Authorities Located Injured Mayor Because Of Trail Markers

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Tom Price, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price's husband, faced a difficult task last weekend. His wife had just taken a nasty spill on her bike while cycling along the Trinity River.

She was unconscious and he had to find a way to direct emergency crews to their remote location.

"I've got a injured bike rider on the, uh, bike trail," Price told dispatchers during his 9-1-1 call.  "She's unconscious. And this is just west of the Beach Street bridge."

But where on the trail? And how do you tell emergency crews where you are when there are no landmarks nearby?

Mayor Price's husband used the numbers on the nearest trail marker recently installed by the Trinity River Water District.

"Yeah, I'm calling 9-1-1 about the bike rider that's down on the path," Price said to dispatchers as he looked at the small, round metal sign near where the accident happened. "WF 2210 is our location on the bike path. I've got a rider down and need an ambulance."

The markers are mapped out by GPS. Not only do they pinpoint a person's position on the trail, they tell emergency crews which gates and paths to use to get to that point.

"You may be in between two bridges and you don't know where you're at," said Chad Lorance with TRWD. "And this certain location let's them know the best entry to where they need to get for you."

The markers have been going up for the past year. Their need became apparent after emergency crews had difficulty finding the location of a drowning a few years ago.

But using the numbered markers, Mayor Price's Husband says emergency crews were able to respond in three to five minutes.

The same system is available in a phone app from TRWD. Just pull up the trail map. It shows your position. Hit 911. The nearest emergency marker numbers immediately pop up.