Snow removal accident

Eagle1 · Jan 8, 2023

Qualified operators never do stupid stuff?

mikester · Jan 8, 2023

MossyDell said:
At least with a tractor, you have a slim chance of shooting between the wheels if it's freewheeling. Why does it not have a deck over the tracks at the door? Is it looks, because it does look cool? Or because a deck would cause a massive snow/ice jam?

That's a big reason why I don't have a SS or CTL and hesitate when I have to operate one. Only egress is under the loader boom or remove the tiny back window and climb out over the engine. Where do you go when you have an engine fire and the boom is stuck part way up?

Turbo5upra · Jan 8, 2023

scootr said:
Looks to me like there is no way to get onboard without stepping into deaths doorway . I would have taken one look at that situation and said oh hell no I aint trying to stop this ( especially with snow on the moving tracks) This nearly deadly accident was totally avoidable and the descision to try to climb onboard was a poor one. He's lucky to be alive

There usually is no snow on the tracks.

Darrellq · Jan 8, 2023

Rustyiron said:
I heard that on the radio today, just don't know who he is or why it makes the news.

It would have made the news also if you lived in Lake Tahoe and owned a $150K snow removal machine and it ran over you and cut your leg off. What difference does it make whether you know him? It was a tragic accident and the purpose of the news report I saw was to increase people's awareness of being careful when using snow removal equipment.

LouNY · Jan 8, 2023

panamaguy said:
He got out of the cab to help a neighbor and must have left the machine in neutral without the park brake and the machine rolled forward and ran over him. Stupid mastake by someone not qualified to run machinery

Accidents happen, nice to be able to decide someone is qualified or not so easily.

Turbo5upra · Jan 8, 2023

Darrellq said:
It would have made the news also if you lived in Lake Tahoe and owned a $150K snow removal machine and it ran over you and cut your leg off. What difference does it make whether you know him? It was a tragic accident and the purpose of the news report I saw was to increase people's awareness of being careful when using snow removal equipment.

More like a 20-25,000 machine.

saxtonhill · Jan 8, 2023

This makes me think I need to get a new seat switch. I have a [AFFILIATE=1, nofollow=true, newwindow=true, title="Kubota"]Kubota[/AFFILIATE] L4600 manual shift. A few years ago the seat switch started shutting off my machine at odd times and not allowing it to start sometimes. So I, like an idiot I guess, took a cable tie and in effect disabled it. I'll get a new one tomorrow.

Loaderman22 · Jan 8, 2023

I feel bad for the guy, if he was helping a neighbor or just doing his own, it's unfortunate he was hurt. Skilled or not, if you have a machine, you're going to use it and it just takes 1 second of lapse in thought to get hurt. Yes maybe this made the national news because he's an actor. But we all should take a second and use this to remind ourselves to pay full attention when using machinery, even if you feel comfortable and are skilled, it only takes a second for s*** to go sideways. Instead of bashing the guy and saying he did something stupid, use his unfortunate situation to help yourself.

scootr · Jan 8, 2023

A related war story -
Many yrs ago my then Boss pulled up on the construction site with a BIG new red diesel doubble cab dually. It was the biggest shiniest truck in town. As he walk up to us I saw the truck start rolling backwards. I hollared and he, being the still fit ex marine he was, started running. The truck was gaining speed and I see it is headed for a shear 6 ot 8 ft drop off into a wash. This crazy guy gets to the truck, opens the door, and dives in on the floor pushing the brake pedal. The truck slides to a stop just feet away from the cliff where he sets the brake and climbs off the floor.
It was a tremendous gamble on his part. Had the truck gone over the cliff at the angle of approach it would have rolled onto the drivers side likely killing this guy lying half in half out of the open door.
I asked him if that truck was worth his life... he said yes. Crazy Bast___t

scootr · Jan 8, 2023

Turbo5upra said:
There usually is no snow on the tracks.

No way to avoid stepping on the tracks to get in the machine. I'll bet it would take 20 tries to make it in if it was moving. This machine needs an exterior emergency stop - a lever or something. Even a simple seat switch would have prevented the accident.