Here is a vivid reminder that landscape equipment is dangerous when improperly used, which includes failing to secure it appropriately before leaving the yard or the jobsite.
Photo: Facebook / Massachusetts State Police

The importance of securing equipment in a truck or trailer was on vivid display recently in the photo of an ax that had crashed through a car's windshield and was precariously perched on its dashboard after the car pulled over on the side of a highway north of Boston. A passenger who narrowly escaped injury is partially seen, as is the source of the cleaver: the back of a landscaper's truck.

According to the Massachusetts State Police, the ax flew out of the truck on southbound Interstate 95 in Topsfield. They report that the car's passenger was "shaken up" but not hurt.

The Peabody, Mass., landscaper was ticketed for failing to properly secure cargo which reportedly carries a $200 fine. Needless to say, he, and his company, avoided much greater ramifications had any injuries, or worse occurred. As it is, besides the fine, the landscape company will be liable for repairs to the automobile and could face a civil suit.