Mowing on steep slopes or on embankments can present significant danger to riding mower operators, creating conditions that can tip riding mowers over and injure the user, or worse. About 90 mower-related fatalities were recorded between 2007 and 2009, the most recent years for which the Consumer Product Safety Commission has confirmed fatality records.

This time of year, riding mowers begin to appear in force across the country, elbowing their way out of sheds and garages to cut turfgrass – and the occasional incautious landscaper – down to size.

According to Carl Purvis, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, an estimated 34,000 riding mower-related injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms between 2010 and 2012.

"Almost two-thirds of the injuries seen in emergency departments occur between May and August. The highest numbers of these occur in the month of May," Purvis told Advocate of Elderburg.

Tip-over riding mower accidents can pin an operator beneath a machine, possibly exposing that person to active mower blades or trapping him underwater, according to Purvis.

"Fatal incidents have several common patterns: the mower tips over; the victim falls under or is run over by the mower, which includes incidents involving young children; or the victim is thrown from or falls off the mower," Purvis said.

Most riding mower accidents can be prevented by paying attention to proper operating instructions, according to Dennis Raymond, owner of Liberty Discount Lawn Equipment, a riding mower shop in Upperco, Maryland. Regular maintenance and keeping the safety mechanisms on modern riding mowers functional and engaged will also prevent many potential mishaps.

"The biggest thing is to follow the safety instructions in the owner's manual," Raymond told the Advocate. "A lot of the manufacturers have safety switches on the seat that will turn off the blades on a steep slope "?(R)? The whole idea is, if you fall off, it tells the machine that you came off the seat so by the time the machine would roll on you, you wouldn't get cut. Unfortunately, people sometimes disengage that switch."