The more alarming part in all of this for me too is the fact that we know the orange Cabrio is not a newbie. I suspect a high percentage of the others crossing the lines arent newbies either. A false sense of familiarity, bravado, entitlement or whatever seems to be an issue here. If a little extra fuss now helps someone think a bit next time so they wont be the focus of this sort of a discussion after MOTD 10 (and so they wont be the first fatality at MOTD), its worth it. I am also pro messaging at the event next year. Signage, stickers, whatever...all sounds good to me. I think MINIBee also raises an excellent point in that it isnt how fast you run the Dragon but how well. I would consider staying within the mustard and the mayo at 25 mph a success but crossing a line just once at 50 mph a failure. There are loads of creative people here, there has to be some fun campaign to be made. Maybe Single, Double, Triple, Big Mac stickers for 1,2,3 and 4 between the double yellow and white runs. Ok, that's stupid but there has to be something out there. And, yeah, I realize there is no way to make that sort of a campaign verifiable, the goal would be keeping it in peoples consciousnesses. Not something they see once at the beginning of MOTD, but that we are forced to think about throughout MOTD.
I can't claim that I'm perfect... I've tried to push too far on the Dragon in the past and I've settled myself down considerably. I used to cross the line if I could see clearly through the corners, but this year I decided to leave my speed and 'clipping the apex' for the track. I took my MINI and trailer off of the road to save a motorcyclist this year on the Hellbender. I got lucky that the shoulder was forgiving. The cyclist came around a blind corner and took way too agressive a line into my lane. If I hadn't bailed, he would have been splattered... and I didn't even get a wave from him! If I can keep this on my side of the double-yellow, can it be that hard to keep just a MINI on the correct side?
1. Do a 3-5 minute safety speech on every run...including...if you see anybody crossing the double line...get on the radio and let that person know... "Please stay between the lines, just trying to keep you and me safe." 2. Campaign slogan and post it on every visible location; vendor tents, access doors, registrations, etc... Please don't cross the lines...You and me will be fine... (example)
That's a very good way to get the word out. My thought was that these problems did not happen on an organised run, but I could be mistaken. Like Nathan says this will be buried in the site before the next MOTD happens. We need to make sure & bring this up again before so it is fresh in everyones minds when they head down there.
Your mission Mr Crashton, should you decide to accept it, is to see that this gets "bumped" next April. Jim
My brain's a little foggy, and I'm just starting my first cup of coffee this morning :arf: 2 ideas come to mind: 1. Have a few people stick 'safety flyers' on each MINI's windshield, the official day of MOTD. You won't catch everybody though. And, some folks will just throw them on the ground. 2. Put something in the welcome pack or goodie bag. A small, brightly colored card, that says something simple on one side like "Think Safety" and on the back list out some of the items discussed on this thread: - Don't cross the yellow lines - Stay in your lane - Don't tailgate - Etc Also on the card, say something like "keep this card on your dashboard at all times" This will allow us all to self-police. I'd be willing to carry extra cards with me, and hand them out to folks who aren't displaying them. Thoughts / comments are welcome.
I'm just scanning this thread out of curiosity and not reading each post in detail. Probably won't ever join in with MOTD. Nathan has a way of seeing things clearly down to the core of the issue. This idea may have already been broached but I'll throw it out anyway and you can judge my credability after you've 'scanned it'. Why not have a very succinct list of these safety rules as part of the registration process that must be acknowledged and agreed to before management accepts a driver's registration? It would be a part of each registration so that a driver can't later say they didn't know. It would make asking someone to leave a lot easier too. Attendance at rookie safety meetings can be monitored as well maybe including a check off on the registration form they have to bring with them. It would be a pain in the butt, but maybe a temporary window sticker to proudly display completion of the safety seminar. Also, these MINIs are as individual as hair cuts. Pictures of offenders should be used as instruction on what not to do rather than 'look at what this moron did', don't you think? People will see, recognize and get the point.
I think this thread has brought up some good points and served it's purpose. I will be creating several large "safety reminder" banners to display at the Fontana exits onto NC28 and in the village itself. I will also include a "safety reminder" handout in the registration bags. We will most likely have a large poster board of photo's showing how not to drive the dragon in the registration room. Add to that the overall hightened awarness of our community on this subject, I hope we will be able to eliminate the bad traits exhibited by a small percentage of our group this year.
How about having one of the vendors design a full car graphic that is installed on a MINI and displayed at the 10th anniversary vendor area, maybe on the corner of the hill above the baseball fields. Put a collection box in the display area to help offset the cost of the graphics. A 10th anniversary/safety reminder graphics theme. It could double as a 10th anniversary photo spot.
I would put a decal with some Safe saying on the back of my boot window!! That way people driving behind me will be reminded!! some clever saying?? "stay between the Mustard and Mayo
This thread just won't die... Now that we have the incidents and have expressed our dismay lets move on to the how do we fix it thread... Ideas should be placed HERE please.
Chasing the Dragon Hillclimb Located on a dead-end road in the Joyce Kilmer National forest. Can't make any promises, but typically folks get at *least* 4 runs per day at these events. More than 10 over two days is not unheard of. First event here, maybe more entries, plus a longer course (closer to 2.4 miles-I spent the day there yesterday) may hold the number of runs down. Course is fast, surface is a bit abrasive but a long-time hillclimb veteran pronounced it "nice and grippy". Full info on the region website.