circusinthesky
04-23-2010, 03:52 PM
Thought this might be of interest to riders. Not looking for sympathy or anything. I am doing well. Just considered that the details might be interesting, or not. We riders often avoid thinking too much about these topics.
Monday, I am riding home from work on my Triumph Scrambler. Full face helmet. Gloves. Jacket. Normal shoes and pants (brand new, first time wearing them). Its 4 PM or so, and I am riding on a "frontage" road. Its a fairly empty road. One lane in each direction. Railroad tracks to the left, and to the right are loading docks and parking lots. I am in the right lane. Its a long and straight road. In the left lane coming towards me is a jeep wrangler. I am going maybe 40 MPH. As you might expect, he just big fat turns left in front of me. I have the time to think "really?" and grab for the brakes, then the bike hits the hood of his jeep.
I don't recall being in the air. I think my legs hitting the hood of the jeep sort of ruined that moment of peaceful flight. I DO recall hitting the ground. Hard. That was accompanied by a global pain and the usual blazing white light. I was not knocked out, but I was dazed for a moment. After coming to a stop, I noticed I couldn't breathe. I was laying on my right side. Still can't breathe. Someone at my side telling me not to move. (No chance of that at the moment.) STILL CAN"T BR...ah. A shallow breath. So my lungs are not collapsed. That's a good thing. Another one followed about ten seconds later, and then the breathing was okay.
I hear a lady calling 911. A guy: "What hurts?" What doesn't? My arm and legs. The paramedics and Fire Dept station are both about a mile away, so they arrived pretty fast. A VIP was visiting that day, so there were about eight guys hanging around and helping I felt pretty well supported. Some rapid fire questions. Name? What kind of bike? What hurts? Did I lose consciousness? Am I allergic to any medications? Do I like the bike? General stuff. They pulled my helmet off. My face mask broke off in the fall. They put a brace around my neck, although my neck was okay. They took off my jacket as far as the right arm. The glove would not come off without serious discomfort. No question about it, something was broken. They cut off the glove, removed my jacket, braced my arm, and loaded me up in the meat truck for the short ride to the emergency room.
At the ER, it was fairly quiet. It was a slow period before the evening storm, so again, I received a lot of attention by a number of different people. A lot of questions were asked and answered while my clothes were cut off. (They left me the boxer shorts, so I was saved that minor indignity (although the Doctor did check and notice one of my "jimmies" was cut up a little.)
I called my Wife who was expecting me home an hour ago. She needed to leave very soon to teach a night class, and we had arranged to eat together before she left. I explained that I was in an accident, had broken my arm, but was OKAY. I advised her to feed the dogs, lock them up, go to work, and then swing by the hospital. I kept it vague. I did not explain the details to her so that she did not worry too much.
They stitched up my chin, and washed some other wounds. When I hit the Jeep, I obviously just went up and down, and did not slide on the ground. I have no road rash!!! I do look like I was mauled by a weak bear though. I have some long claw marks on my right thigh probably caused by something on the hood of the jeep or on my handlebars. A gash on my nose, various cuts on my legs, my thighs are all purple, etc. Could be worse. No internal injuries. No brain damage. No spinal injuries. As I said, I am not looking for sympathy because I feel I have been pretty lucky.
My right forearm was broken. A nurse used the words "looks like the Pacific Coast Highway". It needed to be set before it could be splinted, so one doctor administered anesthesia to put me out, and another pulled my wrist away from my arm and aligned the bone, then splinted it. They set me up with an appointment two days later to have a plate screwed to the bone. (That operation went okay, and I have two weeks in this splint, then four weeks in a removable cast.) Sorry I did not take pics. I had my iPhone too!
I was technically released at this point, but when I tried to stand, I broke out in a cold sweat and experienced bad vertigo. They needed me out of the room, so they wheeled my bed to the hall so I could just recover a little more. It was really getting busy. A lot of unfortunate people came and went who were in much worse shape than I. After 30 minutes, I was able to move to a wheel chair. I stayed there for an hour or so before I could shamble about on my own. The problem is that my thighs hit the hood of that jeep at 40 mph. At a guess, I assume this would be similar to being beaten about the legs with a bat for a couple minutes. Although not broken, my legs were very weak, and very sore. Standing and walking was quite a task for the next three days, and I needed help getting up or down. I slept in a chair downstairs, but one morning I moved to the couch to lay down for a bit. Big mistake. It took about 15 minutes to get my legs off the couch, sit up, and then rise. Its much better now, and ibuprofin has been a great help.
Insurance totaled the bike. Their payment to me is very fair. I have not seen it after the crash. It was out of my POV, and I did not sit up on the scene. The other guy's insurance company is accepting 100% of the blame, so that's good that I don't have to deal with those sorts of frustrations. There were two witnesses who saw the guy turn left directly in front of me, so I was not too worried.
I always assumed this sort of accident would be very bad, and it certainly could have been much worse in different conditions. But, I feel as if I fared pretty well all things considered. In retrospect, there was nothing I could have done better or worse. I did not have time to maneuver, so I cannot fault myself for failing to brake or turning, etc. It was a narrow road, and he was taking up all of my lane, and much of the left lane. There was nowhere to go. If I have any advice for riders, it is this:
Wear a full face helmet
Wear a good armored jacket, and gloves
Monday, I am riding home from work on my Triumph Scrambler. Full face helmet. Gloves. Jacket. Normal shoes and pants (brand new, first time wearing them). Its 4 PM or so, and I am riding on a "frontage" road. Its a fairly empty road. One lane in each direction. Railroad tracks to the left, and to the right are loading docks and parking lots. I am in the right lane. Its a long and straight road. In the left lane coming towards me is a jeep wrangler. I am going maybe 40 MPH. As you might expect, he just big fat turns left in front of me. I have the time to think "really?" and grab for the brakes, then the bike hits the hood of his jeep.
I don't recall being in the air. I think my legs hitting the hood of the jeep sort of ruined that moment of peaceful flight. I DO recall hitting the ground. Hard. That was accompanied by a global pain and the usual blazing white light. I was not knocked out, but I was dazed for a moment. After coming to a stop, I noticed I couldn't breathe. I was laying on my right side. Still can't breathe. Someone at my side telling me not to move. (No chance of that at the moment.) STILL CAN"T BR...ah. A shallow breath. So my lungs are not collapsed. That's a good thing. Another one followed about ten seconds later, and then the breathing was okay.
I hear a lady calling 911. A guy: "What hurts?" What doesn't? My arm and legs. The paramedics and Fire Dept station are both about a mile away, so they arrived pretty fast. A VIP was visiting that day, so there were about eight guys hanging around and helping I felt pretty well supported. Some rapid fire questions. Name? What kind of bike? What hurts? Did I lose consciousness? Am I allergic to any medications? Do I like the bike? General stuff. They pulled my helmet off. My face mask broke off in the fall. They put a brace around my neck, although my neck was okay. They took off my jacket as far as the right arm. The glove would not come off without serious discomfort. No question about it, something was broken. They cut off the glove, removed my jacket, braced my arm, and loaded me up in the meat truck for the short ride to the emergency room.
At the ER, it was fairly quiet. It was a slow period before the evening storm, so again, I received a lot of attention by a number of different people. A lot of questions were asked and answered while my clothes were cut off. (They left me the boxer shorts, so I was saved that minor indignity (although the Doctor did check and notice one of my "jimmies" was cut up a little.)
I called my Wife who was expecting me home an hour ago. She needed to leave very soon to teach a night class, and we had arranged to eat together before she left. I explained that I was in an accident, had broken my arm, but was OKAY. I advised her to feed the dogs, lock them up, go to work, and then swing by the hospital. I kept it vague. I did not explain the details to her so that she did not worry too much.
They stitched up my chin, and washed some other wounds. When I hit the Jeep, I obviously just went up and down, and did not slide on the ground. I have no road rash!!! I do look like I was mauled by a weak bear though. I have some long claw marks on my right thigh probably caused by something on the hood of the jeep or on my handlebars. A gash on my nose, various cuts on my legs, my thighs are all purple, etc. Could be worse. No internal injuries. No brain damage. No spinal injuries. As I said, I am not looking for sympathy because I feel I have been pretty lucky.
My right forearm was broken. A nurse used the words "looks like the Pacific Coast Highway". It needed to be set before it could be splinted, so one doctor administered anesthesia to put me out, and another pulled my wrist away from my arm and aligned the bone, then splinted it. They set me up with an appointment two days later to have a plate screwed to the bone. (That operation went okay, and I have two weeks in this splint, then four weeks in a removable cast.) Sorry I did not take pics. I had my iPhone too!
I was technically released at this point, but when I tried to stand, I broke out in a cold sweat and experienced bad vertigo. They needed me out of the room, so they wheeled my bed to the hall so I could just recover a little more. It was really getting busy. A lot of unfortunate people came and went who were in much worse shape than I. After 30 minutes, I was able to move to a wheel chair. I stayed there for an hour or so before I could shamble about on my own. The problem is that my thighs hit the hood of that jeep at 40 mph. At a guess, I assume this would be similar to being beaten about the legs with a bat for a couple minutes. Although not broken, my legs were very weak, and very sore. Standing and walking was quite a task for the next three days, and I needed help getting up or down. I slept in a chair downstairs, but one morning I moved to the couch to lay down for a bit. Big mistake. It took about 15 minutes to get my legs off the couch, sit up, and then rise. Its much better now, and ibuprofin has been a great help.
Insurance totaled the bike. Their payment to me is very fair. I have not seen it after the crash. It was out of my POV, and I did not sit up on the scene. The other guy's insurance company is accepting 100% of the blame, so that's good that I don't have to deal with those sorts of frustrations. There were two witnesses who saw the guy turn left directly in front of me, so I was not too worried.
I always assumed this sort of accident would be very bad, and it certainly could have been much worse in different conditions. But, I feel as if I fared pretty well all things considered. In retrospect, there was nothing I could have done better or worse. I did not have time to maneuver, so I cannot fault myself for failing to brake or turning, etc. It was a narrow road, and he was taking up all of my lane, and much of the left lane. There was nowhere to go. If I have any advice for riders, it is this:
Wear a full face helmet
Wear a good armored jacket, and gloves