Two injured seriously by farm tractor

[Threepoint]

Ag tractors don't have a seat switch.

Many guys start their tractors that way. Not a problem if you pay attention. Maybe not a great idea for an 86 year old.

Or even a 46 y/o, for that matter. Especially with a tractor that size with a full cab and dual wheels on the rear! Have to move pretty quick to jump out of the way.

 

[jgedmond]

No, you still don't understand. Shorting the starter at the starter basically connects the solenoid right to the battery. The starter is already, always connected to the battery.

Amazing how so many people think that an 86 year old is going to recover and get better.

I most certainly do understand that using a screwdriver across the solenoid bypasses all of the safeties, that is why it is stupid way to start a tractor. I have done it on cars in younger, poorer, stupider days. I was simply correcting your assumption that I was referring to a "seat switch" when I was not.

 

[Jstpssng]

Gas or diesel, doesn't matter.
The starter will move and start the engine in gear

Mine wouldn't, that's why I mentioned it.

 

[LouNY]

Dang an 86 year old man still climbing up in the cab of that 130 horse tractor and so many people here ranting and carrying on about the way he was starting a 45 year old tractor and being so pious about why it may have required a less safe way to be started. He neglected to engage the parking brake when he got down from it unfortunately, it happens I wonder how many of the posters will still even able to climb up those steps if they reach his age.
No one not directly involved has any idea of why he didn't put the tractor in neutral and engage the parking brake.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have a friend that does that probably at least five times a day, 365 days a year, and I personally know he has done that for twenty five years. Pobably twenty five years before that. So that's 45,625 he did that in the time I knew him, without killing himself or anyone else. Unsafe?

 

[RickB]

Of course bypass starting is unsafe. There are always outliers but the risk of not having everything in place for a successful start is not diminished.

 

[Industrial Toys]

What if it's really not bypass starting, but the WAY a person starts their tractor? Not trying to make light of this, but it IS a reality for some.

 

[RickB]

What if it's really not bypass starting, but the WAY a person starts their tractor? Not trying to make light of this, but it IS a reality for some.

I don’t understand your question. These guys were critically injured while bypassing the safety start circuit of a tractor while standing in the travel path of a rear wheel. If you are trying to claim that is not an unsafe activity I refuse to engage in that debate. Beyond that I have no idea what your point is.

 

[MHarryE]

Regulation based on European standard is based on height to operating controls. Seat switch required if controls can easily be reached from the ground. Had family of a deceased operator sue because large machine he was operating did not have seat switch while our smallest machines did. Witness on job site saw operator get up to look at a large rock he was trying to avoid when he ran over the rock which pitched the machine. He fell off and was crushed. Operators doing stupid stuff bring on regulations because companies don’t like being sued for operator negligence. Realize the regulations are not written by people in an office who have never operated a machine. They come from companies having reps get together to figure out how to keep their customers from killing themselves and have survivors sue. Allie-Chalmers built a round baler before anyone else. An engineer involved with the machine told me 10 years after the last one was produced, A-C studied how much it would cost to buy every one built back and trash because of the continuing lawsuits. Then the company went bankrupt, problem solved.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm saying, that "clearly" that IS the way some guys start their tractors. Not just in a pinch or on account of malfunction.

Kind of like, I cringe when I see someone with their fingers within inches of a table saw blade. They have probably done that for many decades. Who am I to say it's unsafe?