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[Kerrminator]

Was cutting my parents over grown lot on my small stx38 john deere and i ran into something in the grass and i attempted to free myself by setting my feet on the ground and rocking the tractor back and forth.Within seconds i looked down and my foot went under the deck about a big toe length and gasped with horror expecting to pull my foot up and have mangled toes if not missing a few. luckily...somehow..i escaped without a scratch.

 

[roxynoodle]

You did indeed get lucky. When I was a kid I had a neighbor get his foot under a running mower and it took off the top of his foot including the top half of his toes. I remember it quite vividly and always check where my feet are with any kind of mower.

 

[turnkey4099]

My 'dirty pants" thing happened twice. Once way back, at least 20 years ago. Mowing, pulling mower backwards from under a tree and stepped off a low retaining wall. Mower naturally followed me but I managed to deflect it somehow. Second time was last year. Mowing along top of a 3ft retaining wall when wife said something and I stepped off the wall. This time, due to the previous I let go of the mower.

That blade safety thing just isn't that safe when you are falling. The natural instint when falling, especially, backward, is to hold on to what ever you have your hand on. That is the absolute last thing you want to do with a running mower.

Harry K

 

[jayhaitch]

While working in an ER some years ago, we had 3 days of solid rain. Finally, the sun came out. Within 4 hours we had 3 men with toe/finger amputations. Slipped on wet grass, pulled mower onto foot. Drinking booze, slipped on grass, pulled mower onto foot. Clogged grass in chute, stuck hand in to unclog before blade completely stopped. Sheesh! I mow paranoid ever since. Still have all my digits

 

[Kerrminator]

Was cutting my parents over grown lot o

 

[DocHeb]

Worst mower injury I've ever seen was a man mowing with an ancient riding mower. Stopped to bend over to reach something on the lawn, knelt on the deck, and the rusty metal gave way. His bent knee was hit by the blades just above the kneecap.

 

[shvl73]

There was an extremely ugly incident a few years ago in central NH. An older gentleman was on a Sears rider when some clothing became caught somewhere on the machine. He had reached over to free himself and lost track of his direction. The mower headed down a steep incline, hitting a large bump and projecting the man over the front, all with the engine running and mower deck engaged. He ended up underneath the running machine and did not survive. I don't believe there was a safety switch on the seat. A friend of mine was on the jury during the resulting court case.

 

[N80]

Clogged grass in chute, stuck hand in to unclog before blade completely stopped.

I almost caught myself doing something similar to that one time. On my ancient rider you can reach down to the chute. Grass often catches on the edge and build up. It is just right there on the edge, not down in the cowling. so the temptation is to reach down and flip it away. Drew back just before I did it. Was concerned that my son might do it, I showed him the clearance between the blade and the inside of the cowling. It's tiny! Far less than the width of a finger.