ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] safety

[endurance] safety

Samm C Bartee (bartesc@mail.auburn.edu)
Sun, 8 Oct 1995 09:21:39 -0500 (CDT)

I have a message of the safety sort. Last weekend, I lost a good friend
to a senseless accident. He was riding his motorcycle on Paper co. land,
land a lot of us ride horses on. He turned a corner, had the sun in his
eyes, and did not see that someone had put a steel cable across the road
he was on. It caught him completely by surprise, and killed him
instantly(thank God). Upon lots of reflection, I started thinking "what
if". What if we had been riding that day, and had a friendly race off
going down a logging road that never has any traffic on it? The cable
was low enough that it would not have hit the rider, but there could
have been severe damage done in many different ways. All scenarios I
could envision ended with major sadness. The cable was not there two
weeks before his accident, we do not know when it was put up. It was
marked, but minimally. The land is leased out to hunters, and they are
the ones who put the cable across the logging road, I guess to keep
hunters who are not part of their club out. Hunting season doesn't open
until Oct. 15th here, so no one was expecting movement from the club
until Oct. 5th-8th.
I thought maybe a little warning might spare someone else this
misfortune, since it is not something I had ever considered. However, I
have since found out that this sort of thing happens yearly, you just
don't hear about it. Sobering thoughts.

APPY TRAILS

SAMM C. BARTEE