Safety equipment when riding alone?

[d2w]

All,

What safety equipment do you carry when you ride alone? I'm especially interested in "Call of Help" types of equipment (when cell phones just don't work). Do the SPOT-type systems work, or is a purpose-built Emergency Locator Beacon the only viable solution?

I often ride alone, but this weekend (while riding with my brother), we came across a scene where a guy was riding alone, crashed bad (shattering his pelvic bone ), but was able to call for help using his cell phone. I'm not sure what one would/could do in a similar simuation without being able to call for help.

And, if I may, in response to often being asked by Americans about what is my experience/opinion of the Canadaian medical system: This injured rider was attended to by two Search and Rescue personnel, about five Emergency Response/Health personnel [who are actual on strike (but must work since they are deemed Essential Service ]), he was long-line lifted off the trail by an emergency heli [crew of two], and was then heli'ed to another waiting medical heli which rushed him to Vancouver [about 60 miles away] to a waiting Emergency operating team. When this guy woke up his first thoughts would not have been "How do I pay for this?" as it will have cost him nothing! So, for this guy, the system worked.

Personally, after having experienced the US medical system while living in Texas for 7 years, I prefer my native Canadian system (and I was [mostly] covered by my employer).

Regardless, may we all ride safely while enjoying our passions.

Dale


Dale

 

[cbutler]

The best safety equipment you can carry with you is and ALWAYS will be is another rider or two.Everything else is a crap-shoot phones or ANY other electronic equipment can be damaged in a crash.

What would happen if you were unconscious how would you notify someone.

 

[skid jackson]

There is no free lunch ....
for all the care that dude got .... someone else did not get anything.
some canadian bureaucrat somewhere is making decisions about who gets what money. The amount of money is finite. The $$$$ used to heli that guy out of the woods is money that could have gone to keep some old codger alive a bit longer or give someone an operation that was denied.

Its all about rationing. some countries use bureacrats to do the rationing, some use the private sector (insurance companies) to do it. In the end the health care still gets rationed. As crappy as everyone seems to think our system is ... we still have people from all over the world, including canada, fly in to use it ....

 

[sierrarider]

I have peace of mind using the SPOT device. Cell phones are unreliable in my area so I carry both when riding alone.

 

[cbutler]

I have peace of mind using the SPOT device. Cell phones are unreliable in my area so I carry both when riding alone.

How would the SPOT help if no one knew you were hurt?
I'm talking cant move hurt paralyzed,unconscious pined by bike.

 

[jostby]

No way around it, always ride with a buddy. You can buy all the gadgets you want but if you hit a tree and can't dial or hit "the button" it's useless.

I almost killed myself this summer drying my bike off putting up and down my driveway this summer. Nobody home and the throttle stuck and it got real ugly real fast (my driveway is 500ft long). Involved steel fenceposts and landscape rocks, 23ft straight through the air from where I left the bike to where I landed on top of the rocks . But for 20 years previous I have rode by myself in remote areas on some gnarly trails and never thought twice. Instead of a concussion I knocked some sense into myself

 

[sierrarider]

"How would the SPOT help if no one knew you were hurt?
I'm talking cant move hurt paralyzed,unconscious pined by bike."

Yes, there is no substitute for having a buddy along. But when I ride alone these give me peace of mind.

I would not ride a bike if I worried obsessively about that scenario. If I'm conscious and not completely immobile, hitting a button on the device is all that is required.

 

[nhrider]

Get a friend or two! I was hurt last weekend and the only reason I got out was for friends.

 

[webmaster]

. I took a look at everything out there after coming across a couple whose quad had rolled over on them at the end of the day - At the time, I thought the guy (about 60) had spinal cord injuries and the woman had a broken collarbone with possible internal injuries. Not sure how it turned out - I heard the woman was still hospitalized several weeks later...

It took a *long* time to get help "on scene". Much of that time was "getting word out" and getting help on the way.

Spot uses a sat phone connection that isn't very reliable - especially in a situation where you are in canyons with a wet and heavy tree canopy like we have here in the Northwest U.S. and B.C. Canada; Along with that, the GPS receiver doesn't have a good reputation on the SPOT unit either.

For operating in remote and rugged areas - you are much better off with a PLB which costs more up front but has no subscription or fees after purchase, the monitoring is performed by our respective military forces and passed to local search and rescue.

http://www.nss.gc.ca/site/Emergency_Beacons/PLB_e.asp

A much more expensive option is to get an iridium sat phone...

jeff

 

[GMP]

I had an Iridium phone when I was in Costa Rica. Good for vacatioin in remote places, but too bulky and $$ to carry riding. Plus, it can be cumbersome to use if you are hurt and stressed. Just don't ride alone. A guy got killed here riding alone last January on a quad, and the subsequent actions brought the heat down on everyone else. May have been different if he was with someone.