A Cautionary Tale

We tend to exercise caution in our training on a daily basis.  Inattentive, intoxicated, or just plain bad drivers are a constant concern.  Most days we all make it home OK.

Races are a different story.  In competition we tend to throw caution to the wind and expect the event staff and police to keep us safe.  In an ideal world that is the way it works, but it is not an ideal world.

In the Shelbyville Triathlon Series Race this past weekend there was an incident that illustrates this point.  On the bike course riders cross through an intersection equipped with a traffic light.  Officers from the Sherriff’s Department were stationed at the intersection to stop traffic and allow athletes to go through. The officers were doing their job stopping cars.  For the most part, drivers were stopping when instructed to do so.  There was of course the exception to the rule.  A driver was cruising along looking at the green light and didn’t notice that cars were stopped until too late.  There were no injuries in the resulting rear end collision.

This incident had no bearing on the race at all, but it very easily could have.  If there had not already been cars stopped to catch the vehicle would they have seen the officer and stopped or would they have driven right through the light?

A similar thing happened in Ironman Louisville the first year.  In that incident a cyclist was actually struck and injured.  Several times over the years in the Derby Festival Mini Marathon cars have driven around the barricades and onto the course.  Fortunately, I don’t think any injuries have resulted.  The size of the race has no bearing on these types of incidents.

At a local triathlon a few years ago an intoxicated driver swerved into a cyclist on one of the safest roads you could imagine in a race.  The athlete involved died in this case.

Even on a closed course it is impossible to make people stay home.  If there is a driveway to someone’s home it is possible that they will decide that it is time to go to the store just as you are going by.

The moral of this little story is that you must never take your safety for granted.  Anyone producing an event is worried about the athlete’s safety.  They will post race staff and police at proper points and in some cases have barricades at intersections.  None of these things can stop a driver who does not see them or just doesn’t care.