Method and apparatus for restricting grass cutting of a lawn mower in reverse

The present invention relates generally to vegetation cutting, and more particularly relates to a grass cutting device which includes a reverse safety feature. A lockout feature for preventing a lawn mower from going into reverse unless the lawn mower blade is first disengaged, while allowing the lawn mower cutting blade to be reengaged upon being placed in reverse, the latch nevertheless allowing the lawn mower to be moved out of reverse without disengaging said lawn mower blade. An override feature is also allowed by use of a separate override control to allow the user to override the reverse lock out latch in order to go from forward or neutral into reverse without disengaging the cutting blade.