Small Town News

Keep kids away from tractors to save lives

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Two incidents this spring involving four year-olds who fell off tractors driven by their fathers an Oklahoma boy killed in the blades of a trailing mower and an Idaho boy maimed in a rotary cultivator--have rekindled frustration among safety experts regarding adults who let children ride tractors.

Barbara Lee, Ph.D., director of the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, said a shared commitment to end this traditional but dangerous practice led her center and other farm safety organizations to form a network two years ago and launch "It's Easier to Bury a Tradition than a Child," a national campaign to keep children younger I ban 12 away from tractors.

FREE MATERIALS

The Childhood Agricultural Safety Network has placed free safety awareness materials at www.childagsafety.org and encourages everyone to download these campaign materials and post ' them prominently to help

spread the message, "Keep Kids Away from Tractors."

The site includes logos, posters and audio and video public service announcements by country recording artist Michael Peterson.

OVER 100 DEATHS

Of the estimated 100-plus farm-related deaths to children each year, most will die in incidents involving tractors and other machinery.

In the Oklahoma fatality, the boy's step-father, "turned his head for a second... and said he heard a thud," according to a law officer interviewed by The Oklahoman newspaper.

"He turned back and saw the upper part of the boy's body wrapped in the brush hog."

Lisa Rhoades, administrator for the Oklahoma Child Death Review Board, said she's seen too many unnecessary deaths among children in nearly 10 years on the job. "I get irritated by the lack of common sense," Rhoades told The Oklahoman. "Why would you put a child on the fender of a tractor?"



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© 2010 The Times-Argus Central City, Kentucky. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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