Safety: Emergency Contact Info

This is nothing new, but over the years, I have noticed that occasionally riders give only their names and rider numbers, then scrawl a signature on the sign-in sheet without giving emergency contact info. I would like to see more diligence in getting emergency contact information from riders on the ride sheets. Here’s why:

On Friday, April 8, one of our club members had a major crash. If he had not filled out his emergency contact info (which he had entered online), I as the ride leader would not have had the phone number for his wife printed on the ride sheet and would not have been able to contact her or to give the contact number to the responding officer.  ✎  At that point, our rider was on his way to OHSU with a broken left wrist and broken right shoulder. Ride leaders, as always, be sure you have access to emergency contact info online or take the ride sheet with you on your rides.

Even if I could have logged into the club directory, all I would have found would have been his personal cell phone number. That phone was in his bike bag at the scene of the crash and of no use to anybody who did not know how to unlock his phone or who his contact was.

That space on the ride sheet is there for a reason. Riders, please assist ride leaders by making sure that your emergency contact info is up to date online and/or the space is filled in on each club ride.

Dave McQuery, Member at Large