A few miles east of Robersonville, the Tour follows US 13 across this set of railroad tracks.  The tracks cross the road at an acute angle, and normally, bikers will slow down and turn so that they cross perpendicular to the tracks.  But the lead bikes on the tour were flying at 20+ mph, and had been for nearly 70 miles.  The tracks didn't register.  Well, not with the riders, anyway.  They registered just fine with the narrow tires of the bikes.

The tires slipped into the groove between the pavement and the tracks, and flipped the riders off onto the pavement.  One of them landed hard enough to break his arm.

Karl K4LNX had been trailing these bikes with his APRS tracker, and witnessed the accident.  He keyed the mic and said the magic word "Emergency."  The repeater went quiet.  Karl described the situation to Net Control. 

There was some question about the condition of the rider with the broken arm, and also some question about exactly where they were - Net Control did not have an APRS display.  Karl knew they were somewhere between Rest Stop 6 and 7, on a straight stretch of road with no turns to provide landmarks.  But when Net Control Eric KF4OTN called the county 911 center, they knew exactly where those tracks crossed the highway.  An ambulance arrived quickly. 

But that wasn't the end of the story.  Bill KG4CXY, who had arrived on the scene with his SAG, reported that more bikes fell at the tracks, even as the ambulance attendants were picking up the first rider.  SAG Coordinator Dick KD4ISC directed Greg KG4AWG to the scene, and Greg used his mobile PA system and green strobe lights to warn bikes to walk across the tracks.  Most bikes did, as in the picture above.  One bike tried to ride across v_e_r_y    s_l_o_w_l_y... and was rewarded by a trip to the pavement. 

Only one other rider was injured seriously enough to be checked out at the hospital, and she waited until after she finished the Saturday ride (she was OK - no broken bones).  Our communications helped get the situation under control quickly and kept it from getting worse.  There were a few other bumps and bruises elsewhere throughout the Tour, but this was to be the only serious accident.