As most of you know by now I took a fall on Saturday on a road that can only be described as horrendous. I am a pretty conservative rider and over the years have learned from the experience of others that painted lines are hazardous when it rains, black ice is invisible and hazardous, leaves on the ground are to be avoided if at all possible and touching the wheel ahead of you probably means a fall. I don't ride if it is raining, although if I get caught in the rain I will continue riding with extra care.
On Saturday I was trying to execute a simple safety maneuver. I was on the side of the road, sometimes called the gutter, and seeing debris ahead went to get back on the road. I could see that the lip was pretty high, but it seemed to be more manageable where I was and I moved to get on the road and then next thing I know I am down.
The cop who first stopped said that there had been 3 or 4 accidents in the same spot over the last few weeks. In other words riding on this road is Russian Roulette. You might survive a few rounds of Russian Roulette, but eventually it will get you. And the really scary thing is that future riders will go down. This road is so bad that some riders will fall, even if they are experienced and relatively conservative riders.
Personally there are a few things I have learned from this. I now have intimate knowledge about riding on South County Road and would ride it a little differently. But I think we as a club can take some steps. I suggest the following.
A) We should all be on the lookout for poor roads and should report them on the website. I notice that a spot has already been created on the home page of this web site for just that purpose. I commend the club leadership for taking this important step. Now all of us have to report poor roads and poor road conditions so that we can all be aware of them.
B) All club rides should assiduously attempt to avoid these roads. We can always find alternative routes. One treasure of the club is the cue sheets that have been developed over decades and ride mostly away from traffic. But with changing conditions in the roads they need to be modified when appropriate.
C) The list of unsafe roads on the web site should have several clear titles such as "Dangerous Roads in Suffolk County," "Unsafe Roads in Suffolk County and Brookhaven." The reason for this is that if someone is Googling for this information we should make it as easy as possible to find. There are many other bike riders in Suffolk who are not members of the club and we should be able to help them avoid accidents as well.
D) We need to take action to put pressure on the county and the towns to fix their roads, financial crisis or other false excuses not withstanding. I personally plan to draft a letter to Suffolk Executive Steve Levey advising him of the problem. There will be other accidents on these roads due simply to their poor conditions. Many of the accidents will not involve our members but that does not mitigate our responsibility to act. Eventually someone will be killed. Perhaps some already have been. We cannot change the past, but I, for one, cannot sit idly by knowing that other people will be seriously injured and worse if we do not act.
I solicit your comments.
Rafael