“In a millisecond”: Kansas farmer recalls near-tragic accident

K-State expert emphasizes importance of rollover protection equipment

In an instant, Fred Levendofsky realizes that his life could have changed forever.

Thirty years ago, the man from Belleville was a young farmer and father of two small children. On one particular day, he was using a tractor and a lawn mower to weed a lagoon on a cattle ranch near his parents’ house.

“I thought everything was fine,” he recalls. “The tractor seemed stable. I was mowing in low gear and just crawling along.”

Then the tractor’s rear wheel crashed through an eroded spot in the dam. The tractor overturned.

“The next thing I remember was my head on the roof of the taxi,” he said.

Luckily, he chose a tractor with a cab that day, Levendofsky said.

“It saved my life,” he said. When the taxi tipped over, a window shattered, giving Levendofsky an escape route.

Today, he looks back with gratitude for watching his children grow up and graduate from college and having the opportunity to meet his grandchildren and participate in their activities. He and his wife, Connie, continue to live and farm north of Belleville.

“I was lucky,” he said. “My life could have changed in a millisecond.”

Newer tractor models come with cabs and roll-over protective structures (ROPS). But many older tractor models still on farms today do not, according to Tawnie Larson, project consultant at the Carl and Melinda Helwig Institute for Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Kansas State University. Larson leads a program to raise awareness of tractor accidents and promote a rebate program for ROPS.

According to Larson, most tractors built after the mid-1970s were equipped with ROPS, but it wasn’t until 1985 that ROPS became standard equipment on new tractors.

“Many farmers still use older tractors without roll bars,” she says.

ROPS are roll bars or roll cages for tractors without a cab. ROPS create a protective zone around the driver if a rollover occurs. When combined with a seat belt, the ROPS prevents the driver from being thrown and crushed by an overturning tractor or by equipment mounted or attached to the tractor, according to the National Ag Safety Database.

According to national statistics, 96 people die each year in tractor rollovers, the most common cause of death on farms. 80 percent of those killed or injured are experienced operators of heavy machinery.

Larson says ROPS, when combined with a seat belt, has been proven to be 99% effective in preventing deaths or injuries. Yet, she adds, only about half of the tractors still in use in the U.S. are equipped with ROPS.

Starting in 1986, American tractor manufacturers began voluntarily equipping all agricultural tractors with more than 20 hp sold in the USA with ROPS. In addition, the national ROPS rebate program (NRRP) is a voluntary program that offers rebates of approximately 70% of the cost of purchasing and installing a ROPS kit.

Larson said K-State Research and Extension — through the Carl and Melinda Helwig Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering — has been working with the NRRP to conduct research and gain support through public and private funding and partnerships to bring the rebate program to Kansas farmers to retrofit older tractors.

Larson said the average cost of a ROPS is $1,200, but the estimated cost of a fatal rollover to a family and farm is more than $750,000. She points out that in the past eight years, 10 Kansas farmers have been killed in tractor rollover accidents and six others have been seriously injured.

“About 30,000 farms in Kansas have at least one tractor without ROPS,” she said.

For more information on how to apply for the rebate program (if available in Kansas), call 877-767-7748 or visit ropsr4u.org to be placed on a waitlist.

Individuals can also contact Larson at (email protected) or 785-532-2976; or Ed Brokesh at (email protected)785-532-2907.

PHOTO: Farmer Fred Levendofsky of Belleville, Kansas, narrowly escaped disaster 30 years ago when his tractor overturned while mowing. (K-State Research and Extension news service)