INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
SCARE(M) - Road Incident Management - What Should You Do?
No two incident's are alike, so when it comes to advice the following is offered as a framework to help you address any situation that may arise. Key is to stay calm. Our advice is as follows:
Runs Leader or first responder - takes control & instruct others to:
- Stop traffic
- Set traffic controllers
- Get non-casualties off road
- Turn off engines
- Don't move unless OK
- Ask name, assess condition, note medical history, contacts
- CPR / recovery position if necessary
- Check VCC tag for medical conditions & contacts
- Shock & cold can kill – prevent
- Will they come in time: consider alternatives
- Identify location (e.g. Garmin location, Google maps, What three words etc.)
- Check 112/999 has key info (eg head injury/unconscious)
- See VCC tag for who to contact
- Photos
- Witnesses
- Police details
- Casualty's care and others (e.g cold, shock)
- Traffic management / broken bikes
- ICE on your locked phone screen (google it!)
- St John's Ambulance 'First Aid for Cyclists' App
- OS Locate App or What Three Words App (or similar) so you know where you are and can give a grid reference to others
- First aid / space blanket
- Emergency numbers etc (especially if abroad)
Bike cameras - insights on their use from Ray - March 2025
I ride with both a helmet camera and a rear camera. Typically there are very few incidents which I feel are serious enough to warrant submitting on-line to the Herts Constabulary. Last year I submitted around 3 of which 2 occurred on a single VCC Socials plus ride to Aston Clinton. Typically after submitting an incident there is no feedback on the outcome.
Unusually, and surprisingly the two incidents which occurred on the Socials+ ride to Aston Clinton resulted in the police taking action and letting me know the outcome.
The first incident occurred on the Redbourn road. A a Mini car drove at very high speed towards the Socials+ riders passing us at speed in our lane and at much less then the recommended 1.5m.
The second incident on that ride occurred just outside Aston Clinton and was a road rage incident. A camper van overtook the group passing close to the riders at the same time as sounding its horn. The van then pulled in front of us and stopped, causing us to have to stop and dismount. It waited for a few minutes before pulling away.
I submitted these incidents back in August last year. I expected to hear nothing more. In December 2024 I was contacted by the police to advise that the driver of the road rage camper van had attended a driving awareness course.
Today I heard that the driver of the Mini car has been found guilty of driving without due care and attention and given 5 penalty points and fined £720.
The benefit of riding with cameras is not immediately clear and typically, as with dashcams in cars, people use the footage only if they are involved in an accident. But the above does show that cameras do have a value beyond that and that footage of dangerous driving towards cyclists is taken seriously and prosecutions made.
Ray Pitchforth
