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u/DisenchantedByrd 7d ago
Did his cigarette go out? That’s the real tragedy.
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u/ansyhrrian 7d ago
Should have taken a smoke brake.
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u/90GTS4 7d ago
The one situation where someone mis-uses break/brake but is actually right...
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u/BodybuilderGrouchy16 7d ago
Cigarette is for aerodynamics.
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u/OrdinaryUniversity59 7d ago
Shows drag.
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u/SnooWalruses9173 7d ago
Good on him for not turning it sharp and rolling it over himself.
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u/Dukwdriver 7d ago
I doubt a zero-turn could turn there if he tried. (To be honest, I'm pretty sure he's trying to crank it to the left most of the way down based on the handle positions).
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u/bigchimp121 7d ago
You're right and I think that's the problem. His right wheel is moving forward and left doesn't have traction, making him fly down the hill.
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u/soilentgleem 7d ago
The problem is he wasn't mowing sideways. If you're gonna try to mow a hill, you have to go sideways.
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u/tackleboxjohnson 7d ago
Only if you don’t have a runout at the bottom. Way safer to keep it moving straight up or down the gradient
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u/ShazbotSimulator2012 7d ago
On every zero turn mower I've ever driven it was pretty hard to move sideways on a significant slope anyway, if it was steep enough it would just end up turning downhill, which kind of looks like it happened here.
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u/mrwynd 7d ago
Yep when I was shopping for a riding mower I was deterred from buying a zero-turn because of a slope on my property. The tractor style works way better on the hill
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u/Brownrdan27 7d ago
I have some crazy steep parts on my property I need the zero turn for the lower center of gravity. I don’t do them often but when I do I have a few beers in me and I’m laying sideways by the time I get to the crazy parts. It’s all ditch btw.
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u/ElvishLore 7d ago
This is the way.
His nonchalant manner suggested he’d done this hill a hundred times before but perhaps he’s just a drunk fool.
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u/ChornWork2 7d ago
as bad as racing down a hill is, a rollover seems like it could end up rather badly. do these things have a shut-off if it rolls?
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u/xxlouserxx 7d ago
The ones I’ve used have one under the seat. If it lifts up from a bump it will shut off. If it’s rolling and lands on you, the blades are still spinning…
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u/dickweeden 7d ago
The shutoff would be when he leaves the seat, but could still go wrong. Personally I’d mow this sideways though. It would be way easier to tip this thing backward going uphill than it would be to rollover sideways. Either way, on a hill this steep, the second you lose traction and start to slide, you’re not stopping until you go in the water… I’m stopping the blades and jumping off before that, which is also easier if you’re going sideways… I have a little experience in this.
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u/tackleboxjohnson 6d ago
Mine has like 5 or 6 safety switches for the blades, but in the event of a rollover the fuel line has a valve that is supposed to kill the engine
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u/Spugheddy 7d ago
I've done this on my grams hill(no water at the bottom) he could have hit forward on the right arm swing himself backwards to the bottom and then hit the left to match and basically slide a few feet till ya grip. Unless the grass is wet then your just going down backwards lol
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u/BugzOnMyNugz 7d ago
He was pulling back full throttle. That was the downfall because then the traction tires had no traction. On a heavy commercial mower, simply not throttling either wheel would've saved this. This mower looks to be a lil above typical residential and below commercial. Just enough power to get a head strong fool in trouble. Salesmans dream buyer
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u/RKKP2015 7d ago
My mom let me drive the riding lawn mower at 5, and I went sideways on a hill and she had to frantically run over to hold it up. Thinking back, that was pretty foolish of her.
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u/KillHonger1 7d ago
Ahh the years before helicopter parenting were roll of the dice for your kid making it to puberty
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u/BreadKnifeSeppuku 7d ago
Or she got cold feet
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u/Kenny523 7d ago
Oh he tried watch his hands he is trying to turn very desperately but the weight is just forcing it to slide down without traction.
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u/_lippykid 7d ago
Flipping a zero turn mower would take real talent
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u/KingHortonx 7d ago
I mean they get pretty slidey on slick grass even on slight inclines. With the provided deep enough ditch it's not difficult
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u/Aselleus 7d ago
That's how my aunts husband died...mower went down in a ditch and it rolled over on him
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u/The_Great_Distaste 7d ago
Yep, people don't realize just how dangerous those mowers are. My friend was working landscaping just out of high school, he had done it his senior year as well so he wasn't new to it. Mower rolled on him and he didn't make it.
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u/barker-woofington 7d ago
A hill like that is doable, but you can never face downhill. Best to start at the bottom so that when you're turning around, you keep upward momentum. Rookie mistake right here.
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u/mikemammula 7d ago
oh just spawn at the bottom duh
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u/barker-woofington 7d ago
Reverse over bump at a diagonal so that you only drop one tire at a time to maximize traction. Work horizontal along the hill to safe area with landing room, descend hill backwards if needed.
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u/RealIncredibleCronk 7d ago
Thats right, have the keep the back wheels weighted. Drive forward up and reverse down or if you side hill then you make your turn up hill and reverse down and straighten out into your next pass.
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u/Navajo_Nation 7d ago
And he gets it to the bottom to start the uphill process how??
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u/PghAreaHandyman 7d ago
Back down. The biggest issue with a zero turn on a hill is that you have only 2 real points of contact, and can lose traction much easier than a tractor. Every zero turn has a rated max grade, and sure you can go steeper, but you better not pull the crap this guy did or you will end up in the lake.
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u/gotdragons 7d ago
Have you ever driven a zero-turn? Backing down the hill would have caused the exact same outcome..
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u/montoya4567 7d ago
No, the weight will be over the rear wheels when facing uphill.They easily climb slopes facing upwards but frequently slip reversing up slopes and vice versa facing downhill. The centre of gravity is very low so very difficult to flip. Source: run a landscaping business.
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u/barker-woofington 7d ago
Reverse over bump at a diagonal so that you only drop one tire at a time to maximize traction. Work horizontal along the hill to safe area with landing room, descend hill backwards if needed
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u/TheDanecdote 7d ago
I can respect a captain that goes down with his ship
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u/bertbarndoor 6d ago
You get no respect! None! I could tell immediately by his defiant body language and the look on his face that he had just told someone that they were crazy and that he had everything under control. When I heard the woman say, "Dumb!" at the midpoint of Aqua Knievel's misadventure, that confirmed it.
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u/NoiseAccomplished819 7d ago
I used to work for a mowing company and had to retrieve ZTR mowers from ponds often enough we had a bag in a truck with a dive mask and straps.
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u/MSUPete 7d ago
I went in a couple times in my mowing days. It's tough to tell when that dew has worn off. If it's a 95% chance of saving a half hour of weed whipping vs an hour pulling the mower out you take those odds. But usually you're ready to bail, not hamming it up for the camera.
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u/ImurderREALITY 7d ago
I used to work for a landscaping company when I was 18, and they said I had to mow this large hill that had a retaining wall at the bottom and a six foot drop into water. I used the 48 inch walk behind mower and did sideways passes, slipping and sliding on the morning dew. Don’t know how, but I actually finished it without the thing ending up in the drink. It was a harrowing experience.
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u/TieCivil1504 6d ago
Mowing hills with a walk behind is the correct way. They're light enough to not run away from you. Powered reel mower makes it easy.
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u/humdinger44 7d ago
I screwed up that half hour weed whipping vs hour of pulling a mower out of a pond calculation more times than I care to admit
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u/willyc3766 7d ago
Incredibly dangerous. There was a guy who worked at a local state park in my area who overturned a mower like this in a lake and drowned a few years back. Tragic.
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u/tjdux 7d ago
This kills someone in my neck of the woods annually.
Very dangerous indeed
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u/OnceMoreAndAgain 7d ago
The lesson is that riding the sharpest tool in the shed does not make the rider the sharpest tool in the shed.
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u/prestieteste 6d ago
My uncle actually died this way on a hill. Tipped over and broke his neck on a hill. Kind of surreal seeing a video of what likely actually happened to him. No one was around to see it happening since he did grounds keeping on a golf course
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u/Actaeon_II 7d ago
Lol I remember being a kid with basically that for a backyard, minus the water fortunately, used a push mower and a rope to lower it down/pull it back up the hill.
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u/ShatterCakes 7d ago
Western PA? I used to see this setup a lot around Pittsburgh
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u/Capital-Ad-4463 7d ago
A few years ago a local state park employee was killed in a very similar manner. Not a steep slope, but early morning dew made it just slippery enough that he slid into the lake and the mower flipped over on top of him.
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u/tryyeezus 7d ago
Do you know the guy a few comments above or is this just a very common occurrence?
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u/Capital-Ad-4463 7d ago
I wouldn’t call these “very common” occurrences, but there are usually several fatalities each year of zero-turn mowers sliding on steep slopes and crushing their operators. When they start to slide, unskilled operators panic and quickly lose control.
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u/mattthegamer463 7d ago
Any vehicle (mower, ATV, motorcycle) can roll/pin you down in a pond, ditch, etc. and if you get trapped in deep enough water, you'll drown.
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u/MsChateau 4d ago
I know someone who died this way. Went down a small dip in the lawn -- but the lawn was on a cliff above a lake.
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u/nize426 7d ago
Well. I feel like hitting the tree could have been better. A gamble for sure, but I would take a few bruises and maybe some dented parts over losing the whole machine.
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u/tackleboxjohnson 7d ago
Machine will be fine, just gonna need a few relays replaced and possibly the solenoid. Maybe battery
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u/approvedbyinspector5 7d ago
My first job was in an OPE (outdoor power equipment) shop (lawn mowers, chainsaws, etc). You wouldn’t believe some of the idiotic things we saw.
One of the most common mistakes (we had MANY times the customer did what this person did in the video), though not as dangerous as this, involved smaller four-stroke mowers. Back then (and many may still work this way) the engines were lubricated by a simple oil splasher. There was no oil pump or oil pressure, just a dipper or slinger throwing oil around inside the engine. Use one sideways on too steep a hill, and the oil could run away from the splasher. No lubrication, engine seizure. We sold 2 and 4 stroke engines for this very reason but people didn't want to mix oil and gas, bought the 4 stroke, ran it on too steep a stroke, engine seize (and no warranty).
Another thing was customers disabling the chain brake on a chainsaw. Chainsaws are much harder and far more dangerous to use than many people realize. We had customers die using them, and one customer lost his entire nose after the bar became pinched and the saw kicked back (after disabling the chainbrake). Again, this was a LONG time ago, so saws might be completely different now.
No idea why I'm writing so much (I guess I'm just nostalgic). We also refilled propane tanks (before you could just swap them out). The number of people who yelled at me because I couldn't refill their expired (I think 12 years) or rusty, obviously dangerous tank was surprising. Also, the number of people who walked up to the large tank where I'd been filling those smelly tanks all day smoking a cigarette.
ETA: We wouldn't work on saws (or any equipment) with safety features disabled, didn't refill tanks that were expired, if the tank failed visual inspection we couldn't fill it, etc.
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u/dmcent54 7d ago
I didn't know what something like that cost until I started my current job... That is a very expensive slip.
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u/Brett-_-_ 7d ago
Are there many videos where someone says "so dumb" on the way to something bad happening? So much of that is said after it happens. Funny here
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u/goingApeShit_ 7d ago
One thing I learned is never do a mow a hill with a lawnmower or a riding mower when their is dew or moisture on the grass.
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u/Ok-Office2930 7d ago
Personally I’d do it differently, by not being able to afford the mower, the gas for said mower, and especially the land. Shoutout to all the poor people out there without lawns. 🤘🥲
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u/Worried-Promotion518 7d ago
That tree looked like a contender for mischief at one point in the descent
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u/Significant_Monk_251 7d ago
I saw it the other way: I was saying "Aim for the tree." It looked like the less-bad choice.
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u/hro19001500 7d ago
This is awful, not funny. Tons of people die or are maimed doing shit like this.
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u/scuzzy987 7d ago
Should have cranked the wheel right away before he picked up speed and spin out. That's what I used to do on my big wheel
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u/ProudDudeistPriest 7d ago
He kept that smoke in his mouth all the way up until he took the splash. That is impressive.
I can only think of Julian in Trailer Park Boys getting out of a flipped car with his drink still full.
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u/Ok-Presentation-6182 7d ago
This is fake, right? Why were they filming? Why did the camera guy just stand there?
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u/Middle-Pie-9283 7d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/hFsWlFJwY84jm