Three children, one adult dead in farm tractor crash in York County, PA.

[SmallChange]

More details emerging:
"The tractor was pulling a trailer carrying 12 people down a farm road, near the 1100 block of Furnace Road. It was on its way to a recreational area."

Death Of Mother, 3 Children In PA Tractor Was 'Accidental': Police

A mother, two of her children, and a third child were all killed during the incident. The cause remains unknown.

patch.com

(though this seems to contradict earlier photos showing the tractor was traveling on Furnace Road itself)

Are we sure those are rubber blocks on the steel wheels? They're awfully small. I've been looking at rubber additions to wheels online and they're bigger than these seem to be. This is just thinking out loud trying to understand, but I think the paved road for automobiles is steep enough for steel wheels to skid trying to hold back the weight of the tractor plus trailer plus 12 people (even if most of the people were children). The wheels I'm finding online that look like the accident photos, but closer up so it's easier to tell the difference, look metallic to me.

 

[Evan1054]

Unless the law changed recently, carrying passengers in any kind of trailer while driving on a public road is prohibited here in the Commonwealth of PA. My sympathies are with the victims and their loved ones.

 

[scaredychicken]

it makes me wonder if the tractor was being partially driven on a weak shoulder as it avoided obstructing the road traffic ... one side on gravel, other side on pavement. and weight imbalance / seating on the trailer itself.

My sympathies are with the victims and their loved ones.

yes

it's a sad event, and condolences for those and the community impacted

 

[tacticalturnip]

it makes me wonder if the tractor was being partially driven on a weak shoulder as it avoided obstructing the road traffic ... one side on gravel, other side on pavement. and weight imbalance / seating on the trailer itself.

I wouldn't be surprised if you were right, unfortunately

 

[rd_macgregor]

It is always possible that the tractor driver looked back at the trailer at the wrong time and steered wheels onto the edge. Things like that can happen really quickly.

 

[scaredychicken]

rd_macg - true

 

[tradosaurus]

Operator inattention? Operator health issue?
Dry rotted tire?
Underinflated tractor tire which ran off the wheel rim?

The operator is toast relative to liability.
Operator may be charged with four (4) counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Before hoping the driver gets jail time and sued to oblivion let the facts come out first.

 

[Hay Dude]

Before hoping the driver gets jail time and sued to oblivion let the facts come out first.

Indeed.
I have driven/shared those roads with the Amish thousands of times. One thing that may have happened that I see happen: An Amish SMV/tractor, with family on board a trailer, is common to see. They will use them to go from field to field or bring vegetables home from a day of picking, going to church, visiting friends, etc.
Impatient, aggressive drivers will pass them on blind hills/curves. Sometimes when they carelessly pass that way, an oncoming car will appear. The passing driver will then be left with a few undesirable decisions: Head on collision, or slam into the side of the Amish buggy or farm tractor. It’s difficult to go back behind the SMV because many times the next driver in line took the passing driver’s place.

Seen it before my eyes. People run the amish slow moving vehicles right off the road. Beautiful Amish families, just trying to make a living, go to church or enjoy our freedom of travel given no respect by careless high speed jerks.

 

[LouNY]

Doesn't happen to just Amish on tractors.
Everyone that has to travel the roads with a tractor gets to see those idiots every day.

 

[K5lwq]

In Florida you can 'road' a tractor.

Raised TPH implements are permitted.

Trailers are not permitted behind tractors on the road.

I have towed many farm wagons, grain gravity box trailers and other things behind a JD 4020 on Florida roads. From what I read the rules have not changed. If the trailer is less than 10’ and does not block the view of the tractor lights then it is not required to have lights, turn signals or brake lights. Outside of that then the trailer needs lights. Of course SMV sign as well. Here is the laws.

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

 

[jeff9366]

My knowlege was picked up from hobby farm neighbors.

I should have probed the statutes myself.

I acknowledge your correction.

 

[Hay Dude]

Doesn't happen to just Amish on tractors.
Everyone that has to travel the roads with a tractor gets to see those idiots every day.

yeah….tell me about it. Just replaced a very expensive baler tires from a jackass tool running me off the road.
It’s like a weekly occurrence for me and I’m lucky to still be alive.

Happens to people on bikes & jogging, walking too

 

[Jstpssng]

Happens to people on bikes & jogging, walking too

I've been told by several people both here and in real life that roads are for cars, not walking or bicycles.
That was after I almost got run over while walking back to my truck, by some jackbuck who "needed" to pass a line of cars while I was walking down the side of the road, facing traffic and going the same direction he was.

 

[SmallChange]

I saw the site of this today. It was a coordinates 39.882102, -76.381522, 1200 feet north on Furnace Road from the Otter Creek Picnic Area. The road is steep, the tractor was traveling downhill, and the curve turns sharply to the right as the tractor was traveling. The embankment was steep, and there were many large trees (I don't think things could have tumbled far). It's a place to be careful when driving a car, but not unusually so. But it would be a terrifying spot on a tractor losing control. There are many small white crosses now on the eastern edge of the road there.

I keep thinking about this (and other accidents) as it relates to tractor handling which works so differently from car or truck handling. Cars are so much more capable with inertia and speed. A tractor's impressive ability to get traction in loose plowed dirt at 4 miles per hour is not much good driving down a steep hill on pavement with a trailer loaded with passengers. We have talked about loads pushing a tractor forward, or perhaps lifting the rear (braking) wheels and losing traction depending on how the load is connected. Or it might be that the tractor was using engine breaking, and popped out of gear or the clutch started slipping or perhaps a drive train component broke. It'd be a tough place to suddenly be trying to get enough force with the brakes themselves. Or perhaps the rears lost traction -- to me they don't look designed for smooth pavement.

Stuff like this can be a bit haunting -- and rightly so. It would be so easy to be comfortable and complacent, and then realizing a situation has become unrecoverable before we even knew we were in trouble.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had some kind of meter or X ray that could tell us how close we'd been to the edge, every time we had a past close call. I wonder if any of mine were completely unrecognized by me at the time.

It'd almost be a curse, to have a lot of hindsight in a case like this.

 

[thepumpguysc]

My niece was taken to jail and child protection services called for riding her 4 year old son on a riding lawnmower.!!!
But after reading things like that, it really puts it in perspective..

 

[stso9d]

I saw the site of this today. It was a coordinates 39.882102, -76.381522, 1200 feet north on Furnace Road from the Otter Creek Picnic Area. The road is steep, the tractor was traveling downhill, and the curve turns sharply to the right as the tractor was traveling. The embankment was steep, and there were many large trees (I don't think things could have tumbled far). It's a place to be careful when driving a car, but not unusually so. But it would be a terrifying spot on a tractor losing control. There are many small white crosses now on the eastern edge of the road there.

I keep thinking about this (and other accidents) as it relates to tractor handling which works so differently from car or truck handling. Cars are so much more capable with inertia and speed. A tractor's impressive ability to get traction in loose plowed dirt at 4 miles per hour is not much good driving down a steep hill on pavement with a trailer loaded with passengers. We have talked about loads pushing a tractor forward, or perhaps lifting the rear (braking) wheels and losing traction depending on how the load is connected. Or it might be that the tractor was using engine breaking, and popped out of gear or the clutch started slipping or perhaps a drive train component broke. It'd be a tough place to suddenly be trying to get enough force with the brakes themselves. Or perhaps the rears lost traction -- to me they don't look designed for smooth pavement.

Stuff like this can be a bit haunting -- and rightly so. It would be so easy to be comfortable and complacent, and then realizing a situation has become unrecoverable before we even knew we were in trouble.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had some kind of meter or X ray that could tell us how close we'd been to the edge, every time we had a past close call. I wonder if any of mine were completely unrecognized by me at the time.

It'd almost be a curse, to have a lot of hindsight in a case like this.

I get your meaning. How many times i can get the chills when i think about what might had happened in so many chances? Too many…

40+ years ago my brother wasn’t lucky. It is just so gripping when you learn about these horrors.

For those that paid, what would they do different if life gave second chances. Sad, sad story when we all wonder - why?

But knowing this horrible event happened now will make me stop and think.

 

[stso9d]

My niece was taken to jail and child protection services called for riding her 4 year old son on a riding lawnmower.!!!
But after reading things like that, it really puts it in perspective..

And hopefully she learned why.

 

[etpm]

My niece was taken to jail and child protection services called for riding her 4 year old son on a riding lawnmower.!!!
But after reading things like that, it really puts it in perspective..

Maybe this is why CPS was involved and your niece was taken to jail:

, A 2-year-old child died after falling off a lawn mower he was riding on with his dad, officials said. https://bit.ly/3h0E6rY | By WSOC-TV | Facebook ,

. The first link is about a child airlifted after falling off a riding mower. The second link is to a story about a 2 year old child who died after falling off of a riding mower. The third link is about a 6 year old boy who lost his foot in a lawnmower accident. I don't know if it was a riding mower. I typed "child falls off of riding mower" in Google and the first page had over 30 hits to different children being hurt falling off of riding mowers. At least 6 of the articles were about children being killed by falling off of riding mowers. Please, just don't risk children. Cherish children.
Eric

 

[LouNY]

Oh for cripes sake, kids have been getting hurt in any and every way imaginable since there have been kids. I hate to see any kid get hurt but this constant whining about the need to bubble wrapping kids and not let them do anything or be around anything that could hurt is just plain ridiculous. All these stories about kids getting hurt damn the flood of information much of it copies of some other incident just reported differently and world wide. Then take the number of incidents by the number of kids and put it in perspective. Hell kids have to be locked into specific car seats for there weight and height at ridiculous costs and then you have busybodies calling 911 if they see someone driving with a kid not in a car seat. CPS being called for ridiculous reasons by nosy busybodies. There is too much asinine government regulation in every aspect of our lives.

My opinion and I'm sticking by it and I am going to unwatch this thread so as not to even see the hand wringing and crying about this statement.

 

[K5lwq]

Oh for cripes sake, kids have been getting hurt in any and every way imaginable since there have been kids. I hate to see any kid get hurt but this constant whining about the need to bubble wrapping kids and not let them do anything or be around anything that could hurt is just plain ridiculous. All these stories about kids getting hurt damn the flood of information much of it copies of some other incident just reported differently and world wide. Then take the number of incidents by the number of kids and put it in perspective. Hell kids have to be locked into specific car seats for there weight and height at ridiculous costs and then you have busybodies calling 911 if they see someone driving with a kid not in a car seat. CPS being called for ridiculous reasons by nosy busybodies. There is too much asinine government regulation in every aspect of our lives.

My opinion and I'm sticking by it and I am going to unwatch this thread so as not to even see the hand wringing and crying about this statement.

And far more kids are injured or killed riding in a car using the appropriate car seat than ever was hurt ridding a tractor or mower. Why not call CPS for the parents that put their kids in those dangerous cars? But I guess if the have the baby on board caution sign it’s all good.