(By Gonzalo “Gonzo” San Miguel, SCCA® RallyCross® Board (RXB) Chair)
Hello fellow RallyCrossers – this month I want to talk about safety. I know it’s not a sexy subject, but it keeps everyone unharmed during events.
Let’s begin with working on the course. During our recent RallyCross Board discussions regarding safety vests, I was surprised to discover that some SCCA Regions do not require vests. Utah Region has always had them for both autocross and RallyCross, and I believe every Region I have travelled to has also had them, so it never dawned on me that Regions didn’t use them.
While there isn’t a rule requiring them (yet), high-visibility vests are very affordable these days and there really isn’t a reason not to have them for your Region. While they don’t 100% protect a course worker from oncoming vehicles, they certainly make you more visible than not wearing one.
Another type of course worker that should be discussed is the photographer. While obviously not working to pick up cones, the photographer is generally on course during competition. I’m sure others have witnessed at some point where a photographer goes to a corner and expects the corner workers to be their spotter to protect them. Any Safety Steward (and course worker for that matter) should be vigilant and make sure that the photographer has their own dedicated spotter – if they don’t have a spotter, they can’t be on the course. You shouldn’t feel bad for telling somebody they can’t be on course when you know they shouldn’t be there. If there are any issues, the Safety Steward should be there to back you up.
Next, with the addition of UTVs in our sport, many of these drivers may require arm restraints that starters and course workers may not be used to looking for. Besides UTVs, modified and constructor vehicles may also need them. Typically, arm restraints are designed to work in conjunction with a four- or five-point harness to keep the arms inside the plane of the roll cage/body line. For anybody who starts using arm restraints, don’t assume you know how or that it’s obvious the way the restraints are worn. Read and understand how the straps should be worn. There is a rule in the national supps that requires a visual marker on the outside of the vehicle to let everybody know that the driver is using arm restraints – this way they won’t be stopped inadvertently during their run if the window is down and/or no window net is used.
Finally, while not really safety related, we have talked in the past about writing up incident reports for minor things such as trips or falls during an event. Honestly, that’s not something I would have considered writing up in the past, but during the RXB’s discussions, it’s become obvious that it’s good to document anything that happens during the event. There’s no downside to writing up a minor incident report – in fact, it shows that we’re looking out for our members and trying to keep them safe.
I’m sure there are many other safety topics I could cover, but I’ll save that for another day.
Thanks to all the Safety Stewards out there – and remember, your Region can more than likely use a few more, so go online and become a Safety Steward! Be safe!
Photo by Langlee King Clark
