Just reading the thread below about the child riding with his father on a tractor getting killed. It's always amazed me the differing points of view people have on any and everything, especially when some sort of tradgedy is involved. What's funny to me though is how someone will feel one way about one situation, but feel differently about an almost identical situation, but in a different setting. I'm always seeing talk about letting a kid be a passanger on a tractor in one instance, say plowing, but not in another, say running a mower. In any case, regardless of what implement is attached, there is always risk involved. EVERYTHING a human does around a piece of machinery is dangerous because the equipment itself does not care and does not watch out for you. Regardless of the implement if you take the necessary precautions to be as safe as possible, the best your going to do is reduce the risk factor, but it will never go completely away.
That said, to me, there is no difference in riding a child around on a tractor, in a 'safe' position, regardless of what implement is attached, than there is sitting a child behind yourself on the seat of a motorcycle and heading down the interstate at 65 MPH. That's something you see all the time but you'll never hear anyone making a fuss about that. Even if they are in an accident and the rider and/or child is killed, you won't see the same fuss made as there would be if the same two were riding a tractor around a 1000 acre field with no one else around, and something happened that killed one or both of them.
Like I said, the differing points of view people have based on the same outcome of an accident, but in a different situation, always amazes me. In either case, someone is dead or injured, and in either case it all involves us humans doing something that will always be dangerous, working around moving/powered equipment. The only way to truely stay 100% safe and know for sure you will NEVER get hurt by or from interation with a machine, is to NEVER set foot out of the house and get on anything powered (even human powered like a bicycle) as doing so will ALWAYS carry some sort of risk involved. Heck, just setting foot out the door and even walking down the side of the road carries risk assocated with others driving around in their machines.
The only difference in any of these situations is the thought we put into trying to minimize the risk factor as much as humanly possible.....Unfortunately no matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, there will ALWAYS be some risk involved in EVERYTHING we do, especially when there is a machine involved.....
That said, to me, there is no difference in riding a child around on a tractor, in a 'safe' position, regardless of what implement is attached, than there is sitting a child behind yourself on the seat of a motorcycle and heading down the interstate at 65 MPH. That's something you see all the time but you'll never hear anyone making a fuss about that. Even if they are in an accident and the rider and/or child is killed, you won't see the same fuss made as there would be if the same two were riding a tractor around a 1000 acre field with no one else around, and something happened that killed one or both of them.
Like I said, the differing points of view people have based on the same outcome of an accident, but in a different situation, always amazes me. In either case, someone is dead or injured, and in either case it all involves us humans doing something that will always be dangerous, working around moving/powered equipment. The only way to truely stay 100% safe and know for sure you will NEVER get hurt by or from interation with a machine, is to NEVER set foot out of the house and get on anything powered (even human powered like a bicycle) as doing so will ALWAYS carry some sort of risk involved. Heck, just setting foot out the door and even walking down the side of the road carries risk assocated with others driving around in their machines.
The only difference in any of these situations is the thought we put into trying to minimize the risk factor as much as humanly possible.....Unfortunately no matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, there will ALWAYS be some risk involved in EVERYTHING we do, especially when there is a machine involved.....
