Take this for what it's worth.

I'm writing this to give everyone some advice on how to possibly save someone's life or at least get emergency services to them a little faster. This is one of the many things you should do to prepare yourself for an accident. I hope none of you is ever involved in an accidentbut you may come upon someone else's accident and need it this info.

I work in emergency services. It would probably surprise many of you how difficult it sometimes is to find an accident scene. Just yesterday we were called to respond to a scene that was only a few miles from our base. We were given the location by an experienced fire fighter who knows the area very well but there was a miscommunication and it delayed our arrival on the scene by about five minutes. I have countless stories of getting called to an area but nobody, including the reporting party, knows exacly where the patient is. If you are on an interstate or freeway it is usually pretty easy to describe your location but we all know the best roads for riding are the roads less traveled out in the middle of nowhere.

Do yourself, and emergency services, a favor and buy a GPS. Not everyone needs or wants a $700 Garmin. You can spend less than $100 tobuy a basic GPSthat will show you where you are. I know some of you think technology on a motorcycle is bad but if you are inclined to ride in the boonies you should at least have a GPS you can use to find out where you are. If you have a GPS, know how to use it. Ensure you know how to initialize it and determine its accuracy. Some GPSs take a couple of minutes to receive data from the satellites and will not be accurate until it has locked onto at least three or four satellites. Most GPSs nowadays can lock onto as many as 12 satellites.

Another important point is to ensure your GPS is setup to read your location in the appropriate format. A couple of days ago someone had an off-road accident and gave us a coordinate that we couldn't use because it was in a format we couldn't understand. There are several formats used to determine a location. You should check with your local fire department to determine which one they use. In our area we use degrees, minutes, and hundredths of minutes. Don't confuse this with degrees, minutes, and seconds. Degrees, minutes, and seconds will get you fairly close but it is not the same. Some GPSs will default to degrees, minutes, and thousandths of minutes and will look like this -hdddOmm.mmm. This is close enough. If we are given a coordinate like this we will cut off the last digit - or the last "m" in the example. Here is an example of a location coordinate in degrees, minutes, and hundredths of minutes - N35(degree symbol) 42.35' W118(degree symbol)12.35' . Your owners manual may not be clear on the different format options but you should be able to figure it out if you play with it enough.

I am not an expert but have used GPS since the early 90s for a variety of reasons. I have a nice one on my bike and have taught my wife the basics in case I am unconcious or otherwise altered. I hope this helps someone out.

 

what ever happened to paper maps, Hwy numbers and mile post markers... ???

 

the points of interest (POI) on the GPS typically have food, gas and first aid also. If you have a minor injury, you can easily find the nearest first aid, and get there quickly to get checked out. when you ride in a unfamilar area, the POI really come inhandy.

thats good advice about learning the coord system, I didn't know they were different myself.

I also carry a decent first aid kit in my bike (andcages too) to handle minor problems. Like stepping on glass while swimming, getting burns, etc.

If Harley made a Chrome GPS, I bet you'dsee it on all the bikes!

 

I'd get a GPS but I'd probably lose it.





























seriously, great post. Thanks.

 

I'm not only a Biker, but a Pilot and Soldier. I love GPS! Can use them for everything from finding the Biker/Boobie Bar to Call For Fire (Maybe even on the same night!)

 

You bring up an interesting point and a good idea. I just so happened to have purchased a Garmin handheld GPSMap 60 unit. My wife and I are trying something new to us (but not to many others) called Geocaching. Its a high tech version of treasure hunting so to speak. Anyway I have been wrestling with the unit for almost a week now and I haven't been able to understand any of it. I am about to throw it against the wall from shear frustration. I wonder whether or not it was worth buying.

 

[sm=interesting.gif]

 

THe GPSMAP 60 is a great unit, hang in there and learn the machine. I used that unit in Iraq and it works great especially with an external antenna if you are in an enclosed vehicle. Read thru the instructions and get to learn the Software that came with the unit.

 

I often carry my Rhino 530 on the longer rides, caant justify the Zumo yet. Also carrry first aid kit and cell phone.

 

You have a great point but...

My stator went out on me last year and I needed a tow. I called a local towing company and told them I was on Interstate XX, westbound, 1 mile east of highway XX. They asked me what mile marker I was near. I don't keep track of each mile marker I pass and told them I didn't know. After a few minutes of screwing around they finally got an idea of where I was at. Does anyone want to spend a few minutes screwing around with there friend or wife lying unconscious in a ditch? All I'm saying is GPS is another (great) tool to help someone locate you.

A couple of other points.

I also carry a good first aid kit, keep everything in it up to date, and know how to use the items in it.

Most people probably carry a cell phone with them but don't rely on it to get you out of a bind. I ride in a lot of areas in the desert without any coverage. A lot of cell phones also have the ability to locate the caller using GPS coordinates. The problem is there are still a lot of 911 systems that don't have the technology to read/receive the coordinates that the cell phone is transmitting.