run over by tractor

rbarker · Jul 12, 2004

This afternoon our units responded to an 82 year old man who had been run over by a tractor. He was standing on the left side of a good sized Ford tractor (sorry, no model info available but the rear tire was about 5 feet tall) and leaned across the deck of the tractor to start it up. The tractor, however, was in gear and the engine caught sending the tractor immediately forward. The gentleman was knocked to the ground and the left rear tire rolled right over his mid section. He was air lifted into Boston with what appears to be serious injury.

I offer this story in the spirit of preventing others from making the same mistake. This guy has been on a farm and around tractors all his life but it only takes once!

JimR · Jul 12, 2004

Thanks for the post. I hope the farmer makes it.

GerardC · Jul 13, 2004

Thanks for sharing. It's nice to get a reminder once in awhile of what can happen. G

sweettractors · Jul 13, 2004

Hate to hear these stories. My next door neighbor in his eighties did the exact same thing about 15 years ago. He did recover from that incident and died a few years later of natural causes. He had always farmed and been around tractors. I think a lot of us tend to try to perform farm work while being careless or forgetful or over medicated, as we get older. In many farm accidents like this, a person is injured because his judgement is impaired and it is really unfortunate that his family, friends or neighbors find it hard to influence a man "set in his ways" for so many years. I hope the speedy recovery for this gentleman, you speak of--Ken Sweet

Sweet Farm Equipment LLC *New "Dixon" ZTR Riding Mowers* Email [email="glsweet@scrtc.com[/url]"]glsweet@scrtc.com[/email]

em14 · Jul 13, 2004

Thanks for the post. Many years ago my father wanted to show me his new Hay Stacker ... The stacker had a row of hay bales stacked on the back and Dad got up on the deck and standing near that row .. I was trying to tell him not to get on the machine when the stacking platform engaged and as quick as a flash the machine went into the mode where it takes the bales it would have just picked up from the field and moved that platform to the back where my Dad was standing. It pushed him into the exsisting row of hay bales. Then it quickly returned to "start picking up new bales" position ... I just knew I had just lost my Dad ... but when the platform came forward there was my Dad spread eagle in the hay bales wondering what the heck had happened ... He looked like Wiley Coyote in the cartoons after he just fell off the cliff and
landed spread eagle in the dessert floor. We were lucky as my Dad had not so much as a scratch and we laughed about it for years. He was about 80 at the time. Of course he never repeated that performance!
Leo

Soundguy · Jul 13, 2004

Terrible news... guess the safety interlock on the starter was bypassed, or not maintained.. as every ford tractor that I know of since 40 and up has had an interlocked starter/tranny switch.

One thing I wish my IH cub had.

Funny thing about tractors.. they can be finicky and hard to start.. but just leave them in gear and they will start and go like it was no problem.

Reminds me of whn I was cutting grass with my newly aquired IH cub and 44" belly mower.

First day i had it. I ran out of gas near the barn... hopped off, and went and got the gas can.. filled her up, and hopped on again. I had forgot to turn the toggle switch off ( ignition switch had been replaced with a simple toggle switch ).. and I hit the starter button on the dash..
Engine started on the first compression stroke, with pto and mower engaged, right where it had stopped in a tall row of grass where it had been mowing... govner lugged for a second and then we were up to full speed before I knew what was happening...go figure.. Luckily no one was there to be in my way...

I now always leave in neutral if parked in the barn...

Soundguy

markct · Jul 13, 2004

yea my father nearly ran himself over with our NAA a few years ago, the starter switch had went bad so for a couple years we had just started it by grounding it with a lynch pin, well one day he went to start it standing next to it as always and it started to take off but luckly he jumped outa the way and hit the ignition off, no one was hurt luckly, i think it was within a week tho that he bought the new starter switch for it. and soundguy, as you mentioned about fords and shifter interlocks i have a ford 8000 and that uses an interlock on the clutch pedal, i had thought about disconecting it since its a real pain to climb up into the cab which is about 5 ft off the ground just to start it, but then i thought about it and you cant even see the shifter from the ground to check if its in neatral and standing in front of a tire as tall as me isnt the best place to be if it started moving forward, so i will play it safe and climb in the cab.

unclebuck · Jul 14, 2004

Well it seem's to happen to some one else, not me
,10 years ago I was baling with a Fergie 35 and NH baler, the baler jammed and I stopped everything and applied the brake.
I went round to the baler and was rocking the flywheel and tripped over, the Fergie's brake came off and the rear nearside wheel ran on to me and across my chest it stopped on my right shoulder.
I was trapped for over 4 hours before my wife came to look for me
I now have a shoulder joint that sets off airport metal detectors /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif and brusing didnt go for 3 months. and now chock wheels not relying on brakes anymore. of course the moral is make sure some one check's on you frequently if your working alone, oh and double check before you start work

DaveNay · Jul 14, 2004

Welcome to TBN unclebuck (I see this was your first post /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif)

This brings up a question. Do you guys always carry your cell phone with you while working out in the field? I try to remember to carry it as often as possible, because it seems to me that it is cheap insurance against this type of four hour delay after a pin-in accident.

Dave

slowrev · Jul 14, 2004

My IH 2444 has a safety switch on the clutch, it has to be depressed before the starter will engage.

Dave,
Cell phones do not work where I live. I keep waiting for the Verizon guy to go by yelling " WHAT ? I CANT HEAR YOU ! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif