Kirstin Sandaas, racing with team Group Health, forwarded this story (edited a bit) and a warning about a rooty section of the Bellevue/Renton bike trail.
The takeaway: If you happen to be party to an accident in this area, directing 911 to the scene can be tricky. Kristin relates some tips and a call to action at the end:
Saturday (September 27), during the Group Health meet the team ride, one of our returning riders (Justine Bussie) went down hard at the North end of the Bellevue/Renton bike trail, in the rooty section before the gate and just before the Exit 9 hill. Another race team had a similar experience last year and in that case, just like Saturday, it took about 25 minutes to get emergency response to the scene. 911 will not dispatch to an emergency scene unless they know exactly where the incident is. Phone calls bounced between Renton and Bellevue’s 911 dispatch in an effort to determine the location of the incident. 911 was eventually able to determine the location by triangulating a cell phone signal.
The dispatched medic also told me that they know that stretch of trail is a problem – he said that he was dispatched to that same place recently and the woman they assisted was ” in very bad shape.” Based upon grapevine information over the last 24 hours, I suspect that this was an experienced racer from another local team who recently broke her pelvis.
Fortunately, it was a nice day so we did not have hypothermia to deal with. Unfortunately, Justine was in a large amount of pain and had to lay in the trail for nearly 45 minutes before she was finally mobilized to the ambulance. The roots on that section of the trail have gotten markedly worse of late and with the fall rains and leaves coming, I suspect that we can expect that this won’t be the last time someone might need assistance in that spot.
There is only so much that the EMT’s can do, however, and the medic said help from the cycling community in getting some attention from King County to improve the trail would be invaluable. He suggested an email string that could raise the level of awareness in King County.
If someone does need assistance in that spot, The critical information to get help dispatched includes:
1) The City name is Newcastle and the 911 Dispatch should come from Bellevue
2) The Street name is Lake Washington Blvd (not 106th as the street sign indicates)
3) The Exit from 405 is #9 (Just like the Beattles song)So, I’m now on a mission to try to prevent further incidents and alert people to how to get help should something happen there. It seems to me that there are three things that we can do to help prevent or improve the situation of future emergencies:
1) Convince the powers that be that the stretch of trail North of Coulon AND at Coal Creek needs to be improved – I’ve started that ball in motion by logging an issue with the Bellevue street and trail maintenance web site;
2) Talk to the cycling community to let them know what to do if there is an emergency in that spot;
3) Work to get a sign posted in that location so that if people don’t know about the difficulty of describing the location, guidance is there to help them get help quickly.
Blogger’s note: On nice days, it seems like the physical hazards are exacerbated by crowded conditions. If you don’t already do so, I’d recommend making sure you ride single file in the narrow sections and if you are a hammerhead dial back the speed or choose another route if you want to ride fast.
Postscript September 30:
Use caution!
Warning signs have been posted since this weekend.
