My PT Accident

[toy]

I am glad that you shared your experience with us, I, as well as many others on the forum I suspect have gotten off the machine while it is running to open a gate or some other reason. I appreciate anyone sharing a safety concern with me whether it is a perceived danger or a danger learned the hard way as yours was. I hope that your experience stays in my mind every time I am tempted to get out of the tractor while it is running. I hope all bruising heals without any trouble, and future tractoring is without any other exciting and traumatic experiences as that one was.

 

[ronjhall]

rainbow

Glad to hear that you should be OK after some rest.

Every time I get off my tractor without taking the proper precautions I get a shiver through my whole body that reminds me of how easy it would be to get injured by one second of inattentions to the proper operation of a tractor. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[BAGTIC]

Recently I saw an ad for some farm equipment, sorry but for the life of me I can't remember which one, that had a 'dead man' type safety switch attached to the seat so the machine would shut off whenever the seat was empty.

Many boats and hand operated machines, tillers, mowers, etc. have had similar safety switches for years

Anyone have an idea how a Power Trac could be modified to do the same thing?

 

[pairodime]

I nearly suffered similar injuries from the rear wheel by doing foolish things:

My 2nd day of PT ownership I was testing out the various implements and working on a gentle slope. For some reason I had my (downslope) left leg out and my left foot on the ground while being normally seated in the 425. I guess I was to much of a newbie to realize how stable the PT was and was trying to keep myself in the seat. Well, I started going forward and before I knew it that left rear wheel started to wedge my foot to the ground and would have rode up my leg if I hadn't caught myself in time. I frequently shudder at the injury I would have suffered if I had pushed harder on the forward accelerator pedal.

Now, I NEVER put a foot out. I've decided that if she starts to go, I'm going to ride it to the ground before I get "pinched"
/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

My PT 1845 has that option. It turns the engine off if I lift off the seat. I don't know how many models it has been installed on, but certainly PT can tell you, and might listen to requests for a retro kit.

 

[shoppintractors]

Thanks for sharing your eye opening episode with us.
Your post has the potential of saving one of us from becoming a statistic.

Don

 

[blackwell]

I'm glad you were not hurt worse. I have had three friends killed on farm tractors, all by getting off with the engine running. I make it a habbit to turn the engine off and setting the brake before leaving the seat. I notice PT recommends this also. Good luck and happy PTing.
EB

 

[ernemats]

Welcome. Glad to hear you were not hurt worse. I admit I am also guilty of getting off my pt quite often without setting the parking brake or shutting the engine off . So far I have been lucky. If I have the bucket on I usually just raise the front end of the tractor off the ground , that is almost as good as the brake except on hills. I hate to use the parking brake as I have arthritus in my hand and it is very difficult to use the brake lever. I am very carefull getting on the tractor with it running , I always pull the gas lever to low idle.

 

[jol1269]

i too would like to chime in here as well as i think we have all had close encounters of the pt type and we all have to be very careful and never get to hurried or confident in our abilities as we get a little more eager to do more . i have also had two different encounters which i thank god wasnt as bad as yours but i have since learned to always buckle up and keep legs and arms in and never get off while machine is running for two reasons one of which you have covered the other being the steering wheel nudge which can cause a very nasty pinch point and i hope your recover nicely and watch out for them brusies they can be alot more serious than most people give credit for , and if im not on before xmas i want all of you guys new and old to know how much i appreciate you guys and wish you all a very happy holiday , and no we arent going to be getting mistry here lol

 

[toy]

I too have a walkie talkie only thing with me I forget to get it half the time and when the wife tries to call to check on me she has to come outside and bring it to me. A walkie talkie is a good idea the whistle I hadn't thought of that but I did put a horn on mine. In the case of rainbows accident I probably couldn't have reached it, so I guess I'll be looking for a whistle for emergency only. My horn has become a two blasts means for the wife to bring us out a pepsi to take a break, it works great for that.