Rep. Niezgodski has introduced HR 33 – urging the study of the topic of the operation of riding lawn mowers by children under twelve years of age. The resolution suggests that letting younger kids operate riding mowers might be a crime.
I guess I don’t have a problem with a study committee. It just caught my eye as being oddly specific. Is it better if they’re using a push mower?
I suppose they’re worried that kids will take to the streets on riding mowers (and if in West Lafayette, get drunk and shoot at cops). I understand that concern, but I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just criminalize that particular aspect. From a limb-severing standpoint, I’d be more concerned about push mowers, since it’s easier to end up under one of those. Realistically, I’m not sure kids under 12 should be using any motorized lawn equipment at all.
Indeed…other than on the faces of hills, riding mowers are fairly safe for the operator. The biggest danger is ricocheting objects that get thrown by the blades.
I believe a constituent of his had a kid either killed or crippled by a riding mower.
Maybe they should also do a companion study that looks into the incidence of kids under 12 killed or injured by guns. I guess the riding mower industry doesn’t have a lobby as strong as the NRA.