Canadian Rider Safety Fund looking to fill more “Bottle Bags”

Photo: Colin Fraser

After initial success with pilot programs at the Shubenacadie and Shannonville tracks, the Canadian Rider Safety Fund is looking to bring the Bottle Bag safety program to more roadracing facilities across the country.

The basic premise behind Bottle Bags is simple: Take a really big bag and fill it with empty plastic bottles, with the lids and caps still attached. If a racer runs into the fence, the plastic bottles provide a cushion that slows the rider down safely.

Bottle Bags have a couple big advantages over current safety systems. These days, you see racetracks putting up haybales that have a limited lifespan, or using more expensive foam blocks and air fences that, depending on the series, might be moved around from race to race, which takes time and money.

The Bottle Bag program is very affordable, since the bottles are donated. Since it’s low-cost, the Bottle Bags can be left in place at each track, saving on set-up time. And, since plastic doesn’t deteriorate as quickly as straw, they have the longevity haybales lack. The tops of the Bottle Bags are higher than most trackside barriers, so they also offer more safety in that respect.

Many kinds of containers are suitable for stuffing the Bottle Bags, including beverage bottles, windshield washer jugs and the like.

While the idea might sound a bit odd, it isn’t that far-out. Movie stuntmen have been using massive stacks of cardboard boxes to cushion them crashes for decades. You can see a video of this technique in action here, from the second Mad Max film. This technique was used widely in the early Mad Max films, as the stuntmen needed protection from the constant crashing during filming. The Bottle Bags use a similar low-tech approach to reduce the danger of crashing.

This summer, the Canadian Rider Safety Fund is concentrating on gathering funds to buy more Bottle Bags. They’re asking Canadian Superbike racers to bring bottles and containers to the CSBK races this summer; presumably, they’ll also get the word out to other racers, race organizations, tracks, fans and community groups to collect more bottles to fill bags.