The topic of my concern is the dangerous use of lawn mowers. The next time your on the road traveling take very good notice of those who are using lawn mowers. It can save yours or the life of your loved one.

There is a large number of lawn mower operators whom fail to recognize the extreme danger they are putting motorists in when the operator points the mower deck discharge towards the road directly in the path motorist and the passengers in those vehicles.

There is also those who take this action to the next level by securing the discharge flap up making it ineffective in protecting themselves as well as those unfortunate enough to find themselves near this reckless practice.

It is unlawful to discharge a firearm in the direction of any road as to where the projectile would cross the road. This is for a good reason, commonsense one would think. Now why would anyone think pointing a lawn mower discharge would be any different. Here is some interesting facts for those who engage in this practice: Lawn mower deck discharges debris at about 400' per second … delivering more energy then a bullet shot from 357-caliber handgun.

Readers can watch a short video that supports this with a scientfic experiment done by " Mythbusters called lethal lawnmower MiniMyth".

The life you save by using commonsense operation of your lawn mower can be your loved one whether it be human or your beloved pet. It is not my intent to humiliate or shame anyone with this public notice. My hope is to prevent a preventable tragedy from occurring.

Roger Smith

Parishville