Car Vs. Tractor: What Are The Odds?

August 12, 2014 / Vehicle Accidents

One of the seemingly continuous tasks of summer is keeping the grass mowed. Busy homeowners have to factor in time for weekly mowing, or even more frequent grass cutting some weeks. If you just have a small patch of green, you may get by with a push mower; but many people have turned to riding mowers or tractors to do the job more efficiently. Tractors mowing the edge near a highway are targets for negligent drivers. And guess who is usually more seriously injured?

Just last Thursday, August 7, 2014, one of Shelby County’s commissioners was hit while mowing on the south side of Michigan Road. A Jeep Cherokee crossed the road and struck the tractor head-on. Commissioner David Mohr, 73, was uninjured, but the 32-year-old driver of the Jeep was trapped and had to be extricated from the vehicle. Her 6-year-old child was also injured. Commissioner Mohr was uninjured.

Three tractor accidents in July had similar outcomes. On July 24, 2014, 42-year-old Jose Garcia of Batesville, Indiana, was operating a mower tractor on the Pennyrile Parkway in western Kentucky. An 81-year-old driver struck the tractor from behind; he was transported to the hospital for treatment, but the tractor operator was not injured.

On July 22, a station wagon crashed into a tractor mowing the shoulder of a highway in Wisconsin. The car was driven by a 75-year-old man who hit the rear left tire of the tractor. He was airlifted to the University of Wisconsin Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The 56-year-old tractor driver was also taken to the hospital, but his injuries were not serious.

I-70 near Manhattan, Kansas, was the scene of a July 1 vehicle/tractor accident. A Ford E350 being driven by a 20-year-old man left the road and struck a farm tractor that was mowing the grass on the shoulder of the interstate. The van’s driver was transported to the hospital, but the tractor driver was not.

What can we take away from these accident reports?

1. We all need to stay alert while behind the wheel and realize that this time of year there are going to be large mowers or tractors on the edge of the road.
2. If you tangle with a tractor, there’s a good chance you’re going to come out on the worse end of it.
3. If you’re driving a mowing tractor, you’re at the mercy of distracted or speeding drivers. The mower operators in the above examples were lucky. Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries, according to the CDC. Read more about Indiana farm accidents.

If you or your loved one has been injured through the negligence of another driver, the Indianapolis car wreck lawyers of Stephenson Rife can help you obtain just compensation – and that’s true whether you’re driving a Jetta hybrid or a John Deere mower. Call Mike Stephenson at 1-317-825-5200 for a free consultation.