Trail Safety

    While I was at Main Street Dover today,
    Ed was telling me about a girl who got her foot run over.


    Thankfully not by one of our Jeeps.


    It got me thinking about safety


    I thought I'd throw this topic out there to generate come discission on Trail safety.


    How can we make our trail rides more safe?

    Well from what I've seen "but i've only been on one trial ride" everybody is pretty responsible and careful, but that doesn't mean things still cant happen. I think for the most part it is the spotters and anybody takin pictures that just need to make sure the leave enough room between them and the jeeps so we can avoid accidents. Of course the drivers need to be on the lookout also... :peace:

    02 Tj hp Dana 30 4.88 ox locker, Dana 44 4.88 ox locker 3inch Teraflex coils and adjustable lower control arms 33 TSL Thornbirds and 4 chipmunks workin hard under the hood.
    Less brains MORE THROTTLE

    i'm pretty much okay with the way we handle our trail rides at the moment. all the guides are big about watching everyone for proper winch usage, seatbelts, and nobody ever uses a hilift like the horror pictures we see from time to time on the net.


    for my own piece of mind - i generally wear steel toe boots opposed to tennis shoes. better toe safety and the boots keep my ankles better wrapped for hopping around on rocks. counterweighting on someone's jeep is only as a last resort also - maybe we can get into using tony's spotter cord more frequently? other than that i'm pretty happy with the level of safety we practice. anyone else?
    chris

    I'd say be more careful about the stocker/modified distinction and pick the trails the stockers are taken on more carefully. The "modifieds" love the challenge and don't seem to mind breaking stuff. The stockers, on the other hand, don't want to break what is most likely their DD. We have been on trail rides when the Greens turned to Blues, then to Blue Twos or Threes without a chance to back out. It isn't BlueJ ripping out a fuel line that causes problems, it's Joe Newbie who rips a hole in his oil pan, or smashes a fender in because he didn't know the trail got harder a few hundred yards back, and it is too late, or impossible to turn around. I've personally seen people walk past me shaking their heads and saying "I didn't know it would be this rocky" or something similar. If any of you were at GWNF, there was a great sense of "fun" because even the new people were assured it wouldn't ramp up in difficulty.


    I'm not suggesting stockers be taken on the Coal Road only (at Paragon for example), just that maybe at the staging area (or even at the meeting before the ride), talk through each trail we intend on taking, and what to expect. That way if there is someone not so comfortable with a more difficult section, they can wait, go ahead to another spot, or at least have a choice.


    DrJ

    I would like to see only one spotter per jeep incident... on the 2 trail rides I have been on I have seen several situations were I felt it was only a matter of time before someone gets hurt. heck another member even said something to me about it....


    Ie we had a spotter up front telling the driver to bring it forward and someone else was in the back tring to put a rock under under a tire... when the guy took off it could have been real bad if he had been a little closer or a rock would have been spit up... or another time a guy was stuck and the spotter up front was bent down doing something up front and a guy in the back told the guy to back up ... had the front spotter been leaning on the jeep he would have landed on his face.....


    I think we really need to start practicing the only 1 spotter at a time rule and if you have a suggestion you tell the spotter not the driver....


    Also we need to start making sure we can see the person behind us in our rear veiw mirror and to give the person in front of us ample room incase he has to back up or rolls back down the hilll......

    I agree 100% with Steve :up:


    On the last Paragon ride I went on, I was comfortable through most of the day. We somehow got ourselves on a trail where there were rocks which forced us to lean towards a tree VERY hard...I was NOT happy. :sad:

    I would have to agree with Tony! I've seen incidents like those he spoke of also. I usually try to listen to just one guy but sometimes you have two or three people trying to help and it can turn bad quickly if the drivers not paying total attention. Other than that I think Dr J has a good point also. I know I've been on a couple of trails that, had I known what was ahead, I might have taken a different route. Having said that though usually the guys are good about making sure you can do it and not break anything. Overall I have a blast when I go and have never come home dissapointed. :spinrhead: :peace:

    Former V.P. (2006-2007)
    V.P. of Jeeps for Joy (2004-2010)
    President of Jeeps for Joy (2010-2012)
    Beater Build Winning Driver (2009)

    Quote from "Icky"

    I agree 100% with Steve :up:



    I also agree and had hoped to be a trail guide this summer so that i could run a few of the stocker runs so the other trail guides could have a break and run the harder stuff unfortanily uncle same has changed my summer plans and i wont be on any trail rides after the gwnf ride until october. so maybe next year I can start runnign some of the trail rides..... we will just have to see what the next job has instore for me as far as time off.....

    Not that I'm the most experienced offroader but...


    I've always just focused on one spotter and one spotter only...It doesn't matter what anyone else is telling me at that point, because I won't listen.

    Thanks for putting this out there, Joe, and these have been great observations and suggestions.


    I would like to take this opportunity to bring back up my desire to have more "DeJA official trail guides" who know and understand these principles.


    One of the reasons we've taken stock/newbies on higher level trails is that we don't have enough "responsible" leaders to break into more, smaller, level-appropriate groups. I'm not implying that anyone on our rides is acting irresponsibly... just that the trail leader needs to be more aware of the level of the people in the group and the leader needs to be able to say "no" to others in the group who want to ramp things up. With more leaders we can have more groups.


    Sooo, let's try to pick up this Trail Leaders in Training program again this year. Please see my post about what it will take to be a responsible DeJA trail leader.


    Keep the comments coming...

    Quote from "Icky"

    Not that I'm the most experienced offroader but...


    I've always just focused on one spotter and one spotter only...




    Anyone got any bets on WHO that is she listens too?




    DrJ :shrug:



    why dont we look at our current trail guide's abilities and get them where they need to be before we start throwing others in over thier head.

    I'd bet that if the stocker trail leader HAD to have tires smaller than 32", this problem would probably go away. The trick is that, like Brian, there have been times I might have backed off. But I (we) didn't, and we're better for the experience. It is a fine line to walk, but I have seen those looks from new people more than once. I also think CBs ought to be mandatory by each vehicle, so everyone can talk to everyone else. They are cheap enough to require them (I think).



    ...and no, I'm NOT volunteering. Maybe someday when I know the trails better.


    DrJ

    I took a shot at trail leading and I didnt get any real complaints from my group. However i knew who i was guiding. On the other hand....Since the maps a Paragon suck, even the most experienced trail leader can end up down a trail thats a little out of the groups leauge. Not to mention the conditions change making trails harder some days than others...As witnessed this past weekend. When we started heading down a green tail that was all washed out and had lots of fallen trees, Ian quickly got on the radio and upgraded the trail to Black 1. After a slip and slide event and near roll, i upgraded it to a black 3. Definately not the trail leaders fault, Give them some slack. I will take another shot at it but id like to learn the trails a little more. Perhaps ride ride along with the stockers or mods sometime.
    Ed

    2000 Sahara, All custom...
    2000 Cherokee Police package, Beater....


    I may be slowest and the stupidest

    Edited once, last by ().

    Quote from "Da Mutt"

    what is expected of a trail leader...... what do we expect from them...


    I think most important is patience especially w/ the stockers. Not only is there jeep stock, but for the most part, so are the drivers.


    that alone eliminates me :spinrhead:


    Artie

    there is no doubt that the trails change and we cant fix all of it but there are a few things that we can help to change..... spotters and the following thing is one for sure....



    I would also like to see the caravans up run at a little better speed I dont mind running 10 over the spped limit but 15 is a little much and no one should have to get a speeding ticket so that they dont get seperated from the group. oh and my truck is all stock so the speedo should be right

    Quote from "DrJ"

    I'd bet that if the stocker trail leader HAD to have tires smaller than 32", this problem would probably go away.


    Unless he/she drives like Ian on 31's . :laughing: I think our trail leaders are awesome and if we get a few more I think we should run a minimum of 3 groups if we have 15-20 jeeps. I have been on runs where I really didn't have a group that fit me - Not locked, but not stock.


    Jason (soon to be locked - then everyone for themselves :suspicious: j/k)

    this summer i would like to try leading the stockers, i know that i am not the most experinced but i am not ready to take on the harder stuff (yet :yevil: ) but i thnk it might be fun.

    bLaTaNt DiSrEgArD<br /><br /><br />TJ 98 4 banger gone but not fogotten<br />WJ 02 limited- Do all vehicle &quot;QUICK THROW A LOCKER AT IT!!!&quot;

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