Co-worker's brother killed plowing snow

[BobinCols]

Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

A co-workers brother was killed yesterday in central Ohio when his tractor slid down a bank and overturned while pushing snow at his house. My co-worker and brother had been dairy farmers all of their lifes until about 10 years ago, but they still had the family farm. Bill was a hard working family man. Tore me up at work seeing the pain in my friends face when told of his brothers accident by phone. Story can be read at www.lancastereaglegazette.com .. We can not be too careful-life is too short.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

Sorry to hear of your friend's loss. Very sad, indeed.

 

[MikePA]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

<font color="blue"> when his tractor slid down a bank and overturned while pushing snow at his house. </font>
I think about this every time I plow near the drainage ditch in front of our house. That's why my ROPS is up and the seat belt is on. Looks like the tractor did not have either.

 

[44trxfun]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

Not being a smartguy, but a little work laying out ditch / hazard markers in the fall can prevent this kind of stuff. Very sad...sorry for family & friends...

 

[Henro]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

As mike said:

<font color="blue">That's why my ROPS is up and the seat belt is on. Looks like the tractor did not have either. </font>

This was my first thought as well. I hesitated to say anything initially because I felt bad for the family as I am sure we all do.

This tragic event sure seems to point out the value of a rops/seatbelt. Looks like the ditch/slope is not that great of a hazzard...at least from what the picture shows. But the fact that the tractor rolled proves differently.

For me the lesson here is that you just never know when that accident will happen. I try to wear my seatbelt almost all the time, but there are times when I am on flat areas and don't. I am going to try and wear it all the time. You just never know...

My heart goes out to the family...

 

[alpha]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

Its always horrible to hear of accidents like this. I was told by my hand theropist after some minor ligament reatachment surgery that most of the industrial accident cases she saw were end of the day or durring overtime. always stay alert and take a break. safty is first and formost.

 

[markct]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

yea i know what you mean about the accidents happening when overtired, i think the first time i realy realized the effects of being overtired was a month or so ago. i was going to and auction in rockland mass, out near boston about 3 hours from work, my company sent me and another guy with our big IH box truck to try and buy a few machines. well we had had a snowstorm before that so the day before i had been up at like 2 am plowing, then went to bed a bit late the next day and was up at 5 am to head out to the auction, i drove perfectly fine all the way out, alert and feeling great, well after the auction was over we had to go to our other plant and pick up some stuff, so by the time i got heading back home i had about 13 hours on the clock already, and this was all ontop of little sleep the past 2 days, well i was doing ok for a while, but then had a bit of a close call when a car stopped in front of us, but that coulda happened anytime for the most part, but by about 2 hours later i was so tired i almost missed and actualy did miss a few turns, and these were roads i had traveled many times before, it realy was the feeling like when you are drunk, just driving along trying to recognize the intersection or area and by the time you realize it you passed the road or whatever. i tried to talk the other guy into driving but her didnt want to so luckly we made it home safe, but i will say that was the first time i ever realy realized the effects of being overtired on your ability to function

 

[Junkman]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

I have been told that if you are stopped for a moving violation in MA and you tell the officer that you were tired and that is the reason for the violation, that they will also site you for an additional violation. I was also told that it is almost as serious a violation as being DUI/DWI. I don't know for certain if this is fact or fiction, but I do intend to follow up by asking a Trooper friend...

 

[markct]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

hmm, interesting, i will have to remember that, i know my boss got stopped at one of the DOT weigh stations on the mass pike with the truck last year, they did the inspection and weighed him and all checked out ok, then they asked him if he was hourly or salary, he said salary and they said well then wheres your log book. turns out that if you are hourly they consider your timecard to be your log of the hours you worked, but if your salary then you need to keep a logbook, they wouldnt let him continue on, we had to have another guy drive up there that was hourly just to drive the truck back.

 

[Junkman]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

I know of someone that was using a pick up with a car trailer on the rear that had the same problem in CT at the Stafford Springs check station last summer. The truck had New Hampshire commercial plates and a name on the door even though he was a hobbyist. Held him over for the mandatory rest time before they would release the truck since he didn't have a log book. He had driven past the weigh station thinking that he didn't have to stop... The State Police went after him and brought him back. It is hard to know when you have to stop and when you don't.

 

[markct]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

yea my boss had done the same thing actualy, the truck is 26,000, under the cdl weight so he figured since CDL is comercial drivers licence, that since you didnt need one then you shouldnt have to stop, but they went after him and made him go back to the checkpoint and thats when they got him on that.

 

[Bird]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It is hard to know when you have to stop and when you don't. )</font>

Yep, it can be. I believe it was Wyoming where I noticed signs saying "all trailers" had to stop. Now I never knew of RVs having to stop, but since I was pulling a 32' fifth wheel, I didn't take a chance, and of course, they thought I was an idiot for pulling onto the scales with an RV. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rbarker]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have been told that if you are stopped for a moving violation in MA and you tell the officer that you were tired and that is the reason for the violation, that they will also site you for an additional violation. )</font>

It sounds like they were referring to "Operating negligently so as to endanger the lives and safety of the public". Falling asleep at the wheel is considered prima facia evidence in any trial for this criminal offense. I don't recall the penalties off hand but some license loss and jail time are possible depending on the circumstances of the case.

I have never really seen the "falling asleep" part used in simple traffic stops, usually only in vehicle crashes, but this doesn't mean that it couldn't happen.

Talk about scary, when I was a teen ager dating my now Wife I drove home from her house late one night when I was really tired. The ride was about an hour and I "woke up" in my driveway with no idea of how I got there and no recollection of the last half hour of the drive. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[ELMO67]

Re: Co-worker\'s brother killed plowing snow

Yep, that reminds me of the time when I was dating a nurse from White River Junction, I live in SE CT.- 2hrs, 40min. away. One time I left her place at 11:00, a little tired, but hey, no big deal, figuring by the time I got home I'd still get 5 1/2 hrs sleep before getting up for work- not to bad at 23yrs. old. Well, after driving for an hour, I started seeing road signs that I didn't remember- hmm, drive a little further, didn't need to look at the stinking map, well, finally I did OH $#%!, Montpelior? was 1 hour north, not south of where I needed to be! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif I turned around when I could, man that was a long trip home- then I WAS tired, but hey , I was glad to get the 2 hours sleep that I did when I got home!! The worst time I ever had was coming home from Manassas, Virginia after a weekend VW show. My parents and I (me!) decided to leave Sunday night after the show, instead of Monday morning- BIG mistake! We were only about 2 hours into the trip (6 3/4 hrs.) when I started to get tired- and that situation just got worse, and worse and worse. Trying to keep myself from falling asleep was the biggest mistake I made, should have pulled over, and finally did in a south Jersey rest stop. I fell asleep for about 20 mins, woke up, opened the car down and tossed my cookies in the parking lot- not nice /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif( I think that was a form of motion sickness from opening and closing my eyes so much while driving). Well, still being young and dumb I said to my tired and nervous parents" Naw, I'm alright now, it's only 3 1/2 hours to home, I can do it". Well about a half hour later I started to hallucinate VERY badly, I remember the Jersey barriers moving across the road in front of me enough so that I had to jam on the brakes, and every single yellow sign on the side of the road turned into a rain coat wearing bicycle rider /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif! Well that made me stop, almost right away, and let Dad drive- LESSON LEARNED!!!