Victims of John Deere, Kubota, or Cub Cadet garden tractor accidents should contact riding mower attorney John Gehlhausen for a consultation to discuss filing an injury claim.
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What compensation can I receive for my riding lawn mower accident?
The Law Offices of John Gehlhausen, P.C. will fight to help victims recover lost support, funeral expenses, medical-related expenses, and lost wages, as well as compensation for pain and suffering, lost companionship and other hardships...
What are the major causes of riding lawn mower accidents?
When used on ditch banks or inclines, riding lawn mowers can roll over and pin or crush the rider beneath their weight...
Some manufacturers have claimed that operators of lawn tractors can jump away as the tractor rolls. According to John Gehlhausen - who has been a practicing riding mower and garden tractor accident attorney for many years – the possibility of an operator jumping off of rolling tractor or mower is highly unlikely. This possibility becomes even less likely if the machine is of the zero-turn-radius variety, as these machines in particular are usually equipped with lap bars that tend to hold the operator in place during use. The following article, written by riding mower accident attorney John Gehlhausen, explores these concepts further.
You Won’t Be Able To Jump Away If Your Riding Lawn Mower Rolls Over and It Doesn’t Have a Rollover Protection System (ROPS)
By: John Gehlhausen
Riding Mower Accident Product Liability Attorney
Manufacturers of riding mowers often argue that a person is safer in a rollover trying to jump away from a riding mower/lawn tractor than if the riding mower had a ROPS. The lawn tractor industry has no tests or statistics to support this claim. As a practical matter, just the opposite is true. Trying to jump from a rolling lawn tractor is rarely possible. And even when it is possible jumping is likely to result in injury to and/or entrapment of the operator.
Here's the reason why: it is generally agreed that these machines roll over in one (1) to two (2) seconds at most. Consider this: there are two critical time elements involved in jumping from a rolling tractor. The first is “perception time” and the second is “reaction time.” Perception time is the three-quarters of a second it takes for you to realize that you need to jump off the machine. The remaining time before the rollover is completed is all that is left to react, (i.e., jump away), or your allotted reaction time. However, all of these .25 to 1.25 seconds are not available to jump. Sometime in the course of a roll the lawn tractor reaches a point when the jump becomes impossible. This also occurs within three quarters of a second—not much time, if any, to get away. If your lawn tractor has arm rests, it is even more difficult to jump from the rolling mower. Finally, and most importantly, very few if any people have the strength and agility to be able to jump against gravity in the opposite direction of a rollover, normally uphill.
Jumping free of a rolling lawn tractor is even less likely if it happens to be a zero turning radius (ZTR) lawn tractor. These machines also have lap bars which, in their normal operating position, are flat across the operator’s thighs as he or she sits in the seat. In order for a person to exit from the machine, the controls must first be moved to a neutral position in their movement track and then pushed up and away from the operator’s thighs in an outward position before the operator can exit the seat. At present, ZTRs seem to be causing the majority of lawn tractor deaths when they roll over.
If you are unlucky enough to be involved in a ZTR rollover, you can only hope that the machine will not end up on your chest cavity. If it does, the crushing weight of the lawn tractor will asphyxiate you unless somehow, someone is able to move the heavy machine before you suffocate. Even if the ZTR does not end up on your chest cavity, some other portion of your body may be pinned. You may possibly even be able to wiggle free, or maybe someone will come and remove the machine before you suffer too much injury. But don’t count on it.
One of most frequent types of rollover occurs when a machine is operating on a slight slope loses traction and slides towards a lake or pond. This can happen even on surfaces that the operator has mowed many times before. On any particular day, and for any number of reasons (dry grass, wet grass, gradual formation of dew, embankment collapse, a simple operator error, machine design characteristics, or mechanical failure), a tractor can rollover on terrain that it has navigated safely in the past. Many operators have had this unfortunate experience. Their heirs are left to piece together their affairs.