What a mower tragedy !

[Steve]

What a tragedy. Oh gosh how awful is this! I wanted to post it to just give everyone a heads up that this can happen and be very careful about mowing on inclines and also watch out for children! Judge upholds lawn mower death verdict - A Roanoke judge has upheld a jury verdict in the case of a 4-year-old boy who died when he was run over by a lawn mower. A jury in June 2006 found lawn mower manufacturer MTD Products liable for $2 million in the death of Justin Simmons at a day care center run at a Daleville home. The mower rolled off a hill and onto him as he played in the yard. The Simmons family's lawyers argued that MTD could have anticipated a design flaw that allowed the mower to roll backward in neutral with the blade spinning.

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OMG that is terrible...you would think the engine stop bar would have cut off the engine. Nobody likes to hear about these headlines.

[Steve]

It makes you wonder if mowers should just have some kind of inclinator that shuts off the engine when it is tipped.

well it is really crazy...it is in the nature of the machine really. It has a powerful motor spinning a sharp blade 1000's of times per minute. There should be some sort of training involved to show the user how to well...use it.

Plus industry standards have change radically since 1988. It is a shame they ran after MTD and won. Its like the lady that from McDonald's that spilled hot coffee on her she sued McDonald's for millions because of the burns she suffered. She won the court case because there was no warning on the cup that says the contents were hot.

It is unfortunate that the boy lost his life...but really. It is a touchy topic and not too sure if I want to get too into it.

[musician/lawnman]

What the heck were they doing mowing the lawn at a day care with young (Unpredictable) children playing outside & nearby not to mention on a hill!. *I feel it's the lco's fault, *You should 1 take precautions to avoid that situation entirely & 2 know what your machine can /can't do. *I'll tell ya if it was my kid I'd have found the guy who was on the mower & probably killed him for being so ignorant & putting my child in danger. *It is a real tragedy.

I agree musician/lawnman. It was definitely the lco's fault, but the mower should have shut off too.

[musician/lawnman]

Well it is true the saftey features should be there on the mowers However, I don't know about yours but my mower weighs over 900 pounds. Weather or not the blades were running I don't think a young child would have much of a fighting chance if they were run over by it. My contention is this... he shouldn't have been mowing near the kids in the 1st place & 2 if he got off the mower he should have shut it down & set the parking brake at least. If the lco was on the mower he needed to look at where it was going & steer! Yell! Do something. This whole topic makes me violently angry I'm sorry.

[Coyote1025]

Some people with their kids and mowers. I once was mowing next to a 6 ft. tall privacy fence that had a 2 or 3 inch gap under it. On the first pass I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, right behind the deck. I glanced down thinking it was a snake or other animal. I looked up just in time to see a small childs arm sticking out form under the fence. I stoped the mower less than 6 inches from his arm. I then went around the fence and politly told the kid to go play some where else, so he don't get hurt. I watched him go to the other side of the apt. building. Only after I was sure he was gone did I start the mower back up. On my next pass by the fence I looked down and what did I see, the little boys arm sticking out for under the fence, this time he brought his little sister who was even younger. Even though they were in no real danger (I was several feet away) I was pretty miffed. I shut down the mower went around the fence and was alot less nice. By no means was I acting inapropratly, basically I told the two to go inside and play. They were to young to be outside unsupervised any way. Two minutes later their grandmother came out yelling up a storm saying that she watched the whole thing from her window and that I didn't have the right to tell her children where to play. I tried to politly explaine to her what happended but she insisted that she saw the whole thing and her grandkids had the right to play next to a fence even if I am mowing. By now I was rather angry. I said some things to her that I dont think I have ever said to an old women before or since. People dont think sometimes when it comes to mowers unfortatly the children suffer more than not.

[F3Nelson]

Yes, the loss of any life is tragic, compounded by it being a child, however I only get mad when manufacutres get sued.

WTF, they "made" a product for an end user to make money with(a crime, I think not) and sold it to them.

The end user, a Lawn company, bought it, and tried to make money. A VERY tragic event happened and now its the manufacutres fuggin fault!!! COME ON.

I love the Eagles song with the line, lets kill all the lawyers, kill them tonight!!!!

So, if I make a beer, sell it to a liquor store, someone kills someone in a DUI wreck its MY fault!

Was there fault, yes, was it malicous or on purpose no, we have all made mistakes, some just come with bigger consequences.

[justin_time]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Team Gopher @ Mar. 03 2008,10:30)]It makes you wonder if mowers should just have some kind of inclinator that shuts off the engine when it is tipped.

I'm not a big guy and sometimes I have a hard time getting my mower going because it gets cuts off since i get off 1 inch off my seat..

So for me.. it's easy to say that now the new tractors are more safety related.