Value of safety frames now established

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33068, 8 November 1972, Page 21

Value of safety frames now established

The value of the safety frames in reducing tractor deaths is now well established. Safety frames are now required by law to be fitted to every tractor sold or hired. Before the law was changed the Department of Agriculture, the National Safety Association and the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Engineering at Lincoln College had collected information about tractor accidents.

Some of the inventions designed in response to the alarming number of tractor accident deaths, were intended to prevent capsizes but the safety frame won most appeal. Alternatives included devices to give warnings to the driver of increased risk of overturning but some of the safety experts believe these were unsound because tractors can overturn on such varied slopes—or even flat ground. On flat ground a heavy implement can cause the

front wheels to lose contact with the ground as the rear wheels remain stationary and the tractor body revolves around them. A high hitch point adds to the chances of overturning. The Tractor Safety Frame Regulations 1967, make it illegal for a frame to be fitted to a tractor sold or hired out unless a certificate of approval has been issued. The certificate indicates the makes and models of tractor to which the frame may be fitted for safety.