Carrying identification /ICE cards

[MikeFromLFE]

What do the assembled masses here carry as a form of identification - if anything?
I'm aware that the concept of ICE (in case of emergency) has taken off in recent years as a phone contact. Looking round the internet there's a variety of mid-tech solutions including cards with 3d bar codes and NFC key fobs or stickers linked to custom websites. These seem to be too complex for the sort of situation where I can't communicate my details.
Low tech carrying a card is reliant on my remembering to take the thing with me.

Currently I've got a dog tag pointing to a website attached to each of my bike keys, but it's less than ideal as out may not be found when (if) needed.

What thoughts?

[Kim]

I carry a wallet^[1], with a driving licence in an obvious transparent pocket with a piece of paper folded round it with "IN EMERGENCY" written in large friendly letters on the fold.  The paper contains useful contact and medical information should, in order of likeliness:

a) My phone b0rks and I need to know barakta's number
b) I'm involved in / witness to an accident, I have a simple piece of paper I can hand to an interested party with contact details on
c) Someone wants to re-unite me with my lost wallet
d) A medic really needs to know my blood group, that I'm allergic to cephalexin or that I understand BSL, but is unable to ask
e) I need to be identified if I'm dead/unconscious/amnesiac

I see no need for special products.


_{[1] Also containing MONEY, which is likely to be useful for procuring things that would be useful in minor emergencies such as CAKE, tissues, bike parts, battery-powered angle grinders or alternative transportation.}

[ElyDave]

Silicon wristband with etched metal tag

My name
Wife's name
two emergency phone numbers
Information that I am Type 1 diabetic
Blood Group

I had thought about getting one before my diagnosis, but it became slightly more useful 4 years ago.

I also carry phone, drivers license, spare credit card and some cash in a plastic bag (along with bog roll and spare cleat bolt) to cover the most important emergencies

[Kim]

I had thought about getting one before my diagnosis, but it became slightly more useful 4 years ago.

Yeah, that's a different kettle of fish entirely.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I carry a wallet^[1], with a driving licence in an obvious transparent pocket with a piece of paper folded round it with "IN EMERGENCY" written in large friendly letters on the fold.  The paper contains useful contact and medical information should, in order of likeliness:

a) My phone b0rks and I need to know barakta's number
b) I'm involved in / witness to an accident, I have a simple piece of paper I can hand to an interested party with contact details on
c) Someone wants to re-unite me with my lost wallet
d) A medic really needs to know my blood group, that I'm allergic to cephalexin or that I understand BSL, but is unable to ask
e) I need to be identified if I'm dead/unconscious/amnesiac

I see no need for special products.


_{[1] Also containing MONEY, which is likely to be useful for procuring things that would be useful in minor emergencies such as CAKE, tissues, bike parts, battery-powered angle grinders or alternative transportation.}

One night last summer, in the darkness of the A38, I was hailed by a cyclist who'd found that Cardiff to Gloucester was a lot further than he'd reckoned on. He wasn't exactly taking the most direct route... He was on his way to stay with his sister and his phone was dead, so I offered to call her on my phone. But of course he didn't know her number and couldn't access it due to the dead phone. So having a slip of paper or card with one central contact phone number, for someone who can rescue you, tell you how to get home, visit you in hospital, identify you in the morgue, bail you out of jail or contact other people who can do these things, could actually be a pretty good idea in a variety of situation.

[Andrij]

I used to wear a SOS Talisman.  Only stopped because I lost it and haven't got around to buying a replacement.

[phantasmagoriana]

I made a laminated card with emergency contact details, GP's details and my personal details, and keep it in my phone wallet. I should probably put my blood group on there, too, but I have no idea what it is!

[MikeFromLFE]

No emergency service in the UK is going to use a blood group on a card (etc) carried by an individual - it will always have to be confirmed by laboratory testing.

Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk

[Ham]

Not perfect, for obvious reasons, but I avail myself of the facility in latest Android to set a different lockscreen which is a jpg of my contact info.

[ElyDave]

No emergency service in the UK is going to use a blood group on a card (etc) carried by an individual - it will always have to be confirmed by laboratory testing.

Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk

Mine was also in case of being involved in a major accident at work, offshore, onshore middle of nowhere etc.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Do we have any anecdotes/experiences of occasions when forumites have actually been helped by having some kind of medical ID, ICE or simply everyday ID on them in the event of a cycling-related incident?

[ElyDave]

Not specifically, but I do have evidence that T1Ds in the middle of a serious hypo have been taken as drunk

[MikeFromLFE]

Do we have any anecdotes/experiences of occasions when forumites have actually been helped by having some kind of medical ID, ICE or simply everyday ID on them in the event of a cycling-related incident?

It's a good question. Part of my reason for asking in the first place was a vague feeling this might be a way of selling more stuff.


Tapatalk puts this signature here, not me!

[Redlight]

I always carry my photo driving licence in my back pocket so I can at least be identified. I don't have any medical conditions that would need to flagged up, so I've never felt the need for anything else.  I've never been to sure about having something with a 'phone number on. If something were to happen, I would rather my wife be phoned by someone trained in delivering that kind of news than by a random passer-by.

[T42]

French law doesn't absolutely require you to carry ID, but if the police stop you and you haven't got it you have to present it at the cop-shop they belong to within 24 hours.  Somewhat inconvenient if you're stopped in Limoges when riding from Strasbourg to Hendaye.  As a result I never leave home without passport & wallet containing my social security card.  I also have a RoadId bracelet bearing a tag with details of emergency contacts and medical conditions/treatments.

[fimm]

I have my name and address on a sticker inside my h*lm*t. If I'm not wearing it, then I'm in transport cycling mode and usually have a handbag full of stuff with me.
I like the idea of having a hard copy of important phone numbers, though. Will give that some thought.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I always carry my photo driving licence in my back pocket so I can at least be identified. I don't have any medical conditions that would need to flagged up, so I've never felt the need for anything else.  I've never been to sure about having something with a 'phone number on. If something were to happen, I would rather my wife be phoned by someone trained in delivering that kind of news than by a random passer-by.

Good point, but they'll still need to find out who to call. Which I'm sure they will do, as long as they know who you are.

[Kim]

Surely "something" is more likely to mean you're 'taken to $foo hospital', 'on a spine board on a trolley in a corridor with a smashed phone waiting for radiology', 'in surgery' or 'waiting for the drugs to wear off' as dead thobut.  I'd rather someone with clue who could help me were contacted as soon as possible in that circumstances, rather than worrying about the nicey-nicey.

[L CC]

I've never seen the point, for me.
The 'risk' is vanishingly small. In the exceedingly unlikely event it was needed, I'd probably have my wallet & phone (which isn't PIN locked). If not, I'd be identified in seconds by social media- not least because someone always knows, pretty much, where I am.
And I do still know some phone numbers off by heart.

[Cudzoziemiec]

About a year ago, a fairly well known local cyclist died on an audax here. He was known to have a dodgy heart. Both the bloke who found him, who knew him, and the ambulance crew tried to retrieve some sort of contact data from his phone but it was locked. After he'd been confirmed dead, there was some discussion in the club about who to contact; he lived alone and had no local relatives, and it was only through people knowing him and remembering things that his partner (who lived elsewhere) and sister in East Anglia were able to be contacted. In other words, this seems to be have been done by friends around rather than through any official channels.

[Kim]

And I do still know some phone numbers off by heart.

As do I, but with the exception of my own mobile and the Sipgate DID we use as a 'landline' none of them are actually useful.  Well, I suppose the Northwick Park switchboard number still works if you add the appropriate digits, but I think everyone else has moved house or died since the days when we had to regularly dial telephone numbers.

I seem to know the last three digits of various people's phone numbers, but that's not enough to call them.

[LeFlic]

Do we have any anecdotes/experiences of occasions when forumites have actually been helped by having some kind of medical ID, ICE or simply everyday ID on them in the event of a cycling-related incident?

I was run over as I cycled to work in late 2013. I was taken to hospital and then moved to another hospital for intensive care before I was identified.
I had my work ID with me (a Police warrant card) but it was in a bag on the bike and not on my person. The bike had been left in situ pending the Police investigation as they expected me to die.
An appeal went out asking if anyone was missing a cyclist!

I think the lesson I learnt was to have ID on my person and not on the bike.

[Kim]

I think the lesson I learnt was to have ID on my person and not on the bike.

Now that's an interesting point.

I don't tend to carry things in pockets while cycling, because it's sweaty and uncomfortable and I have perfectly good luggage attached to the bike which is neither.

I also note that at an incident where a fellow cyclist was bundled into the back of an ambulance, I was the one who thought to detach the saddlebag from their bike (which another of the group made arrangements for) and give it to someone who was riding with them, for this sort of reason.

So I suppose we can assume that people won't treat someone's bike luggage in the way they might, say, a handbag.

Not sure what a good work-around for that might be.  Some sort of necklace or wristband I suppose, at which point special products begin to make sense 

[Jakob W]

I keep meaning to get some dog tags made up with my name, DOB, and my OH's phone number; I reckon that should be unobtrusive enough to go round my neck or in a jersey pocket.

[Morat]

I keep meaning to get some dog tags made up with my name, DOB, and my OH's phone number; I reckon that should be unobtrusive enough to go round my neck or in a jersey pocket.

Hmm, maybe I should borrow my dog's tags