Cycling Safety

Cycling Safety When Riding Alone

Nadezhda Pavlova

These days when road cycling, were faced with the growing battle between cars and bikes for space. Whilst some countries embraced cycling as a general form of transport many years ago: Holland, Belgium, parts of Germany and France; elsewhere in the world you can take your life into your hands by riding the roads.

  • Nadezhda Pavlova

    Senior Editor

Only recently, our lead editor Robert, whilst cycling with a friend, witnessed them hit by a car and helicoptered off to hospital, thankfully surviving with a few cracks ribs, lost teeth, significant facial cuts and bruises all over the body – but they survived.

The founder of Rider Alert found themselves in a horrible accident, when a wild turkey suddenly flew across his path, sending him flipping onto his head. He ended up unconscious with serious injuries and it was luckily on a day he was riding with others, which he rarely did. His phone was found far away and he could not remember his code in the ambulance. This event it what led to his creation of the Rider Alert device. The simple fact is that we need to maximise the chances of getting help, should the worst occur.

Rider Alert is a life saving device. With 24/7 live fall detection and immediate access to on-call safety specialists, the rider alert device is set up by the user, then it automatically notifies emergency services and calls your loved ones when a crash occurs.

All of us at some time will ride alone; maybe training or just when out for a quick spin. We may end up in a situation where we can’t access help due to the nature of our injuries. Rider Alert automatically detects falls & crashes, and instantly notifies your 24/7 LIVE Rider Alert Specialist, a Dedicated Emergency Operator, over the device speaker. Moments after a crash is detected, a RiderAlert specialist contacts you via the device speaker in real-time to verify your status, your needs and the specific location. When you need help, a Rider Alert specialist simultaneously dispatches emergency services to your GPS location, taken from your device and notifies your loved ones via live phone call, as well as texts alerts.

It’s a small device that fits under your clothing, either on a lanyard or attached to you and simply keeps you safe. I’m wearing one in the images below and it’s so small and light. We love cycling becasue of the feeling of freedom, but accidents and incidents will unfortunately always occur; we simply have to do all that we can to ensure we’re not at risk, or that we maximise our opportunities for help. Never ride alone! Check out the Ride-Alert link here.

Yes, there are other systems available, but this is one that I use and it’s accurate, easy and reliable; and when an incident occurs, that’s invaluable

In our next Cycle Safety blog, well look at basic first aid principles for cyclists.

Related Content