Affiliations

Introduction

Members of MERCury will be trained in First Aid, light search and rescue, amateur radio, and advanced motorcycling skills. They also will participate in twice-yearly disaster drills in concert with the Fire Department, Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams (NERT), and the bicycle-based Courier Disaster Response Team (CDRT). In addition, they will be trained in motorcycle-specific First Aid.

Training Committee

In cooperation with local emergency officials, the Training Committee will set training standards, identify and create appropriate training resources and opportunities. It will present them to MERCury members and candidates and track progress of members and candidates toward those standards. We have adopted the draft Skills Index as our target skill set pending feedback from emergency management offices. Scott Nelson is the committee chairman.

Skills

Training
Communications	Radios & comm skills (MERC)
Rescue	NERT training (SFFD)
Command	Introduction to Disaster Services (ARC)
Medical	Motorcycle First Aid (ARC & MERC)
Mobility	RiderCourse (MSF) or equivalent experience

Corps members must hold a California DMV Class M1 license and own a CA-registered motorcycle with legally required insurance.

Where Do I Start?

To achieve the skills needed for basic level of MERCury certification, here's what you need to do:

1. Come to the next MERCury meeting.
2. Sign up for and take the next NERT training class.
3. Sign up for and take the next ACS Communicator training class.

Look up when and where these will happen in the calendar.

Notes

[1] "Intensive riding" is any motorcycle riding that constantly challenges your abilities, including urban commuting, courier work, aggressive sport riding, track time, track school, "Doc Wong" Riding Clinics, or the equivalent. Touring, cruising, and open-freeway commuting time usually wouldn't qualify.

[2] NERT training and an FCC Amateur Radio (Ham) license are prerequisite to becoming a member of ACS. Thus the order of these items is under review.

Further Reading

Post-Earthquake Transportation: Dilemmas for Emergency Management

MERCury Proposal, the document that led to all this.

Disaster Riding is a draft document describing concepts and ideas about riding a motorcycle after a disaster as part of the MERCury organization.