You guys can get angry or whatever at what I said. I don't fold down my ROPS. I use my seatbelt on my tractor whenever I'm at risk of rolling over or similar, and by choice I don't wear it all the time. In my car I always wear it.
I'm not Monday quarterbacking or anything similar. I'm not wishing harm on anyone - that's your interpretation of my meaning. You guys are reading into my statement your own personal agenda(s). If people choose to defeat seat switches etc., then they are tempting fate on obvious risks, 'accidents' that could not occur if they didn't mess with the very devices meant to reduce/eliminate certain preventable accidents.
You're missing the POINT. You're ASSUMING everyone on the planet is aware of EVERY potential safety hazard, guess what they aren't. Don't conflate " flagrant disregard for safety" IE folding down ROPS, with, getting off a tractor while it's running WE'VE ALL DONE IT, although me not so much any more reading all the horror stories. but none the less we all do things that seem appropriate until they turn UGLY.
The OP did just that, he did something innocent, that turned UGLY. No ones fault, no one to blame, it's an ACCIDENT, and that's how accidents happen.
I mean how many times have you run up or downs stairs until the ONE DAY you sprained your ankle?
So to beat up anyone who makes a lapse in judgement, or is ignorant to certain facts that are obvious to you is unfair. CHIT happens, and when people can feel free to post "stupid mistakes" without the SAFETY POLICE, or the YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER Police beating up on them, then we all win.
If on the other hand we continue as a site to make people feed like a moron for passing on their foibles, then we will be relegates to a tractor site that has nothing more on it than " I bought a new tractor SEE HERE IT IS " or "LOOKIE HERE at my new garden" ...really is that what you want?
YOU SAID:" It is my opinion that everyone makes mistakes, obviously, that's not the point here. What is the point is everyone needs to THINK before acting whenever working on or around machinery."...that's probably the most unaware statement I think I have ever read. THINK ABOUT IT, people can "THINK" till the cows come home, and that will not help them make a better decision IF THEY ARE UNAWARE.
As in this example the OP was UNAWARE the tractor would lurch forward once the started was shorted out. Just because something is obvious to you doesn't make it so for all. Now if your suggesting that everyone gets out a service manual on specific equipment and stsep by step instructions, I'm with you, but to expect people to think about something they are unaware of is ludicrous.
Maybe this will help:
Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.
