The National Park Services decided to suspend commercially-guided downhill bicycle tours in the Haleakala National Park. There were several accidents including three deaths within a year. On September 26th this year, a 65-year-old woman identified as Roberta Blake from Amherst, OH, was struck by an up-bound ban van when she lost control. The suspension starts from October 10th for minimum of 60 days. During the suspension, the park services will make an assessment of the current situation and determine whether or not guided downhills bicycle tours can operate more safely in the future.

I wonder why they don’t enforce the age limit to their riders. Downhill biking could be pretty challenging and dangerous. Here is one company’s warning about the eligible riders. “Competent riders only. No beginners, pregnant women, blind persons, persons with heart conditions. Riders must be 4′10″ and the minimum age is 14 years. Dress in layers and wear close toed shoes with rubber soles.” The minimum age is set at 14 years but there is no maxium age limit. I am not sure if most 65-year-old women will be able to handle a fast-paced downhill biking… On a side note, the park service reported one fatality and 105 incidents involving downhill bicycle companies last year, up from 89 in 2005. 105 incidents! Why didn’t take any actions back then? For your information, the numbers of incidents, including those that rangers responded to and those reported by companies, were 107 in 2004, 76 in 2003 and 150 in 2002. Based on this information, I am not sure if they should let anyone over 14 years of age go on the tour…

The bike tour companies certainly need more strict safety guidelines and educate the guides better. One incident is one too many not to mention fatality.

By the way, I hope they check the brakes on those bikes regularly…