A properly deployed roll bar will go a long ways to prevent an operator from getting trapped, and a seatbelt helps with keeping you from falling under the roll bar as the tractor is tipping. At minimum use both when mowing near water. I am guilty of using neither as the roll bar likes to rip limbs from trees if I’m not paying attention, and I’m not sure where the seatbelt is. But my banks are not steep on the parts I mow.
I have been in scenarios with my Ferris zero-turn on wet grass where the darned thing just accelerates downhill in whatever direction it desires. It isn’t even that steep. Luckily that particular hill doesn’t end in water, but the excitement is almost beyond my nerves to take it.
The backside of my pond, uphill, just doesn’t get mowed but once every so often (years) when the ground is very dry. In that case I back down, brush hog first, so I have a chance to bail if things don’t go well. That hill has blessed us with a fantastic show of wildflowers instead, making us glad I don’t mow it regularly.
A thought… kill off the grass and plant wildflowers! No reason to mow then.
