Lawn mowers and projectiles

[MossRoad]

Last year guy blew layer of grass clipping on corner road,later that night motorcycle round corner lost traction...never found out settle for motorcycle rider was.

We saw something similar in Missouri a couple years ago. We came around a curve and there's a guy blowing clippings into our lane with his mower. A motorcycle was following us. I said "Uh-oh" to my wife and we watched the biker slip sideways on the grass clippings and recover. Pretty scary.

As I also recall, that went into a conversation where a couple TBN members said it was OK to blow clippings into the road and that motorcyclists should expect it.

 

[MossRoad]

I’ve mentioned in the past how I don’t like seeing people blowing grass out into the road. Last Thursday PM I was on my way home in my company truck and noticed a guy out on his JD lawn tractor doing his lawn. About that time I heard something hit my fender and almost stopped but assumed it was road debris kicked up by the car in front of me. It wasn’t until this AM that I noticed a ding in my fender....View attachment 748921
It’s not too bad in the overall scheme of things but if a pedestrian or cyclist had been going by it could have been a different story. He was a good 25 yards away from the road and no doubt doesnt have a clue that h even kicked the rock up.
For that matter, who would expect it?

Glad it didn't come through an open window and get your eye.

A few years ago I was leaf blowing quite a bit of dirt and small rocks out of our really cracked asphalt driveway. Took quite a while. The next day I went to go to work and noticed the rear passenger window was shattered and honeycombed. I touched it, and all the glass cubes fell into the truck! I must have chucked a stone just right into the window with the blower.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Been there, done that.... was blowing debris in the driveway and sent a rock right into the hatchback glass. I couldn't believe that such a small pebble would shatter the glass into a million pieces!

 

[Jstpssng]

Been there, done that.... was blowing debris in the driveway and sent a rock right into the hatchback glass. I couldn't believe that such a small pebble would shatter the glass into a million pieces!

Doesn't safety glass make a mess!!! I once had my ATV punch out the back window of my pickup on a bump... it shattered the window and was like snow falling into the back of the truck.

 

[hube2]

projectiles is why I do not remove or otherwise defeat the chute deflector/guard on my mowers. When I first moved into this house I was mowing my back yard with an old ride on that was missing the guard and I put a pea sized rock through my sliding glass door on the back of the house. Insurance fixed it but what a PITA that was, glass everywhere and then living with plastic taped over the opening for like 2 weeks if I remember right.

It's hard to not blow grass into the street for me. I have a ditch along the road the I have to mow parallel to the road, but I watch for cars on the road and I stop moving until they pass. Could be hard to do if you live on a road with a lot of traffic.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Objects thrown by a brush hog have had a substantial effect on tort law in Oklahoma. The Court ultimately held that the state could be sued.

Vanderpool v. State
1983 OK 82
672 P.2d 1153
Case Number: 56939
Decided: 07/26/1983
Supreme Court of Oklahoma


VERA E. VANDERPOOL, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA AND THE OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, APPELLEES.


Appeal from the District Court of Oklahoma County; Charles L. Owens, Trial Judge.


¶0 Appeal from an order and judgment of the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, granting summary judgment in favor of the State of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Historical Society.


John W. Norman, Incorporated by Ronald W. Horgan, Oklahoma City, for appellant.


Jan Eric Cartwright, Atty. Gen., Floyd W. Taylor, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, for appellees.


LAVENDER, Justice:


¶1 This is an appeal from an order of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of defendants below, State of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Historical Society.


¶2 The facts are not in dispute. Appellant and plaintiff below while employed as an office worker by the Oklahoma Historical Society at a state historical site known as Fort Washita was an route to deliver a telephone message. While traversing the grounds, she was struck in the eye by a rock thrown up by a "Brush Hog" mower operated by a fellow employee while mowing weeds on the site, resulting in permanent loss of sight in her right eye. Plaintiff alleged negligence in that a protective shield on the mower had been removed by an employee of the State making the brush hog defective and allowing objects to be [672 P.2d 1154] propelled from the mower, thus rendering the mower totally unfit, unsafe and highly dangerous. Plaintiff seeks damages from the State and from the Society. The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the cause, holding that the doctrine of governmental immunity bars the action. Plaintiff appeals.

 

[Jstpssng]

I do not remove or otherwise defeat the chute deflector/guard on my mowers.

That's foremost on my mind every time that I start ranting about mowers. Years ago I put a rock through the greenhouse glass while mowing with an old LawnBoy push mower. That gave me a healthy respect for what they will do. Bush hogging is even worse. A couple of weekends ago I was down at my mother's mowing the field and had to turn on the sidewalk next to the road. I often would wait for 8 or ten cars to go past before dropping the mower again... that's when the clutch is handy, even with HST.

 

[Thomas]

As I also recall, that went into a conversation where a couple TBN members said it was OK to blow clippings into the road and that motorcyclists should expect it.

 

[Jstpssng]

I don't know what our laws on grass, but we do have rules about pushing snow out into public roads. Years ago I came across a guy who was clearing his driveway with a little Ford Ranger... pushing it out into the road for the state plow to take care of. He had a pile about a foot deep and a couple of plow widths wide, pushed out to the center line in front of his driveway.

 

[dmccarty]

I am sure I read of this accident here on TBN. Years ago a guy was out bush hogging his property and was found dead slumped over the steering wheel. He had mowed next to a fence and the blade had picked up either a nail, fence stable, or some such. The metal hit a fence posts and ricocheted hitting the tractor driver in the base of his skull killing him. What are the odds of that happening?

Later,
Dan