I managed to break my glasses today by ...

[BTB 500]

... running them over with my tractor

I was driving it at the time, pushing through undergrowth on a slope and a stray branch flicked back and whipped them off. I couldn't see where they'd gone, but I couldn't get off without the tractor moving (rolling back) anyway. Turns out they'd landed directly behind a front wheel

The parking brake isn't very strong, and it has a hydrostatic (hydraulic) transmission so you can't park it 'in gear'. I didn't think of it at the time but it does have cruise control - this simply locks the pedal (electromagnetically). So I could potentially have held it on the slope with power, activated the CC, then got off. A bit dodgy, but it would have been worth a try!

Expensive varifocals too - luckily I always keep the previous pair as a backup (I'm blind as a bat without glasses). That will teach me for not wearing full PPE!

 

[James Copeland]

... running them over with my tractor

I was driving it at the time, pushing through undergrowth on a slope and a stray branch flicked back and whipped them off. I couldn't see where they'd gone, but I couldn't get off without the tractor moving (rolling back) anyway. Turns out they'd landed directly behind a front wheel

The parking brake isn't very strong, and it has a hydrostatic (hydraulic) transmission so you can't park it 'in gear'. I didn't think of it at the time but it does have cruise control - this simply locks the pedal (electromagnetically). So I could potentially have held it on the slope with power, activated the CC, then got off. A bit dodgy, but it would have been worth a try!

Expensive varifocals too - luckily I always keep the previous pair as a backup (I'm blind as a bat without glasses). That will teach me for not wearing full PPE!

Check your house contents insurance.
Mine paid out after I broke mine.

 

[MrGreedy]

... running them over with my tractor

Class.

At least you had the wherewithal to realise you'd dropped them.
I 'lost' a pair I used to use for long distance driving in the dark and rain (although thankfully I don't really need them being +0.25 one eye and -0.25 the other).
After much looking, I gave up. Only to come home the next night and my wife amused, pointed to them on the drive. Crushed flat as a pancake by the Merc

 

[Smart320]

My Cockapoo puppy eats mine, ( well the arms at least ) lost a pair of good sunglasses, 2 pairs of prescription readers and a pair of varifocals in the last 8 months since he arrived

 

[Ted]

Hope nobody saw you as you would have made a right spectacle of yourself.

 

[BTB 500]

As a follow up ... apart from the old/spare pair (kept in the Vito, along with prescription sunglasses) it turns out I had another two in the house! My distance vision has barely changed in the last 15 or so years so they all seem quite usable for now. I'm around -4 in both eyes so driving without glasses wouldn't be an option (I keep an older pair of prescription sunglasses in the SL as well).

 

[MissyD]

I'd love to see the reaction of the guy sorting out the insurance claim, don't suppose they get many stating... you ran over them in your tractor !

 

[Deleted member 126251]

My Cockapoo puppy eats mine, ( well the arms at least ) lost a pair of good sunglasses, 2 pairs of prescription readers and a pair of varifocals in the last 8 months since he arrived

Clearly, you do not learn from your mistakes.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Check your house contents insurance.
Mine paid out after I broke mine.

When he renews, the premium increase, will cost more than the specs.

 

[fourwheels]

Not just house insurance. Check your medical insurance if you have it.
Mine pays out £200 for replacement specs against opticians receipt, and has done several times for me over the years.

 

[Bellow]

. So I could potentially have held it on the slope with power, activated the CC, then got off. A bit dodgy, but it would have been worth a try!

Don't ever do that. In my locale, there's a fatality every few years due to it.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Presumably you broke the lenses as well as the frames ?

Some people don't realise that if you sit on your frames, you can just get fresh frames put on the old lenses.

 

[BTB 500]

Check your house contents insurance.
Mine paid out after I broke mine.

Not just house insurance. Check your medical insurance if you have it.
Mine pays out £200 for replacement specs against opticians receipt, and has done several times for me over the years.

No medical insurance any more, and as mentioned it's probably not worth having a claim logged against the house insurance.

 

[BTB 500]

Presumably you broke the lenses as well as the frames ?

Some people don't realise that if you sit on your frames, you can just get fresh frames put on the old lenses.

It was on soft dirt - the lenses are OK and the frame is just a bit bent. They're 'bottomless' frames and the nylon filament that holds the lens in place broke on one side.

I've never been entirely happy with the lenses TBH (varifocals are always a compromise), and I actually prefer the old ones I'm wearing now. So a chat with an optician next week I think.

 

[BTB 500]

Don't ever do that. In my locale, there's a fatality every few years due to it.

Yep tractors are not to be taken lightly ... even relatively small ones like mine can kill you pretty easily.

Having said that I'm afraid I did make up an adapter to bypass the occupancy switch that stops the engine after 5 secs if you leave the seat. I lived with it for some time (a pain when going through gates), but it really had to go when I got a PTO driven wood chipper.

 

[Bellow]

Yep tractors are not to be taken lightly ... even relatively small ones like mine can kill you pretty easily.

Having said that I'm afraid I did make up an adapter to bypass the occupancy switch that stops the engine after 5 secs if you leave the seat. I lived with it for some time (a pain when going through gates), but it really had to go when I got a PTO driven wood chipper.

You should consider re-enabling the occupancy switch for when it is being driven. Any self-propelled machine in a work environment (eg, golf course) will be taken out of commission by the HSE if found to have that switch disabled.
It isn't only for the driver's protection. A runaway tractor will not stop until it encounters an insurmountable object. Anything in its path prior is vulnerable and your culpability in such a scenario would be significant having disabled the method of preventing runaway.
And, it removes not only the temptation but the possibility of dismounting while the tractor can still move (or is moving) under its own power. This routinely kills people - people who know the danger but still succumb. A friend of mine lost his son that way.

 

[ALFAitalia]

I buy cheap glasses most of the time....usually Specsavers.....with good reason. If I'm not losing them, I'm standing on them, coming up under open caravan gas locker doors at work without looking and putting huge scratches on them, sitting on them. Recently I managed to drop them just as I shut the car door...they ended up crushed in the door shut. That didn't do them much good either!

 

[BTB 500]

You should consider re-enabling the occupancy switch for when it is being driven. Any self-propelled machine in a work environment (eg, golf course) will be taken out of commission by the HSE if found to have that switch disabled.
It isn't only for the driver's protection. A runaway tractor will not stop until it encounters an insurmountable object. Anything in its path prior is vulnerable and your culpability in such a scenario would be significant having disabled the method of preventing runaway.
And, it removes not only the temptation but the possibility of dismounting while the tractor can still move (or is moving) under its own power. This routinely kills people - people who know the danger but still succumb. A friend of mine lost his son that way.

I agree 100% in principle but in reality this is an extremely slow tractor - top speed (requiring both full throttle and the drive pedal for the hydrostatic transmission to be kept fully depressed) is only 3.6 mph in low ratio or 5.1 mph in medium (high ratio is for road use, but even that gives you just 10.8 mph flat out). The (hand) throttle and the HST drive pedal are in different places and both require significant effort to operate ... the chance of either (let alone both) moving spontaneously when nobody is on the driver's seat must be as close to zero as you can get. This is a totally manual/mechanical vehicle with no electronics or software to have unexpected glitches.

IMHO the most significant risk is forgetting to put the ROPS (roll bar) up - unfortunately I have to lower it to get the tractor into its storage building. I believe rollovers are the #1 cause of tractor fatalities (many older tractors don't have any rollover protection). And yes I've also done the opposite and tried to drive it in with the rollbar still up

I'm going to add a reminder on the dash to put the ROPS up.

 

[BTB 500]

I'm going to add a reminder on the dash to put the ROPS up.

 

[flying haggis]

Luckily I don't (yet) need prescription glasses so cheap readers for reading forms etc do me. That's why I buy Poundland glasses as like you I have driven over a couple of pairs with forklifts, if they had of been expensive ones I would have been gutted.