It's Gettin' Dangerous Out There

I only measure at dawn on weekends if I am going to be on streets. I have a headlight and taillight, and wear florescent green. Fewer cars, and the drunks and hoodlums are in bed.

A good topic, Ron. I think so, I think I see more self-centered and reckless driving than I used to. I was riding today, with protection from someone in an SUV who drove with emergency lights flashing-- but someone managed to scoot around the SUV and buzz me as they roared past. It's making me think the protecting vehicle needs to be police. Still you see people do dangerous things, the only difference is the police will sometimes catch up to them for at least a talking-to!

To Duane's precautions I would add flashing lights. Those might even get the attention of the drunk and the stoned!

I wish I could get everything done at dawn on weekends but I can't. Luckily there are courses that are less dangerous that can be handled at other times.

Many years ago, I heard Dan Brannen washout measuring in an area know for having problems. As he was riding he felt a sting, but just finish the job. Later he realized tha someone fired a BB gun at him.

I usually ride with someone following me in my truck. I have a light bar in the back window and wig-wags in the headlight and rear tail lenses. There are still idiots out there that like to honk or yell stuff when flying by, but for the most part I feel safe.

Similar to Duane, I do a lot of my road measurements between 2:00 am and 7:00 am to avoid the thugs / drunks and additional cars that get in the way of the SPR.

In TX there have been a lot of bike lanes added and safe passing laws that have created extra awareness on the road. The biggest change in driving patterns is due to people constantly having eyes on their phones and not the road. In TX you can still text and drive legally, but I hope that will change soon.

The only safe process is a Police escort, certainly on half and marathons. I use a Police escort, ask for a marked vehicle equipped with directional arrow capability on the roof top lights. This helps from keeping traffic backed up behind the police vehicle. It is important to have a escort which knows and can act to the guidelines of the Traffic Act.

Police can verify if a section within the measure has a incident, last two years of measuring in Calgary, I have had to get through an incident (traffic accident) zone.

Do our measures in light traffic early Sunday mornings.

I was measuring once on an Xway with a police escort. The police didn't have any idea of SPR (my bad) and I almost got run over. We discussed procedures for the second ride. In general I only ride with a police escort on limited access highways. At other times I agree with Duane. Ride early in the AM on weekends. Sundays are better in urban areas.

Mike is right, Sundays are way better than Saturdays in my urban area at least (Washington DC). And it is really important for your protecting driver to completely understand what you are going to do and anticipate. When it's not going to be clear to the driver I give a little hand signal. As I move into a new lane I always glance behind to make sure the new lane is blocked.
In DC I work with 2 policemen--having that second vehicle can be a great help, in blocking off more lanes, in jumping ahead to get traffic stopped in an intersection, even at times to go ahead and stop traffic coming the other way as you take a "wrong way" tangent.
I always try to get the same officers, we know each other well and I think it's safer than "retraining" new folks.
Another great support for me is Bret Schmidt, operations director for the Marine Corps Marathon. Over quite a few years we've figured out the best procedures and the best times to measure, and his vehicle with figures of runners painted on it and "Marine Corps Marathon" written prominently seems to command a lot of respect and good feelings from MOST drivers.

I measured a half marathon in West Virginia with a police escort which was basically a big loop following the road the ways the cars would travel. Since the RD wanted the finish line in a certain place I had to start backwards going against traffic. Well the police drove in that lane also with their lights flashing the whole time. I felt safe the whole time easing but afterwards the police said I hope we never have to do that again. It was very nerve wracking for the to drive against traffic the whole time.

J.A.,
I agree that it's not fun doing it that way, even with police. I suggest: since you're going to measure it at least twice anyway, go ahead and measure WITH traffic. Start where you think it might start-- remember that your guess will be better if you do a "computer measure" first. When you get to the finish you'll know then how much to adjust from your first guess.

I'm not trying to oversimplify; sometimes there are no good ways to measure a course and you have to pick the least bad way you can think of.

I have some problems with RD's realizing that it is important to do the measuring on a weekend. They want to complete it during the week, so they can have their weekends to themselves. I request that they also be out there, on a bike or with the officers. Any distance I measure over a 5k in downtown Orlando is done with police escort, even on weekends. I have completed most of my maps before I go out so that I only need to put the details into it after the measurement, and the officers and Race Directors all get a copy. I show them where the coning will go on a course and explain if I need to go against the traffic. They also know when I may be stopping to take notes for a key point.

I found that even with police escort, sometimes drivers don't care. Measuring a half marathon in Lakeland, Florida, a driver passed the officer, the two of us measuring, and the 3 course directors that were with us on bikes. The officer flagged the driver down and gave her a scolding. He would have given a ticket, but he didn't want to hold us up any longer than necessary. This happened at 7 am and we were getting close to being done.

My best experience with police escort was with one on a motorcycle. He could maneuver like us, and rush ahead to block off intersections. Also, his lights didn't blind us while we were trying to hold to SPR. His footprint was small, so if he was in front, I could still keep my eye on the tangents ahead.

I believe we've lost the interest of good measurers, because of the dangers out on the roads. I seldom look forward to the actual measurement, and I try to do as much prep work, to minimize my time out on the road.