Seat safety switch, do I or don't I

[Cherokee140]

Remember there is a REASON why we have ROP bars and seat disconnect switches. I am a Firefighter Paramedic on a Heavy Rescue squad attached to the local fire company. We had a rescue call that applies to this thread so here goes: 911 call in from frantic wife stating her husband was pinned against an apple tree limb by his tractor. (?) Enroute to this call you can imagine what was going through my head trying to imagine how that could happen as a tree limb is usually well off the ground. Well apparently this guy was brush hogging around his apple trees and was looking backward while moving forward... yep..drove right into a 7 inch limb which immediately pushed him back down into the tractor seat, crushing the back and bottom (along with his ribs) of the tractor seat...the tractor shut off... (due to the seat safety switch)... and stopped forward movement of the tractor. Standard shift was in gear..throttle set and he was unable to reach clutch. He was unresponsive and turning blue when we got there. We cut the limb off of him, intubated him, placed IV lines for shock and life flighted him to a trauma center. He lived. Multiple fractured ribs, cracked sternum, ruptured diaphragm and peritoneal rupture (gut sack). Broken collar bones also. Of note; he had taken off the ROP bars so that he COULD drive under these apple trees with the low hanging limbs. The only thing that saved him was the seat safety switch.. if the tractor had proceeded.. he would have been gutted...torn in half literally and killed for sure. So ... think twice about disconnecting and removing safety devices. Everybody's situation is different of course. Common sense hopefully prevails. Stay safe out there cause you do NOT want to see me... really you don't cause if you do.. it means you are in BIG trouble.

Still can happen even with the switches. I work at a sheriffs office here. We had a zero turn pin a person against a tree branch....killed them. First thing checked you guessed it, safety switches....all there and working. You know what happened next.

That said I would love to disconnect the seat switch. I have to stand up to hook up the bucket and grapple. I can't see the little U shaped thingy to get on to. However I can move VERY SLOWLY the machine with my butt off the seat. It works for me and I will leave it.

Now when it dies, I think I will bypass it if out of warranty. Some cars I own don't have a clutch safety switch, (old cars) mowers I have mow in reverse (old mowers) and the front PTO switch on my JD 650 just died....I replaced that with just a regular on off switch. I am use to it, but I do have things like the in gear start switches, and locks on the other tractors....too many other people use them (son wife) so that stuff will stay on. And for me mowing on the 8N where I can stand up is the best for me...I don't take the shocks and bumps to my back....but then it is hard on my knees. Just tossing everything out there.

We all make mistakes, have just that second of....oh s*&t what did I just do....and all it takes is that half a second. I ran the roll bar into my garage door on the BX...first tractor I had with one totally slipped my mind. It could have been much worse, totally my fault....machine looked like an old top fuel drag car. I just did not pay attn. and I really could have hurt myself or even killed myself. Even the little machines are very powerful....those safety things are on there for a reason....yes they are a pain in the _____ but it just might save your ____ one day.