Essarex
New member
I was surprised to see how many people are against hand signals on the trail.
It almost looks like it is a even split 50/50, although when out on the trail you would swear that everybody believes in them.
I'm glad this issued got raised, as I believe it is important to set and honor conventions.
My personal opinion is that hand signals are worse than useless, they have the potential to cause harm. Not only do they cause one handed driving (although this is not earth shattering) but they also communicate false information. Time and after time riders are giving the closed fist signal only to have sleds right behind them or around the very next corner.
I have read the points for the use of signals, but don't understand how any reasonable person can accept using a signal that can mislead and cause ambiguity and potential hazard.
It almost looks like it is a even split 50/50, although when out on the trail you would swear that everybody believes in them.
I'm glad this issued got raised, as I believe it is important to set and honor conventions.
My personal opinion is that hand signals are worse than useless, they have the potential to cause harm. Not only do they cause one handed driving (although this is not earth shattering) but they also communicate false information. Time and after time riders are giving the closed fist signal only to have sleds right behind them or around the very next corner.
I have read the points for the use of signals, but don't understand how any reasonable person can accept using a signal that can mislead and cause ambiguity and potential hazard.
pipdviper
Member
I know a comment was stated about starting a POLL. Can you still add one to your thread? I think this is going to get VERY interesting !!
We've used hand signals for years to communicate to each other within our group, or more specifically, to the group's following riders from the lead dog. Agreed that oncoming signalling has become pretty common but it has never been a big negative for me. It would be foolish to rely on a hand signal indicating the last sled in a group and I never saw it as an "all clear" sign to ignore the ever present danger of out of control oncoming sleds.
If I'm bringing up the rear I will signal a closed fist if I'm able and at the rate we ride, I've never been surprised at a stop by another group of following sleds. Plus I have a convex mirror that I check regularly for following sleds or to make sure someone following from our group made the last turn.
I see it more in the lower than the upper but there are more novice sleds (when the snow is good) in the lower than the upper.
If I'm bringing up the rear I will signal a closed fist if I'm able and at the rate we ride, I've never been surprised at a stop by another group of following sleds. Plus I have a convex mirror that I check regularly for following sleds or to make sure someone following from our group made the last turn.
I see it more in the lower than the upper but there are more novice sleds (when the snow is good) in the lower than the upper.
I am all for hand signals! The problem with hand signals is they are not used correctly on the trail. I do not like the craze of people saying how many sleds are in the group following by the number of fingers they hold up because you can give false signals if wearing mittens. People are flat out not using the signals correctly which I believe is causing the problem. There is certainly cases in which you need to keep your hand on the brake instead of signaling, but that should be determined with common sense and accurately estimating your own abilities.
When I go trail riding, I am generally leading the pack. That pack generally consists of my family so I am pretty protective of their safety. I will always do everything I can to avoid the situation where I have to deal with them getting hurt or having them see me hurt.
Here is a link the proper hand signals that should be used.
http://www.altasnowmobile.ab.ca/safety/handsignals.php
When I go trail riding, I am generally leading the pack. That pack generally consists of my family so I am pretty protective of their safety. I will always do everything I can to avoid the situation where I have to deal with them getting hurt or having them see me hurt.
Here is a link the proper hand signals that should be used.
http://www.altasnowmobile.ab.ca/safety/handsignals.php
I don't think anyone of us are against the proper hand signals to warn of oncoming sleds to our group. Its when you see an oncoming group coming and everyone of them has there hand in the air with the corisponding fingers up,when you can see how many there are.(Hell, I can count). Its a very unnecessary practice and its very unsafe.I am all for letting my group know there are oncoming sleds , but i dont care to know what place each individual is in of the oncoming group. I have had people lean off there sleds with there fingers in the air motioning to me what number they are in line, then crash after they lost control when they hit that chop in the trail. When I stopped to help them out ,they try to blame me for it because i did not tell them what place i was in line.... So Ya ,let everyone in your group know that sleds are coming but let the group thats coming handle there own riding! KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE BARS!!!