Passengers on tractors, especially young kids.

Yup!! There are risks in everything but some things are much more risky than others. There are acceptable risks and unacceptable risks.

I say that giving my grandkids rides on the tractor in first gear at half throttle on my level driveway is an acceptable risk. And I don't see that putting me on the lower end of the gene pool. However--I certainly wouldn't let them ride at all while I'm bush hogging because that is an unacceptable risk.

Relax--we already have enough people telling everyone else what is acceptable and what isn't.

PS giving a child a ride on the tractor at the shows is plenty safe as the ground is flat and speed is controlled to very slow.
I wouldn't give them a ride while working all though my first ride was in Grampa's lap on an old D2 Cat while he disced the hay field.

I guess i am too. I'll endanger myself before i'll mutalate this beautiful thing. Notice that, because of people being careful, it hasnt been on its side, or rolled (that i can tell) in 50-60 years of farming. I may be a teenager, but i think we'll both survive a few rides around the yard.

Me and one of my cousans would each take a side of the cab on his ford 7600 between the seat and the rear windows. One of my earliest memories was us playing gameboys back there.

When we were too big to fit there, someone would kneel between the door and steering colum, and someone else would take the toolbox, with younger cousians in the back. I think at one time we had 4-5 people in that thing.

A special treat would be raking hay in the smaller (50-60 hp) tractors (all with cabs aswell)because you go so much faster.

I dont do this on the kubota because the cab is too small, as is the tractor, and most of the time i dont even feel safe in that thing. The kubota is pretty much reserved for really little kids who can sit on my lap and steer while i run the hydro petals. All this at 3mph in the yard. No field work.

Realisticly though, a little common sense and the danger is pretty minor. Read through all the responses so far and seeing how many people have ridden on a tractor when they were little and how few of them got hurt. Maybe the danger isn't as real as it is believed to be.

About a month ago we had a Plow Day and several people had children up on the seat with them while plowing. One fellow had two children in the seat, while he stood on the axel. One child was about a Second Grader, and the other was about three years old. Having plowed with a John Deere tractor, like he was using, I know full well how many times that old plow failed to trip when it hit a rock and I was thrown against the shaft in the center of the steering wheel. That pain is vivid yet. Any such an impact would have thrown the two children off the tractor!

Fooling around with tractors can be dangerous in many ways. Why tempt fate by exposing the grandchildren we so much adore? Often times it just boils down to the old adage, No Fool Like An Old Fool.

However, as a kid, I rode on the fender all the time, I felt safe, and comfortable enough, even on some of the hills, while my father was operating the tractor and the rotary cutter, hay equipment etc. I grew up around our ford tractor dealership, I learned about tractors and got an up close view of most equipment at an early age, that really helped me learn how dangerous tractors and equipment can be, even as a kid, a side sickle, mower conditioner, baler, etc. looked like something to stay the heck away from, just by looking at it. I used to run the winch for my father on the tilt bed and flag if need be, + having been around some old time mechanics at the shop, all went a long way in learning about these things, I'd not trade those years for nothing. The best was when we used to bring new tractors for display at the fair, lot of people remember those blue ones riding up the back roads every year to get to the fairgrounds, I still have the large canvas banner we used to hang up, often wondered if anyone had any pictures of our display, great riding on the fender memories there !

There is something about this experience that went a long way to the present, I still enjoy mowing the fields with my rotary cutter/brushog, + all the things needed to keep my well worn 850 ford going, it is a bear to operate compared to the 4000 S-O-S I grew up on and ran at an early age, no way I'd have been able to jump on the tractor I have now, without having some suitable experience first.

As a kid, I can remember how my neighbor always enjoyed some company on the tractor, even while baling, if you walked into any field he was working, he'd always stop and wave you over, I never forgot that, and all these years later, I saw him baling a field by the barns and there was a youngster up in the cab, he used to smoke a pipe when I was a kid, kind of a pleasant aroma, was helping him get the round bales of straw out of the oats he planted at our place, he's been at it some 60 years now, had asked him how long, longer than I thought !

I'd be really hesitant to allow a youngster to ride with me given the same circumstances, I'd have to be real comfortable with the area I'm working in, person would have to be secure enough beside me, and it would have to be on flat, lightly sloped terrain, and I'd have to be real comfortable with the person sitting where I did as a kid, meaning he knows to hang on, be attentive and not be a distraction. I seemed to fit on the fender and had a place to put my feet and never had any trouble with it, looking back, just can't say I'd be ok with it, roles reversed, unless the tractor had a cab and still working on safe ground, nothing risky.

The oddball things that can happen, you hit a chuck hole or some far out mechanical failure, 2 people at risk and the other person could still be a slight distraction, so maybe a pass or 2 for a short ride, one side of me says just don't do it, other side thinks well, it was a god experience, only because nothing ever went wrong. Everything we do in life has risk, it is increased if you ride on the fender, even if the operator is careful, works ina slow speed, tractor is well kept, area of operation is well known, flat etc. It's a double edged sword, still tend to lean towards the safe side.

Saturday I had a church group of section 8 city kids out to the farm for the day- taught 'em to ride a little,trail ride, hayride, cookout. I had waivers from all- but every aspect of this was dangerous in some way. Flung from the horse, flung from the haywagon, caught on fire. They had the time of their lives- and I took tremendous satisfaction in exposing them to all of it.

With kids, in the end, I guess all you can do is take every reasonable precaution and then put it in the Lord's hands. Kids exposed to the world seem to have a better success rate than those sheltered?

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COURTNEY — The father of the six-year-old girl who was critically injured more than two weeks ago when she fell off a tractor and was caught under the machine's large mower called it a "tragic accident" for which he can never forgive himself.

"You hear about these things all over the place. This time, it just hit too close to home," Jason Keaton said Tuesday afternoon. "There have been a lot of stories about what happened, but I was there. I know what happened . . . My main concern right now is Jesse. If I could take her place, I would in a heartbeat."

In his first interview since the accident, Jason Keaton said that he was still trying to come to grips with the horrific nature of his daughter's accident. At times inconsolable and often blaming himself for Jesse Keaton's injuries, friends and family say that the elder Keaton has struggled to cope with the lingering image of that afternoon.

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Keaton said that he has gone over the accident in his head too many times to count. He recalls that his son, five-year-old Jase, was riding on the left hand side of the tractor and Jesse was at his right. Keaton was nearly done mowing a hayfield on his property at 1101 U.S. 601 South near the Davie/Yadkin county lines.

"There was definitely no horseplay or alcohol . . . I never cut up or anything," Keaton recalled. "I was just making a little hay . . . She (Jesse) just fell in a bad place. I wasn't going fast or turning. That's pretty much what happened."

Keaton immediately jumped off the tractor and pulled his daughter from the bush hog and called 911. Emergency first responders, including members of the Courtney Volunteer Fire Department and the Yadkin County EMS, rushed to the scene. Although critically injured, Jesse was still conscious.

She remains at Brenner Children's Hospital in Winston-Salem where she has undergone several operations, according to her mother, Loretta Lynn McGee. Despite their best efforts, doctors were forced to amputate Jesse's right leg amputated below the knee, and part of her left ring finger. Doctors, who have kept the girl heavily sedated for most of her hospital stay, are also tending to a large cut to the back of her head.

"She's been in a lot of pain today and yesterday," McGee said as her daughter's screams could be heard in the background during a short telephone interview. "But she's still in good spirits."

Like Keaton, McGee said that she has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotions from the community.

"We're just appreciating all the prayers that are going out to her," McGee said. "She still has a long road ahead of her, but she's come a long way . . . I'm just grateful that I still got her."

If it weren't for the constant moral and emotional support from friends and family, Keaton said that he's not sure he could have survived. So many people, he said, have called, trying to ease his guilt, he said. Keaton said that he's thankful for the prayers.

"I don't know how in the world I am going to be able to thank all of the people in the community," he said. "They've been so concerned, caring and thoughtful and I've received support from everybody."

For those who wish to contribute to the family's medical bills, an account has been established at the Southern Community Bank & Trust and Wachovia branches in Yadkinville. Brenda Jester, who can be reached at 961-3505, has also scheduled an Aug. 2 fundraiser at Ross Crissman's farm on Lime Rock Road in the Fall Creek community.

In a parade there's a fine line between who's legaly liable if someone falls off a tractor or float and gets hurt. Is it the driver? Or is it the parade organizers for not implementing safety rules.

With today's laws, the adult driver of the tractor could be possibly be charged with neglegence or child endangerment if the child riding on his tractor falls off and is hurt or killed even if it's his own child. Think of bearing the burden of killing your child and then being charged with a crime besides!

I used to ride on the tractor too, and so did my children and nobody was hurt, but my grandchildren will never ride on an open tractor on my farm and I even feel a little uneasy about them being in the cab. Jim

P.S. If I'm actually working a tractor, there's no young kids anywhere near it. They're in the house or yard, with their mother or another adult.

Right or wrong I grew up on that fender of that 1206. Literally rode thousands of miles and loved every minute of it. Wouldnt trade those hours for anything. It might not be the safest place to be but the education gained on the fender of a tractor from your father and grandfather is something you will carry with you forever. bill

I was riding a fender since the age of 5. Mom was green chopping and saw my little red hood bouncing through the hayfeild ahead of her. Nothing else she could do except let me ride along. I loved riding in the green feed wagons as a kid.

I rode with dad on the fender doing everything from cutting hay (opposite side of the haybine) and chopping to plowing and spring feild work. I put in many many hours on the fender of our 285 and 1600 as a kid.

That said, I cringe every time my brother's father in law gives my nephew rides on the riding lawn mower.

Good thing is, when I start a tracotr in the drive way he runs the other way. We always keep an eye out for him while in the field and drive way.

Donovan from Wisconsin

I was a smart kid too... I knew much about the dangers of tractors and PTO shafts and riding in the bucket.

Some people blast people who have ridden in buckets. Well, I don't give a rat's arse, because as a kid, I could climb 30 feet up into the old sugar maples here, which is twice as high as any loader bucket.

Now aday people think these old tractors are toys, guess they never think about all the accidents that used to happen.

I bring by boys with me sometimes. However, unlike when i was growing up, I'm a lot more cautious than my father was. For example, they only come in a cab tractor so they can' t fall off. I never bring them when doing something that takes a lot of attention (e.g. round baling) or something that may require me to climb off the tractor. Lastly, I never bring them when I'm going to be out there a while because listening to a well-running diesel hum at 2500 RPM puts any kid to sleep in about 10 minutes flat.

I worry though that even this may be enough for someone to call child protection on me :(

• Hobby farm

I was much more careful with my kids

and will be 10 times more careful with the grandkids.

It just proves you get smarter (sometimes) with age.

At this stage of my life, I would have to say it's just not worth the risk.

Gene

Now that I've grown up, and had kids of my own, I'm very conscious of their safety. Anytime they want to ride with me, it's on my Model "L" Case, which has a big enough platform for everyone to ride safely.