33 TRACTOR DEATHS LAST YEAR

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32660, 16 July 1971, Page 14

33 TRACTOR DEATHS LAST YEAR

Last year, for the third year in succession, the number of tractor fatalities on New Zealand farms has been recorded as 33. On the face of it one could suggest that this is a step forward, insofar as there would have been more tractors in use and more hours worked than in each of the previous two years.

1970 saw enforcement of the legislation under which new agricultural tractors must be sold with approved safetyframes fitted. There can be no doubt that these frames are alreadyhaving an effect on the total number of fatalities. We have authentic data to prove that safety frames saved the lives of 11 people involved in farm tractor accidents during 1970. If these deaths had not been prevented they would have been added to the existing 33 to swell the total by 30 per cent. Only about 8 per cent of tractors are fitted with safety frames, and yet this small number could make a 25 per cent reduction in what could have been a disastrous total of 44 deaths. It has been unfortunate that the introduction of the safety frame legislation has coincided with an economic downturn in the farming industry. Had it not been for this recession, far more new tractors would have been sold and

the total number of frames on New Zealand farms would have increased accordingly. If, in future years, it is possible to get 30 per cent of our agricultural tractors fitted with approved frames, on present indications the effect that this would have on the farm death rate would be very great indeed. Some of the trends which were apparent last year have continued and in one case the situation has become quite alarming. Of the 33 tractors involved in these various accidents, nine ran off farm tracks, two off public roads, two off ensilage stacks and three others were operating on flat ground immediately prior to the accident. I said in this review last year, but I must repeat again, tractor drivers operating on a flat area adjacent to a slope are in very real danger. One moment’s inattention or misjudgment will lead to disaster. We can see from these case histories that almost 50 per cent of the deaths were caused when a tractor on flat “civilised” going was

suddenly driven on to sloping ground. Factors which no doubt contribute to this trend are the speed at which modem tractors can be driven, the increasing number of farm tracks suitable for use by tractors, and a general relaxation of caution by drivers when they move from “paddock driving” on to the supposed safety of a track or road. I use the words “supposedly” advisedly, for events of the past three years amply demonstrate that a tractor must be handled with extreme care at all times and a loss of concentration for just a moment can be fatal. The six children killed in 1970 is a greater number than in the previous year and also higher than the yearly average. During 1970 the Young Farmers’ Club safety project was "Children on Tractors.” Considerable work was done throughout the country to make the farming community aware of the dangers of allowing young children to ride on or drive tractors. In spite of this another six families have learned the hard way of the folly of having youngsters around farm machinery. It is apparent that the relevant legislation concerning children and tractors is mostly ignored, and inevitably it becomes the parents’ decision as to whether they will expose their children to these very grave risks. If the majority of parents decide that the risk is not great or that it is worth taking, then they must also accept that they

may be one of the families next year who experience all the sorrow and anguish of “leaming the hard way."

In the category of backward somersaults, we find that three of the five drivers brought about their demise by the suicidal practice of high hitching their tractors to implements or loads. One was an experienced contractor, who should have known better. The safety measure of correct hitching is so fundamental that most tractor operating manuals warn against nitching above the drawbar. Did these three not know the risk they were taking, or did they know, and like the parents of the six children killed, decide that “accidents always happen to someone else?”

The case histories of last year’s accidents amply illustrate that with tractors and farm machinery no risk is worth taking. The only way to avoid death or serious injury is to observe a sensible safety code and to remain alert at all times.

The accompanying article on tractor fatalities in 1970 has been written by G. R. Robson, farm safety officer of the National Safety Association. Last year four crawlers were involved in fatal accidents. Three of these rolled over and one driver was run over. Of the 29 wheel tractors involved in fatal accidents five somersaulted backwards, 22 rolled over, and in one case the driver was run over.