My ROAD iD came in very handy many years ago when I crashed and broke 9 bones on during a charity bike ride. The emergency room and EMTs told me how much they appreciate the people who wear ROAD iD.
I was in a charity ride of 1200 people and going down a 9-mile hill. There was a group who would pass everyone and then slow down. So my group would then have to pass them. They would then speed up and pass us. I never did figure out what the heck their problem was. However, I decided to pull into the middle of a pack to the right hand side, drafting a fairly large guy. I am 6’1” so it was nice to have someone bigger to draft. The person to the right of him on the outside of the group all of a sudden made a serious swerving move and hit my front wheel and I went down pretty hard at 30+ mph.
Fortunately, no one crashed on top of me as they were all able to go around. I am a diabetic and I wear the ROAD iD to let anyone know about that and any other information if I am unconscious, which fortunately I was not. One of the support people, maybe a deputy, was asking me awareness questions. I was able to answer with a short delay. Otherwise, they were thinking that they were going to helicopter me out as we were quite a distance out in the country.
The paramedics had seen the ROAD iD and were able to fill out initial paper work using the information on my ID. The people in the ER were able to get more information from it, too. They told me that they appreciated me wearing it because it made their job easier.
I had broken 9 bones, 5 ribs, the front and back of my pelvis and the collar bone in two places. But I healed well and rode 25 miles about 2 months later. I was about 58 years old at that time. Most of my riding is within the city on surface streets and I wear my ROAD iD each and every ride.
-French T. from Arizona
