Another death by DOT Bush-hog

[Farmwithjunk]

FWJ could probably answer this better, but as I understand it, they are mowing literally miles of median and they generally mow 1-3 times per year, so the grass is waist high when they mow and you could not see anything even if you walked it.

Aaron Z

This years contract requires me to mow 4 times (on or near specific dates) Only the very lasy mow of the year do we mow ALL the outside ROW's. They are cut to a maximum of 15' from edge of pavement on rounds 1, 2, and 3. It isn't unusual to have ROW's with as much as 75' of grass/weeds. So round 4 is done in some very hostile conditions.

Part of the bid is "trash clean up" that requires people on foot, bagging trash, and looking for potential problems. They can't see under the heavy growth. The clean up crews stay a couple days in front of the mowing crew. It's not far out of the realm of possibility that a passing motorist can toss something out between the time it's walked and the actual mowing takes place.

Quite often, rocks become dislodged from rock outcroppings along the ROW. THey weren't there one minute, there the next....

Point being, even when precautions are taken, often well beyond what would be expected as "enough", there's still a very strong likelyhood that SOMETHING is going to end up getting hit....and launched.

State budgets have been slashed in the last few years. (That ol' economy thing...AGAIN) We once mowed the same roadway, but TWO additional cuts per year. That MAY save the state a bit of money, but it also serves to leave us mowing in a less "friendly" environmant.



Typically, there isn't a very thick "cushion" in the bid prices on ROW mowing. I'm not interested in doing this as a "pro bono" project, but the bid has to be not only competitive, but it has to be LOW bid. Long story short, we can make a decent income with equipment budgets built upon lower initial cost and lower overall operating cost of rotary mowers, but not so much with flails. They aren't spec-ed in the bids we go after, and there simply isn't the money allocated for bids employing more expensive equipment. Simple explanation, we buy flails and we can't bid competitively.

So....We use 15' Bush Hog batwings, and we buy plenty of insurance. Thing is, we would even with flail mowers. We have demo-ed flails from various vendors. They do a splendid job, but at a cost.

In the 3 past seasons, with as many as 9 mowing rigs operating at times, we've not had one single reported incidence with an object striking a vehicle. 2 incidents were reported, BOTH involved vehicles running off the edge of the road and hitting our vehicles parked in emergency lanes. We may throw a rock now and then, but they throw cars at us...!

 

[Qapla]

Don't know about how Georgia operates, but many States require that you get permission to sue them before you can sue them.

If this is the case here, Ga will just not give that permission.

Some years back the State of Florida had been sued because deer ran into the road and people hit them with tragic results. They have since changed the law.

Now, you are not allowed to sue if one of the State's deer hits you. The State does claim ownership of the deer. That's why they can regulate the hunting of them. However, you cannot sue them for the damage their deer does to you or your property.

The only compensation they did make - now if you hit a deer with your car, you can keep the deer - you didn't used to be able to.

I know deer are not mowers - the point is, States can get out of law suits if they want to.

 

[Deere9986]

This years contract requires me to mow 4 times (on or near specific dates) Only the very lasy mow of the year do we mow ALL the outside ROW's. They are cut to a maximum of 15' from edge of pavement on rounds 1, 2, and 3. It isn't unusual to have ROW's with as much as 75' of grass/weeds. So round 4 is done in some very hostile conditions.

Part of the bid is "trash clean up" that requires people on foot, bagging trash, and looking for potential problems. They can't see under the heavy growth. The clean up crews stay a couple days in front of the mowing crew. It's not far out of the realm of possibility that a passing motorist can toss something out between the time it's walked and the actual mowing takes place.

Quite often, rocks become dislodged from rock outcroppings along the ROW. THey weren't there one minute, there the next....

Point being, even when precautions are taken, often well beyond what would be expected as "enough", there's still a very strong likelyhood that SOMETHING is going to end up getting hit....and launched.

State budgets have been slashed in the last few years. (That ol' economy thing...AGAIN) We once mowed the same roadway, but TWO additional cuts per year. That MAY save the state a bit of money, but it also serves to leave us mowing in a less "friendly" environmant.



Typically, there isn't a very thick "cushion" in the bid prices on ROW mowing. I'm not interested in doing this as a "pro bono" project, but the bid has to be not only competitive, but it has to be LOW bid. Long story short, we can make a decent income with equipment budgets built upon lower initial cost and lower overall operating cost of rotary mowers, but not so much with flails. They aren't spec-ed in the bids we go after, and there simply isn't the money allocated for bids employing more expensive equipment. Simple explanation, we buy flails and we can't bid competitively.

So....We use 15' Bush Hog batwings, and we buy plenty of insurance. Thing is, we would even with flail mowers. We have demo-ed flails from various vendors. They do a splendid job, but at a cost.

In the 3 past seasons, with as many as 9 mowing rigs operating at times, we've not had one single reported incidence with an object striking a vehicle. 2 incidents were reported, BOTH involved vehicles running off the edge of the road and hitting our vehicles parked in emergency lanes. We may throw a rock now and then, but they throw cars at us...!

i too do this type of work, and will tell you the bids are crazy low. our profit margin on some jobs are low while some are decent. i have some 4 lanes that i bid 22 an acre and didn't win. another point is when we put out our mowing ahead signs that area becomes a construction zone so all traffic laws regarding them apply. people don't pay attention to whats ahead until its too late then want to blame the other person.

 

[soulasphil]

Are chains the best way to stop flying rocks? My brush hog has mobile metal plates which seem to be doing the job.

 

[Scooby074]

Are chains the best way to stop flying rocks? My brush hog has mobile metal plates which seem to be doing the job.

interesting, are the plates segmented?

one would think the larger plates would ride up and expose more where a chain would follow the contours of the ground. Ie: one chain rides up over an obstacle, while its neighbors are unaffected.

 

[TripleR]

Are chains the best way to stop flying rocks? My brush hog has mobile metal plates which seem to be doing the job.

I don't know for sure, but a metal plate will be moved along its entire length when it hits an object exposing the whole length while chains will only expose those areas immediately affected, so it "seems" chains "may" be better.

 

[Heavyduty]

i too do this type of work, and will tell you the bids are crazy low. our profit margin on some jobs are low while some are decent. i have some 4 lanes that i bid 22 an acre and didn't win. another point is when we put out our mowing ahead signs that area becomes a construction zone so all traffic laws regarding them apply. people don't pay attention to whats ahead until its too late then want to blame the other person.

I've seen some mowing around me go for 17-22 an acre. They ALL use the little 60-80hp tractors with the 15 ft batwings in my area. It's too risky and dangerous for me to do personally but I bet the bossman running these cheap ROW mow comp. doesn't mow either.:thumbsup:

 

[Deere9986]

I've seen some mowing around me go for 17-22 an acre. They ALL use the little 60-80hp tractors with the 15 ft batwings in my area. It's too risky and dangerous for me to do personally but I bet the bossman running these cheap ROW mow comp. doesn't mow either.:thumbsup:

they only give us 3 mowings a yr, 10 ft the first and second then to the row the third. i run 3 5101e limiteds and 3 5093e limiteds. i have 4 bush hogs and 2 landprides. used to run all kubotas but never could keep 6 new ones running.(terrible hydraulics)

 

[Heavyduty]

Hey guys, Here is a little input from my own personal knowledge. Keep in mind that as I am writing this I am running a guardrail mower on interstate 95 in central North Carolina at a blazing speed of 0.4 mph.
I am an employee of the NCDOT, up until this year I was a supervisor for a mowing crew in one half of the county I work in. My county is part of two county district that has gone 100% contract for routine mowing. We had our own tractors for mowing secondary roads and had all primary roads contract mowed. We would cut on an average 15-20 miles power tractor per day (8hr) on a 6 week cycle that makes which makes it impossible to walk all of it but questionable ares are walked. Even though we have to keep alert for traffic and foreign objects things do get hit and thrown thorough the chain guards and accidents do occur.
Back to work

What happened to all the excess equipment? I guess a lot of it just sits, since you only mow the secondary roads now.

 

[B E Lewis Farms]

No, even secondary roads are also contract mowed. The excess equipment was transfered to other counties.