can sue.. then the world would be much nicer...

soundguy

Good Afternoon Chris,
Are you refering to this line ...

"In conclusion I like the freedom to make my own choices, and Im also man enough to accept any consequences that may occur through any fault of my own !"

I stand by my statement whether often used or not..... some people get out of bed in the mornin wondering who they can suit today..... I have never even entertained that thought, not even for a second !

If there were more people that had my feelings on this subject, there would be a heck of a lot less lawyers out there !

 

[gemini5362]

If you want the freedom to choose not to have a tractor with ROPS, not wear a helmet on a motorcycle, not to wear a seat belt in a car etc.... than you also have to choose to let manufacturers produce machines without safety guards on belts and pulleys, can foods in lead sealed containers and sell you drugs that are not checked for safety. After all, you should be smart enough to choose which products you purchase, right? Right??? That's what you're suggesting by saying government should not tell you what you can and cannot do, right? If the government (society, us, we are the government, by the way) shouldn't be able to tell you how to live any aspect of your life why should we, the government have anything to do with ANY aspect of safety and common sense at all???

I'll bet the folks here that are spouting off about personal freedoms would be the first to file a lawsuit if their child was injured by a toy that malfunctioned and put the kid's eye out!

You know I resent your painting everyone with a broad brush. I am one of the foldks here that talk about personal freedoms. I had a child die in childbirth there was some real question about the doctor not putting a fetal heart monitor on my wife that would have saved the baby. I did not go out and sue. Sometimes things just happen. Not everyone on here that believes in personal freedoms are hypocrits.

 

[gemini5362]

True story, believe it or not:

One of the reasons why we have safety rules, safety regulations, safety stickers and other laws.

Ms Smiley face, applied for a job as a delivery person. She was put through the standard new employee training routine. After a couple of months on the job, one afternoon she had a flat tire. She retrieved the bumper jack from the storage area, placed the jack in the top center of the rear wheel well and proceeded to jack the vehicle up from the side and the top of the wheel well. She damaged the side of the vehicle in doing so. She then proceeded to remove the lug nuts. Don稚 ask me how I don稚 know. Then as she was trying to pull the tire from the wheel hub and around the jack, she knocked the vehicle off the jack. Her arm was broken. The company terminated her for damage to vehicle and violation of safety standards. She appealed her dismissal for wrongful termination. She argued she was not shown or trained on how to place the jack or how to change a tire by the Safety Officer during her orientation. She was ordered reinstated and the Safety Officer disciplined for failure to show Ms Smiley face how to change a flat tire. The Safety Officer advised he in his many years of employment had never had to show or explain to someone the proper way to change a flat tire on a motor vehicle.

Bottom line the Safety Officer received three days off with out pay. Ms Smiley face was reinstated and all lost wages and seniority restored.

The Safety Officer then to prevent such action against him in the future sent management a memorandum listing all employees of the Company and the date and time for remedial training on how to change an automobile tire.

After all somebody had to pay beside Ms. Smiley face.

Actuallly if that story was true I could understand it. If Ms Smiley face had AAA or some other type of road side service all of her life she would not know how to change a tire. I know where I work that is not asked if you can change a tire or not. We have a person that drives our wrecker to fix flats if someone has one. Depending on the employer but a lot of union contracts say that an employee can only be fired for just cause. One of the elements of just cause is whether or not the employee knew they were doing something wrong and that the consequences of their actions could result in termination. I would expect to win that case if I was defending her in arbitration.

 

[BlacknTan]

When we're born, and through our formative years, we have parents and a family to keep us safe and show us the right way.
When I became an adult, I felt I knew enough, and my life has proven this out, to make the correct decisions for my own personal safety and other aspects of my life. Those who approve of government intervention in every aspect of their life, perhaps never l;earned to make their own decisions to fail or succeed by... they prefer to feed at the nipple of the government legislators for a lifetime, and hope against hope that the decisions that these folks, who are just like us, by the way, save a lower moral standing in many cases, that they can be shown the right way.. kind of like a surrogate parent.
Adulthood means making one's own choices in life and basking in the glory when correct, and accepting the consequences when not....

It's called being a man... and I fear we are an endangered species!