Children And Riding Mowers

To the Editor:

I have been a golf course superintendent for 39 years and have experience with many types of commercial and residential mowers, so when I see fathers riding their children around on lawn tractors with blades spinning, my heart sinks. I do not think parents realize what a dangerous practice this is. Here are the facts:

Every year 80,000 Americans go to the hospital because of accidents involving lawn tractors.

Injuries from lawn mowers are on the rise nationally.

Many victims are children.

Mower accidents are the number one cause of foot amputations in children either from falling off while riding or being accidentally run over.

The majority of kids injured by lawn mowers are teenagers. The mower gets stuck and without thinking they reach in and a hand gets amputated.

The most common injury involving lawn mowers is from flying debris.

Safety precautions and manufacture warnings should be heeded. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no one under the age of 16 should ever be on a riding mower and no one under age12 should use a push mower. Children should never be carried on a riding mower or towed behind. And, children should be kept indoors when a lawn is being mowed to prevent a child from running into the path of the mower or from being hit by flying debris. If power mowers are treated with respect, accidents can be prevented.

Joe Kocet

Superintendent Newtown Country Club

2 Karen Boulevard, Newtown                                             July 5, 2012