NYC Outdoors  

Latest Posts  |  Archive  | 

Safety Tip: Don't Leave Home Without It

by Peter Shankman
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 at 9:03 PM
updated Tue, 27 Nov 2007 at 9:08 PM

Print

Send

RSS

Share:

Let's talk for a second about safety.

A few weeks ago, a skydiver died during a jump. His body, however, wasn't discovered until two days later.

This is unacceptable. As a skydiver, I can tell you that what happened there is very much the exception, and not the norm. We look out for each other. We have to. We're in that kind of a sport — it's dangerous enough — so we keep an eye on each other. I can't tell you how many people I know do this — we check each other in the plane, we check each other before we jump. It's common, and it's saved more than one life.

Then why, I ask you, is it okay to simply leave the house with an "I'm going running," or "Going for a bike ride," and expect that to be sufficient?

It's not.

Yet we do it all the time — because accidents never happen to us, right? They happen to the other guy. Not us.

When was the last time you filled out your emergency contact info on the back of a race number? Or how about the last time you updated your emergency contact info at work?

I can tell you more than one story of someone having a heart attack, or falling down a flight of stairs, only to have their emergency number not know anything about them — because it's someone they used to date six years ago.

Do you carry ID when you work out? When you go for a run? When you go to the gym? How come we're so sure to keep our license with us when we go out for drinks, but can't be bothered to run with anything more than a pair of sneakers, and maybe an iPod?

Here's the perfect holiday gift for the exerciser that you love this year — check out the Road ID. It's a very simple concept. It's a bracelet you wear with all of your info. A phone number. A blood type. Anything that will identify you if something happens.

And that "something" isn't as far-fetched as you think.

You trip. Hit the ground. Knock yourself out.

You're in the gym. You fall off the Stairmaster.

You hit a branch in the road and fly off your bike.

Or let's take it a step further. You have a heart attack on the trails.

You pass out due to lack of oxygen.

When I finished the 2006 NYC Marathon, I crossed the finish line, and was grabbed by someone and taken to medical, where they gave me a LOT of salt. Why? Because apparently, I was babbling.

I don't remember it.

That's not good.

It's getting darker out earlier, people. Let's be safe out there, okay?

Got a favorite safety tip? Tell me about it.

NYC Outdoors Homepage