ZTR Seat Belts...Do You Wear Them!!??

[Apex Lawn & Landscape]

All of my zero turn riders have them. I also have the ROPS bar ( Roll Over Protection System ) on my units. My question is...Do you wear the seat belt when riding them? Ive always been hezitant to wear them, strapping yourself to an 1200lb machine doesnt seem to smart. Ive always thought that If i ever did start to roll that i would rather make an effort to bail rather than ride it out!! besides the ROPS bar will save me right? I guess I just want to hear what others think about this issue. Hope everyone is having a great season.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Lawn care business tips

with the rops bar it would make sense to wear since you would roll with it. Without it I dont see a benefit, your getting crushed one way or another.

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South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping /Lawn Care /Pressure Washing /Snow Removal /Gutter Cleaning
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[picframer]

It's actually the law here that any piece of equipment that has a seat belt, then it must be worn. I personally find it a pain on some of the equipment.......

[CS-LawnService]

I was the safety manager for a manufacturing company for many years and statistics show that death occurs in roll overs on forklifts most often occurs when not wearing seat belt as the normal reaction is to jump down hill and the machine lands on top of you .

I know we are not talking forklifts here but machine is a machine ,you can not jump high or fast enough to clear a rolling machine by jumping uphill and natural instinct makes you want to get off of the rolling machine so if belted in then you have to ride it out.

The manufactures have spent a lot of hours researching designs for the safety of the operators of there equipment and put its used to many test to ensure you have the best success in staying alive when operating the equipment.

Here in the States O.S.H.A. will fine you if caught disabling or not using safety equipment installed on equipment .

[Apex Lawn & Landscape]

Good to know, thanks for the input!

[dpld]

Originally Posted by CS-LawnService

I was the safety manager for a manufacturing company for many years and statistics show that death occurs in roll overs on forklifts most often occurs when not wearing seat belt as the normal reaction is to jump down hill and the machine lands on top of you .

I know we are not talking forklifts here but machine is a machine ,you can not jump high or fast enough to clear a rolling machine by jumping uphill and natural instinct makes you want to get off of the rolling machine so if belted in then you have to ride it out.

The manufactures have spent a lot of hours researching designs for the safety of the operators of there equipment and put its used to many test to ensure you have the best success in staying alive when operating the equipment.

Here in the States O.S.H.A. will fine you if caught disabling or not using safety equipment installed on equipment .

all good points and the only thing i will add is that with most ztr mowers that have the handles that fold down in the operator position make it very difficult to bail out of anyway being they have to be in the neutral position to fold them away.

all my riding mowers have the ROPS systems with belts and i always don't need the system but when i do put them up in the roll over position i make who ever is operating the machine including myself wear the seat belt because the system is useless without useing the belts.

[Steve]

Do you find there is a design flaw with most roll over protection devices, especially when it comes to mowing along waterways?

Should there be double roll bars, (front and rear) to give you more space to escape if the mower rolled into a pond and planted you face first in muck?

For instance.

Santee man swims across lake to save neighbor's life

A Midlands man is being called a hero after saving his neighbor from drowning in Santee. The neighbor was mowing his yard near the water's edge, when he drove into a shallow creek. The mower flipped, pinning the man underneath the water.

[CHEESE2009]

I believe bailing out of the equipment is smarter.

Roll over protection is so minimal. You could probably roll forward with a pretty good chance of getting your skull crushed by that extra bar about to land on the back of your head.. If you wore a seat belt, just whiplash of the roll would knock you out dead. It's better to bail out!!!

Being such odd shaped machines, and while wearing a seatbelt, nothing stops your legs from being crushed/broken into pieces during a roll. Imagine falling into a piggy-back position, carrying the entire tractors weight on your back... yeah, that's why I say NO to seat belts!!!!

If you roll to your side, whatever is on the ground (rocks, spikes of doom) you're a gonner, aint no ROPS gonna save you!


So ... you're all going to die. Have a fantastic day, Tim Horton's coffee is the best.