Senior free labour provider dies whilst mowing a church lawn

[Rivendale]

You still don't see it.... We all do risky things. We all love to live life and venture out in the world. It's not like Suzuki is responsible for building a machine that kills people and they should be held responsible. It is the infrastructure that puts inexperienced people in them and in an astute immoral way makes them guilty if they don't do it. That is the difference.

No, you want to have a row because you don't have enough drama in your life this evening. You have decided that you know how much training one should have driving an effing lawnmower before they leave you alone to do it yourself. I judge differently, and that makes me "obtuse." I don't see this as evidence that the LDS Church has been horribly negligent. Sorry.

That said, now that this has happened, I do hope that people who are not simply righteous keyboard jockeys do investigate the situation and do what can be done to prevent such an accident from being repeated. If that means keeping everyone over 55 off a lawnmower, cool. If it means requiring a six-month-long course in ride-mowing, cool. I'm all for it.

Once again your keyboard assumptions assume all kinds of things. I don't have enough drama? Dick statement. Completely out of context with what is being proposed. How much training is irrelevant? I have decided it? No the church did.

[Kishkumen]

When a ride on lawn mower flips over, killing the operator, that’s not an accident. It’s the result of using the ride on mower outside of its safe operating parameters. If the deceased had been trained on those safe operating parameters then he’s been reckless and it’s his own recklessness that caused the death. If the deceased had not been trained on those safe operating parameters, then that’s criminal negligence on the part of the people in charge of operating the site on which he was employed as a volunteer. Next time you’re passing a garden machinery distributor go and watch the ride on mower display. See how many just spontaneously flip over.

The other factor to consider is that ride on mowers can be fitted with roll-over protective structure (ROPS) ‘roll bars’ to protect the operator in a case where the equipment is pushed beyond its safe operating limits. You seem them on dune buggies and open top sports cars. Did the ride on mower this man was using to mow slopes (with the obvious inherent risk of a roll) have roll bars fitted? If not, why not?

I mark this as the most sensible comment on this thread. And, it would take an actual investigation to determine what the truth of the situation is. In the meantime, people who understandably dislike the LDS Church can assume that it was to blame in many ways for this man's death. I prefer to think that it could be an accident--for example, the kind of thing that happens when you hit uneven ground that you couldn't make out because the grass was sufficiently high to block your view--until the evidence shows otherwise. Most senior missionaries I have met have served cheerfully in capacities they had some prior experience in or sufficient training to do. I will not automatically assume that is not the case here just because I left the LDS Church for reasons I still find justifiable and reasonable.

[Kishkumen]

Once again your keyboard assumptions assume all kinds of things. I don't have enough drama? Dick statement. Completely out of context with what is being proposed. How much training is irrelevant? I have decided it? No the church did.

You have decided he did not have enough! Or what are you on about?

[Kishkumen]

If the lawn mower rolled, that means there was a relatively steep slope to be mowed. Anything beyond a 10 degree slope and the Church was negligent . Now, if this guy was going full bore and then slamming hard into a turn for fun then it's hard to blame anyone but himself.

Another sensible comment. One that begins with the realization that we have too little information at present to know what actually caused this.

On a related note, I fired my lawn service because the guy on the ride mower was going fast and punching holes in my lawn when he turned. I told him in advance that I did not want to see that. He did not listen. I told him to pack it up and leave.

[Rivendale]

accident--for example, the kind of thing that happens when you hit uneven ground that you couldn't make out because the grass was sufficiently high to block your view--until the evidence shows otherwise

Lol.. Good hell Kish go mow some lawns. Tilt has nothing to do with grass length.

[Kishkumen]

Lol.. Good hell Kish go mow some lawns. Tilt has nothing to do with grass length.

Effing ahole. Read or move on. I HAVE MOWED ON A MOUNTAINSIDE . . . MANY TIMES. Asshole.

Tell us all what happened. You were there. You have sooo much information.

Arrogant dick.

[Rivendale]

Lol.. Good hell Kish go mow some lawns. Tilt has nothing to do with grass length.

Effing ahole. Read or move on. I HAVE MOWED ON A MOUNTAINSIDE . . . MANY TIMES. Asshole.

Tell us all what happened. You were there. You have sooo much information.

Arrogant dick.

You were not old mowing on a mountain side. John Larsen is right. Disaffected or post Mormons are some of the worst people to talk with online.

[Kishkumen]

You were not old mowing on a mountainside.

Yeah? You told me I had to go out and do it. This is not about how old I was. This is about you telling me something about myself that is not true because you are not reading what I am writing. That's fine.

John Larsen is right. Disaffected or post Mormons are some of the worst people to talk with online.

Yeah, well, he is a good example of that problem. I have seen him being a dick on Facebook.

[Rivendale]

You were not old mowing on a mountainside.

Yeah? You told me I had to go out and do it. This is not about how old I was. This is about you telling me something about myself that is not true because you are not reading what I am writing. That's fine.

John Larsen is right. Disaffected or post Mormons are some of the worst people to talk with online.

Yeah, well, he is a good example of that problem. I have seen him being a dick on Facebook.

Rif....mowing a lawn young is different than doing it old....and furthermore yes John is a self proclaimed Dick. And mowing lawn on previously groomed grounds is nothing like roughing it in the wilds of a family home rag tag farm. No reason for that to happen other than massive mechanical failure. He was put in a precarious situation by his dedication to a church that either didn't care or didn't have the technology to inform him. That is all it is.

[I Have Questions]

I prefer to think that it could be an accident--for example, the kind of thing that happens when you hit uneven ground that you couldn't make out because the grass was sufficiently high to block your view--until the evidence shows otherwise.

The evidence already shows otherwise. Unless the Church has seriously let the historic site go, then the grass area he was working on was a well kept piece of grass. Uneven ground does not flip a ride on mower unless it is being driven recklessly, too fast, or at an angle it is not supposed to operate at.