Club Insurance - Overview
The Club purchases liability/accident insurance coverage for its members, ride leaders and Board members. The insurer requires that Club rides be supervised (by a ride leader). To be considered a Club ride the notice of the ride must either be included on the Club’s website ride schedule (such as the Club’s reoccurring Monday, Wednesday and Saturday rides) or through the Club’s Google Ride Group. Any ride that is posted on the Club’s Google Group is considered a Club ride. You may have noticed the following statement at the bottom of the Google Ride notice:
“This information is provided as a service to Siskiyou Velo’s members. All rides must include a designated ride leader and when so led are covered by the Club’s insurance. The person posting the ride is the ride leader supervising the ride unless another Club member is so designated. Non-members may participate in a single Club ride (after which they must join the Club to participate in subsequent rides) and will be required to sign a liability waiver prior to the start of the ride. Please email Dennis Cramer at scramer5804@charter.net for ride leader information.”
The Club’s liability/accident insurance (updated 2/1/2023) extends to Club member participants, first time guests, ride leaders, and Board members. A singularly important benefit of the insurance is that the insurer picks-up the cost of legal defense in the event that the Club, its members, ride leaders, or Board members are cited into court. Without the insurance each person named in the suit would have to hire their own attorney.
The Club’s insurance also includes a $10,000 “out-of-pocket” medical benefit. Basically, the Club’s insurance will pick-up the medical expenses for members who incur injury on a Club ride for those medical expenses that are not otherwise covered by the member’s own health insurance (less a $500 deductible).
The Club’s insurer, as noted above, extends to one-time guests the same accident coverage that members receive (see http://www.siskiyouvelo.org/club-insurance-overview/). If they wreck and are hospitalized, they’ll be able to recover up to $10,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses through the Club’s insurance. On the second and subsequent rides (if they were allowed to participate) the non-member isn’t covered. That means if they did wreck and suffer hospitalization (on a second, third, or subsequent ride) they might be more likely to try to recover some of their outlay by suing the Club, ride leader, or participating Club members.
The insurance works, in part, because all participants have agreed through signing the waiver (either through becoming a member or signing the one-time guest liability waiver) that they will not “SUE the Club , the LAB, its respective administrators, directors, agents, officers, members, volunteers, and employees, other participants, any sponsors, advertisers, and, if applicable, owners and lessors of premises on which the Activity takes place, (each considered one of the “RELEASEES” herein) FROM ALL LIABILITY, CLAIMS, DEMANDS, LOSSES, OR DAMAGES ON MY ACCOUNT CAUSED OR ALLEGED TO BE CAUSED IN WHOLE OR IN PART BY THE NEGLIGENCE OF THE “RELEASEES” OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING NEGLIGENT RESCUE OPERATIONS; AND I FURTHER AGREE that if, despite this RELEASE AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, AND INDEMNITY AGREEMENT I, or anyone on my behalf, makes a claim against any of the Releasees, I WILL INDEMNIFY, SAVE, AND HOLD HARMLESS EACH OF THE RELEASEES from a any litigation expenses, attorney fees, loss, liability, damage, or cost which any may incur as the result of such claim.”
You’ll need to download/print the following as a part of leading a Club ride:
1) Non-member waiver (allows a non-member to ride one time after which they must join the Club to continue to participate in Club rides
2) The Club insurer’s incident reporting form. An on-line fillable form is available at https://appsrv4.amerspec.com/dbweb/f?p=144:8:8763304443566::::P8_ACCOUNTID:1000076 . The incident reporting form includes the following reportable events:
(See http://www.amerspec.com/lab/brochure.pdf for more information about the Club’s insurance).
