Racer safety has always been a primary concern for BFC race organizers. Years ago we created an Incident Action Plan (IAP) that is updated annually. The IAP details all aspects of racer safety, from our radio network to EMS strategy and even landing zones for helicopters. We take safety very seriously.
We also appreciate that BFC racers look after one another and report incidents to the radio network. We need you to keep doing that but moving forward let’s try to be a bit more specific with what we report to the radio operators.
In recent years the use of the phrase ‘Rider Down’ has become a concern for our safety team. We’ve had several instances of racers saying ‘rider down x-miles back’ as they pass a radio operator. This necessarily initiates an EMS response, which in some cases can result in the nearest EMS vehicle having to go against race traffic and we never want to send vehicles against race traffic unless absolutely necessary.
Too often in recent years EMS has gone against race traffic only to find racers that were not in need of immediate medical attention and even racers that just left their bike momentarily because ‘nature called’. Last year we had an ambulance go six miles against race traffic due to racer reports of a ‘rider down’ who was no longer there when EMS arrived.
The last thing we want or need is a racer crashing head-on into an EMS vehicle because a fellow racer was sitting by the road tending to a minor injury and it was reported as a ‘rider down’. Please try to be more specific when reporting incidents to radio ops and use the phrase ‘rider down’ only when immediate medical attention is necessary due to serious injury.
The use of ‘rider down’ for every incident actually creates safety issues. A safe race is everyone’s goal but we know accidents happen. That’s why we take safety so seriously. Please help us by not creating safety hazards.
