COMMS AS SAFETY GEAR?

[BamaJohn]

Until Thursday, I'd considered helmet-to-helmet comms as a convenience for intercom between riding buddies; GPS instructions; and music to soothe the soul as miles ticked by.  

But, on Thursday during a day ride inside Alabama with one other riding buddy, our helmet intercom system absolutely saved a crash, so I've added our Sena 50s headsets (and whatever brand you might use) to my list of safety items. 

How it happened:  If you've ever had something catch your attention off to one side for a moment (I know I have), that's what happened Thursday.  Mr. X was leading and something caused him to turn his head to the right at precisely the moment the car ahead was suddenly on the brakes.  I screamed "STOP!" over the intercom and he was able to slow down just enough to go onto the right shoulder and miss any contact with the car and bring the bike to a safe stop.  Without intercom, that would have been a crash, but with intercom we rode the rest of the day with the only damage being to one person's underwear!     WHATS IN YOUR HELMET?!

[RecentConvert]

I agree!  The lead rider provides alerts to those following.  i.e.   Rock in the road. gravel in the turn,  or the always popular "BEAR!!!"

 

We never ride without them.

[wbw6cos]

Some of the keenest observations are made from the back of the pack.   Good call!

[szurszewski]

Riding snowmachines with my wife years ago, just the two of us with me leading and her following, the sound of her quick scream followed by a high revving engine and gurgling/splashing water - all heard through the comm - got me to turn around immediately. We were in some low hills and I I was keeping track of her as usual, so I would have likely noticed pretty soon - but certainly not as soon - that she was stuck and needed help. 

 

I have now been in a situation twice where, if the leader had been in contact with all riders, the second rider would have been saved the hassle of getting stuck. Once was a pretty serious situation in the snow about fifteen years ago, and the other was just a fun time in the mud this New Year's Day. Both times the leader made a questionable navigation decision (it was me the first time!) and quickly realized their mistake.

 

In my case, I told my wife to stop, and not let anyone else follow me - she stopped her machine blocking my trail, but the rider behind her zipped around her and got stuck right behind me. We ended up having to abandon one machine until a return trip (but not before trying long enough to unstick them both that my wife ended up with pretty bad frostbite on both legs). The more recent one, I was riding in a logging area, third of four riders, and the leader peeled off down a really narrow muddy, partially submerged "trail" and disappeared into the trees. The second rider followed the first, and I stopped at the junction (my bike could have made it, but not with me riding it!); the fourth rider, and the only one connected by comm to our leader, pulled up next to me and said, "good thing you stopped - [the leader] just started yelling, SKINNY SKINNY SKINNY!" ...and then we got to hike in a bit to help unstick and turn around two bikes. 

 

I don't think of them like a helmet or anything (meaning I would still feel ok riding without a comm), and I don't do a lot of group riding, but I do think comms can be very useful in providing both routine information like upcoming hazards and alerting others to immediate threats - like a car stopping suddenly as mentioned in the original post.