An important safety reminder - the "audible" signal

In two club rides in two weeks, I've been 5 feet behind a serious wreck occurring on left turns.

I believe that both could have been avoided if, in addition to the hand signal:

• an audible "slowing" signal is yelled by one of the front riders well in advance of the turn, and
• an audible "left turn" or "right turn" is yelled as well

I think that experienced riders take these basic safety enhancements for granted. It's not just a speed/hammerhead issue:

• Last week, it was a high speed fall at 40mph resulting in a rider's broken hip.
• Tonight, it was a relatively slow speed fall, that created a lot of road rash an destroyed a deraillure (in the middle of nowhere...)

Broken hip, yikes!

The only wreck I've seen on a club ride was as we were approaching a one-lane bridge and it was obvious the car approaching from the other direction was not going to let us go first. The people in front of me stopped without telling me and I yelled 'STOPPING' while I was screeching to a halt. It didn't get all the way to the back and two people reacted badly and ran into each other and became entangled on the ground (I didn't see how it all happened, but their stories each blamed the other and they were both wrong in what they did).

I think in my situation, where there wasn't a large crowd and we were kind of stretched out, that they could have avoided the wreck even if they hadn't been warned, if they had just been looking out for their own selves. Even though I wasn't warned and had to stop fast, I had been paying attention. Like my daddy taught me when I was 14, you should watch traffic and anticipate 10 seconds ahead. It's not always possible to know what could happen, but at least if you're watching you'll be that far ahead.

A warning is always a good thing, though.

Karen

In a paceline (particularly when you're shorter than most of the other riders) it's not possible to see ahead. You have to trust the rider who's pulling to indicate hazards, and the rider immediately in front of you to pass it down the line.

I'm with Mr. S. Hand signals are good for pointing out road hazards, and for the last person in line to signal to car traffic. Other than that, audible all the way.

Anyway, hope all involved heal up quick. :(

DH is the worst about calling his intentions to me. I almost wrecked last week because I cannot see over him and he decided to stop suddenly to yield to an oncoming car. Now I should have been watching the yield myself but also a "STOPPING" call wouldn't have hurt either. Luckily we did not wreck because my bike handling is greatly improving on the road thanks to my time spent on the trails.

For stopping or slowing in a pace line, I always use an audible signal rather than a hand signal, although sometimes I use both. Most people in the back cannot see hand signals and are much more likely to hear "stopping" or "slowing". I was in a very aggressive, very large pace line on my century ride Saturday and no one was calling out which lead to some dangerous situations. We ended up pulling out of that pace line to regroup into a smaller, safer paceline where people were looking out for one another.

Good News!

The local club leadership is open to promoting the need for "audibles" among the membership and will assist in promoting the local LCI Seminar in Bloomington...so something good may come out of these two wrecks:D

:cool:and no one wrecked in tonight's club ride:cool: