I wouldn't be too sure abt that. I took a nasty fall (severe arm injury, among other issues) on a MUP right next to a well-traveled road in the morning during commute time, and no one stopped to see if I was OK (and I live in a fairly bike-friendly area!). I wasn't down for that long, but long enuf and sprawled out such that it should have been apparent I had done something serious.

Moral is: Don't depend on anyone else to help. Always have some kind of backup plan (See my "signature" below).

Cheers....

Incident detection - Garmin Edge
 

I have the Garmin Edge Explore (came out a year ago). It has incident detection. The Edge senses a "fall" and connects to my phone via bluetooth and calls a number I put in the Garmin and can give location od incident. I have not turned this feature on yet. Guess I am waiting until it;s too late. The Edge is not the only Garmin to do this, and I think other devices do this via your phone. Search garmin incident detection.

we had paramedics come to one of our club meetings, they made it clear that they are NOT going to be checking phones or calling services like RoadID. They said the most useful info for them is date of birth, any medical conditions, allergies, and medications. We had cards made up for members to fill in this info along with their names and emergency contact name and number. We printed one of the common medical logos on the other side so it would be hopefully be noticed by a first responder.

I figure that if I go down on one of the city/suburb/close rural roads, then someone will find me.
Nonetheless, one would want a system that was good enough to detect problems without false positives.
So the system should ignore:

• Stopping for a break.
• Flat Tires, broken spokes, broken chain, etc.
• Hill Climbs.
• Shopping
• Going for a walk.
• Piddle Stop.
• :foo:

I think some of the systems are now smart enough to use changes in HR as part of the heuristics.

My biggest concern would be going down on a mountain pass cross-over. Often steep, switchbacks, dropoffs, and I presume no cell service for any carrier.

If I went over the bank, I might be lucky if my bike was found a decade later, and connected back to the missing person.

Someone beat me to it but I was also going to mention the Specialized ANGI. I was reading about it and looks like it's exactly what you are looking for if you want a device on yourself or your bike. Also, someone mentioned the free RoadID app. It uses your phones gyro to detect falls. This is what I use and it works really well. It sends emails to the people you have in your contact list as well as the coordinates of where you are at. It also allows you to dismiss the alerts in the event of a false alarm. Probably not as good as the ANGI but it's free and works with iPhones and Andriods.

I'm a retired paramedic and I can confirm what the paramedics told you. They will not waste any time looking for your wallet, going through your jersey pockets or bike bags if you are in a serious crash and unconscious. However, if you have a card made out with the information you stated, it would also be nice to have something on your person that is easily seen and lets them know exactly where this information is at. If you are conscious, it doesn't matter if you have a card or anything else with that info as you can answer the questions yourself. I use a road ID and on the last line is where all my info is located. Mine is in my Notes app because at the time I started doing this, there was no Health app on the iPhones. So if I'm unresponsive, they only need to read my RoadID bracelet and grab my phone (which 99% of the time is unlocked).

John_V , our local EMS has been working to bring attention to the RoadID, I've had several ask me about mine recently, seems that the RoadID is becoming recognized by the professionals. I changed from the first generation web band type to a plate for my Apple Watch4, it goes on the band and is larger, and is more noticeable. I've been sing them since 2013, and my wife is much more comfortable knowing I have mine on, and I use the app and its fall/stopped recognition, along with the iPhone and Apple Watch4 fall recognition coupled with the cycling app I use.

Bill

I have it on my Edge 520. I learned what it did when I was bouncing my back wheel on the pavement trying to track down a rattle, and it activated. Freaked out my wife.

The caveat being, for any phone based reporting or information, that the phone must be undamaged, which might be unlikely in the event of a hard crash or auto collision. But it is much better than nothing at all :D I may look into a plastic card on a necklace with identity and health info - doesn't sound comfortable though.

I have been wearing a Medic-Alert bracelet since 1990, when I became the owner of a mechanical heart valve and had to start blood thinners for the rest of my life. It's not bad at all.

A good possibility.

Unfortunately, no system is fail safe. Some are better than others. Having worked on both sides (cyclist and first responder) I can say that anything you do that will provide them with the needed information, in the event that you are not able to, is good. However, for first responders to have that info, they need to know where it's at or it stays at the scene. The more visible this info is, the better. And it's true that the phone can break but something like a RoadID with ICE numbers on it is still better than nothing.

Since we're talking trauma here, paramedics aren't going to administer much in the way of medications while enroute since there's really not a lot of medication they can give, especially if you're unresponsive.. I'm more concerned with the hospital treatment. Since they have the staff to do so, the phone numbers will get called, provided they have them.

This is a little off the topic of incident detection devices, but my wife also is very concerned with my riding on public roadways. Her biggest fear is when I do charity rides and more so, my annual cross state ride. Just before my last cross state ride, she got me a Garmin radar. It doesn't have crash detection but it's another tool to make you more aware of your surroundings. I use it along with live tracking and the RoadID app, which has crash detection. Now she's more relaxed and not as worried as she was before. You may want to run that by her and see if that helps her be more at ease. It's a bit more expensive than an ANGI unit but it does let you know if a car(s) is behind you and shows the relative distance and approaching speed. And now that they are supported by Whaoo units, it's a win-win situation for me.

Has anyone here actually had an "incident" occur while riding that left them physically unable to use a cellphone and the incident detection device/app combination(s) sent out an alert that resulted in the first (or any) appropriate response from an emergency agency?

If not, do you know of any credible reports of the incident detection equipment under discussion actually resulting in the initial emergency response or aid to any "incident" incapacitated cyclists? Has any "incident alerted" spouse become the actual first responder or been the first to notify 911 personnel of an incapacitated cyclist?

Only second hand. A local cyclist was riding on the road when he was hit by a 24 year old female driving a pick up truck, and she did not stop. He was injured and unconscious. His wife was alerted via Garmin’s incident detection.

lol

No, My spouse was called but I was responsive. Now if I hadn't been wearing my helmet, the answer would have been yes :D Seriously though, a traffic incident will usually only notify your spouse of the incident - somebody would call 911. I use mine for the rides I do in the middle of nowhere where I am on a low traffic trail or very low traffic roads. often my rides are like this now I am not commuting.

As I expect is true for almost all bicyclists who expect their devices' incident notification feature to provide any first aid benefits to an incapacitated bicyclist.

A reading of the discussion on this thread indicates use of such devices may provide some comfort to anxious spouses when they don't receive any notifications of an incident.

The spouse warning feature also seems to provide some bicyclists justification for obtaining another item for the equipment/device/app collection, as well as the possibility for some of spouse acquiescence with their solo bicycle riding.

Plenty of incident reports are at Road ID, Apple, Garmin, and several of the app websites and reviews. I got mine because I had a crash that resulted in a concussion with no alert device on back then. The crash was out in an agricultural area, with few house or traffic. After about 45 minutes (I am going by last time known and what the driver, that found me standing and staring off, mumbling, told me the current time,) before someone came by and got me home. I balked at the ER, my mistake as I had some serious injuries that bit me in the ass later on.

If you don't like or want a device, app, Phone, GPS, etc, that is your choice. hope you never have the need for any of them, but some of us want to be prepared, and will not be refusing to try some new technology,

Who gives a **** what you think? Nobody, that's who.

Yeah! It's sort of like that life insurance policy that you have. Doesn't do you a damn bit of good when you die but gives you some piece of mind while you're living that there will be at least enough money to bury you with and that your spouse will have enough left to survive on for a while.

I agree that life insurance does provide financial protection, but doesn't do a bit of good for prolonging the life of the insured or providing the insured any type of life or health protection. Life insurance would probably not provide so much peace of mind if all it did was send a notification to the beneficiary that something may have happened to the insured, except when it doesn't.

IMO few would buy life insurance with the expectation that it would provide the insured any life saving or emergency response function in case of an incident; wishful thinking compounded by group think indicates that I may be wrong though.

I fell face down and became unconscious for 3.5 minutes while riding with a group about 16 months ago. Fortunately, one of the other riders was a podiatrist who immediately realized my airway was obstructed. He and two other people turned me over, which immediately opened my airway. I was not breathing for about 80 seconds. I know this because my Cyclic Fly 6 was pointing right at me when the bike was lying in the street. I timed the airway obstruction and unconscious state when I watched the footage later that day. I did not have the Garmin Incident Detection activated, but I do now.

My wife has been a bit nervous about my cycling since I started 6 years ago, and she's getting a bit more concerned recently. So I activated the Garmin incident detection feature, I bought the Aftershokz Aeropex wireless headphones (not in the ear) and I have even considered getting a dedicated GPS tracker that will pick up multiple GPS satellites that a normal cell phone will not. We also enjoy hiking in some remote locations and have been investigating a purchase of this last piece of equipment recently. The Aftershokz headphones will allow me to easily answer my phone if she ever wants to call me. It is not an earbud, so I can hear surrounding traffic or other riders. A dedicated GPS is more reliable than a cell phone GPS because it will pick up far more GPS satellites in places with no cell phone coverage. Some even have an emergency satellite button in case you are in a real remote location in a life threatening emergency. Unfortunately, you need to be conscious to hit the panic button for it to work.

There is currently no perfect emergency system, but this is what I'm going with right now. Frankly I don't care if someone thinks I want or like to purchase gadgets or if I have too many devices on my bike. If you don't like them, just look away; I'm not asking you to pedal my bike for me. I love cycling, and I love my wife. If I need to carry a couple of extra devices to keep her comfortable, so be it.

:thumb::thumb:

50+ and using Incident Detection
 

I have used this feature on the Garmin Edge 820 since 2016 after a crash which yielded 2 broken legs for me. Since using the 820 I had one episode and the detection worked exactly like it should. In that situation only my pride was injured and I was able to cancel the distress signal before it was sent! In addition to the 820 I also use the Road ID app but that app will not send for help until you're stationary for five minutes - which could make a HUGE difference in the outcome.

Yesterday, 4 of us were riding along a little over halfway into an 80-miler, when one of our group had their phone start blaring a siren like sound, at which time we all had to find a reasonable place to stop so the false alarm could be cancelled, before it sent a false alarm to someone else. Sorry, but I don't know what system it was.
That's the only experience I have with these incident detection setups.

Reactivating this thread to see if we can get it updated. Just started riding again and would like to know the latest on this subject. Technology changes fast - this thread is a year old at this point.

Mostly interested in incident detection and texts to a select group of people if there is a problem.

Not sure much has changed but the latest Garmins support that feature. If an incident is detected you have 30 Seconds to cancel, otherwise it will send an SMS message to whoever you setup in the emergency contacts list. Never had to use it but it's low-cost insurance that will hopefully never be needed.

My wife is happy with the beacon service included with my Lezyne Super Pro/App. She feels better checking up on me occasionally. While I've cycled freely since childhood, by the time my kids were old enough to notice my favorite hobby; I was careful about not being too encouraging. We did the occasional MUP or event ride, even some trails, but I've never invited to them to street ride. If they had organically expressed interest I wouldn't have tried to stop them, but drivers already so bad at that point I didn't feel comfortable proactively encouraging them to join me in street riding.

Here's my understanding. I live in the Apple ecosystem, and don't really know what's going on with Android.

• iPhones don't have incident detection built-in, but the Apple Watch does (disabled by default). I haven't tried turning it on. In theory, you could also enable Siri on the watch and make calls even if you couldn't reach your phone, as long as the phone is in range of the watch, and the watch is in range of your mouth, and you're conscious (or you can get an Apple Watch with cellular and dispense with the phone). Although incident detection could be implemented as a feature in a phone app, none of the major cycling apps have done so. They all do have tracker features, and the iPhone comes with the "Find my" app by default, which lets other people track you if you set them up in advance (my wife checks up on me during my long rides with Find My sometimes). For most of us, cellphones are good enough. When I'm following a route, my phone's GPS is accurate enough to tell if I'm on the wrong side of the road, and cellular coverage is has gotten pretty good, even out in the sticks, depending on what network you're on (I'm on Verizon specifically because they have good coverage in remote areas).
• Satellite trackers like the Spot and Garmin inReach do not have incident detection (AFAICT) but do let you send an SOS message from a remote location where there is no cellular coverage. These are expensive gadgets, and the service plans are also expensive. Your location can be tracked, and some of the fancier ones allow for two-way text communication.
• There's another kind of SOS gadget for use in the wilderness called a "personal locator beacon." These are one-use, "break glass in case of emergency" devices. They do not require any service plan. Also don't have incident detection. More on these and the difference between them and trackers here.