Watch for the walk up Behind you

[BWa]

I am looking to get my first tractor , but one thing I have seen over the years in my home town is the death of two family friends / co-works in accidents that they walked up to or were working to one side behind the operator of a tractor .
In one case the operator backed up and did not see a friend coming up to talk to him and back over him , he died in the local ER, leaving a new wife and child . Both he and the operator had lots of operating time and both very skilled in operating a tractor . So please if you are out and alone still check out behind you it may be a pain in your neck , but it will sure beat having to go tell your friend's wife and family you back over and killed him ...
The other accident was this pass couple of years ago , two friends out doing a job with a backhoe , from a misunderstanding or mis-queue the backhoe operator swung the bucket to the side it pinned his friend to a tree and crushed him badly , after many hours of surgery he died the next day in IC, without gaining concussion. His best friend is a broken man and with guilt, hopefully with time , family,and help he will come to a bit of peace over this accident .

Please give this some thought,...... If this post prevents just one accident from happening it will be of the greatest good .

WATCH YOUR BACK!

Thank you
Bill G.

 

[Thomas]

A logger said once"if your exhausted shut your equipment down"&"think twice act once"
This man has been logging for 35+years and its very interesting listening to some of his close call from his past.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>… Both he and the operator had lots of operating time and both very skilled in operating a tractor…</font color=blue>

Two very experienced people… unfortunately still couldn’t prevent these irreversible tragedies…

Thank you Bill for the unpleasant but necessary reminder, we all need… "It can happen to anyone…absolutely no one is excluded… not even us…”

 

[BWa]

One of the first forums I read from start to finish was this safety forum , ..... very enlighting but one of the thing I found was that very little or nothing said about others in the field of operation and how easy it was for an operator busy with what was at hand and have some one come up behind them , after the first accident I have always made it a point to come at the operator from head on if at all possible that way WE both know who is where and what is going on ......

 

[MikePA]

It's like the advice that was given at the Motorcycle Riders Safety course I took.

Always assume the driver doesn't see you.
Always assume the driver will pull out in front of you.
Always move around in the lane so that the driver in front of you sees you in their mirror.

 

[MChalkley]

Safety advice should never be unwelcome. Even when it's unnecessary, it's a useful reminder for the next time.

My EF-5 has a backup alarm that automatically engages when you put it in reverse. I thought very briefly about disconnecting it because most tractors don't have them, and because I'm going to be spending a lot of time backing up, since the tiller and soil pulverizer will best be used going backwards. Then I thought about what a contradiction it would be to remove the backup alarm because I'm going to be spending a lot of time going backwards - I decided I'm going to learn to live with it.

 

[Harv]

Mark -

I don't suppose those blinding rear taillights of yours flash along with the beeper, do they? Could they?

 

[MChalkley]

Harv - <font color=blue>I don't suppose those blinding rear taillights of yours flash along with the beeper, do they? Could they?</font color=blue>

They don't, but they could. It would require replacing the beeper (which is a self-contained gizmo that you apply a constant 12v to, and it takes care of the on-off cycling of the beeping) with a beeper that didn't cycle on and off, and a flasher, which I already have, and then running a wire from the flasher to the new beeper and the lights. What an idea! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[jhburke]

When I was on the road for the company I called on truck and construction companies. I always came at a unit where the operator would see me and I wouldn't come in reach of the equipment until the operator signalled me to approach. Everything was a lot bigger and tougher than me. JIM

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>What an idea!</font color=blue>

My wife says I'm full of them. Or did she say full of "it"?

Thinking more about the effectiveness of flashing lights in daylight conditions -- maybe a strobe would be more noticeable?