Hi all,
Here’s the second post in our ‘Safety’ series of club values. Today we look at Commissaires and what there are there to do at our races.
Our commissaires are there to keep you safe, manage risks, and deal with problems and incidents.
Our comms check the course to identify problems that might pose a risk to you. They brief you at race start on things you need to be aware of. They are active on the course keeping an eye on traffic that might impact on riders and warn you of approaching vehicles. If there is an accident, they manage the situation to keep injured riders safe and to get needed help.
Commissaires are not there to be race police. Sure, if they see a rider breach a racing rule they will take down a number if they can but remember, commissaires:
• Volunteer their time and deserve our respect. No one wants to get out of bed in the morning and give up their time to drive around a course doing the distasteful job of imposing penalties on riders for bad behaviour.
• Must drive safely and not be distracted. They cannot sit in the car writing notes or listing rider numbers without risking their own safety and the safety of others on the road, including you.
• Cannot just ‘pass the bunch and pull them all over if they are behaving badly’. Safe passing distance road rules need to be met (more on this in a later post) and commissaires cannot put themselves in danger of colliding with oncoming traffic.
Race safely and we all win 🙂