Today, a guy I know from around where I work/used to live was in a pretty bad motorcycle wreck:( He was about my age (20-21). I work right up the road from where the accident happened (1/4mile away), and so does his mum (I’m general maintence/constuction, she’s janitor).
My old man was the one that came to tell her, and he barked tires stoping and turning in and we were laughing thinking he was showing out, and then he told her that her son was right up the road. It was in the middle of town. From what I heard, a car was crossing the highway, and he had turned on to the highway off the intersection, hit the gas not seeing her (might have pulled a wheelie and not seen her for a sec), and from the way the bike looked (bad), the front tire hit the side of the car, jerked it to the left (handle bars/tire), then the right side was fooked up. He was laying face down in the road. His shoulder, arm, and face were pretty messed up. Left a nice puddle of blood in the road.
Me and some of my fellow workers were watching from the school (were we’re working) and there were lots of people down there. The two young woman that work were wanting to go down there, but we told them it wasn’t anything they needed to see.
Right now he’s being flown to a hospital, his vitals are so-so, but it isn’t looking just the best:( I had talked to him just as he was leaving on the motorcycle, and the girls had been saying that he needed a helmet, and about 15 minutes later he wrecked. I’m not really friends with him, but when we were little we were.
It’s really getting me thinking, as I ride motorcycles (with helmet). I helped my dad load the motorcycle on a trailer as soon as state police was done. It’s really messed up, I can picture the wreck, and myself being in the same situation. Kinda like a couple of years ago when a young woman that I knew and talked to some was killed in an ATV accident. Didn’t give it up, but had me driving more watchfully.
As a motorcyclist myself, I can sympathise. It’s very un-nerving when you see/know someone in an accident, but it shouldn’t stop you doing what you like to do.
I believe I ride a lot better now than I did ten years ago when I started, but back then I thought I rode well. Looking back, I was stupid and not road-aware. I had my share of "get-off"s, the worst being when I broke my shoulder falling off on a slippery bit of road - I now know when a road is likely to be slippery, but didn’t then. But I got straight back on the bike, cursed it (should have been myself I cursed!), and carried on. If I hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have got on a bike again.
Looking back, every single one of my “accidents” was preventable - if only I’d had the experience and vigilance. But when you’re 21, you think you know it all and you’re invulnerable. I did. I was lucky nothing major happened.
Best thing you can do is put it out of your mind, get on your bike and enjoy it! Go for a long ride somewhere quiet. Then join an advanced motorists club and learn to be a better rider, more vigilant, less stressed, and ultimately safer. I now ride slower, but more smoothly, and still get to my destination as quick as when I was in “lunatic” mode all those years ago. There’s always something to learn and you surprise yourself when you do learn something new.
The newest thing I’ve learned in driving is to move my car’s wing mirror out so I can’t see my car at all - it reduces the blind spots to nearly zero, because the rear-view mirror gives you rear visibility, and the side mirrors give you visibility to the side. A bonus is less headlight dazzle at night, because the wing mirror isn’t pointing directly behind you. Takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s so simple, yet something I’d never thought of until I saw a diagram. I might learn something else new tomorrow.
Hope he pulls through ok.
HTH
Thats why I dont ride a bike - I’d be dead by now if I did. I slowed down a lot after my first car crash even though it wasnt my fault.
Ironically, I was in an argument with some gents from the States in another forum all of 2 days ago where one of them was complaining bitterly about both Seatbelt and Helmet laws being a breach of his Constitutional rights.
I made the point that some laws are passed for the protection of others - like mental trauma of friends, family, rescue workers and anyone unfortunate enough to witness an accident where someone has been stupid/thoughtless/unlucky enough to come off a bike (or through the windscreen of a car) at any significant speed and headbutted the tarmac without the aid of a helmet.
Unfortunately it fell on deaf ears. 
Originally posted by HairyMonster
The newest thing I’ve learned in driving is to move my car’s wing mirror out so I can’t see my car at all
I saw that in a magazine once - IIRC it was an excerpt from either the Canadian Highway Code or Advanced Motorists Handbook.
I tried it myself, but I found I have to be able to see the side of the car otherwise I lose reference of where things are. I fit blind spot mirrors instead.
Originally posted by O’Borg
… complaining bitterly about both Seatbelt and Helmet laws being a breach of his Constitutional rights…
IIRC (although I wasn’t a driver at the time!), there were similar thoughts in Britain when the laws were introduced. But now (almost) everyone accepts them.
Don’t know about you, but if I haven’t got my seatbelt on (or helmet when I’ve been on private land), it feels wrong.
Originally posted by HairyMonster
Looking back, every single one of my “accidents” was preventable - if only I’d had the experience and vigilance. But when you’re 21, you think you know it all and you’re invulnerable. I did. I was lucky nothing major happened.
Sometimes I think when I see an accident not related to me “Bah, I could do something to prevent getting hurt like that, I got skillz (
)”, but then I knock some sense into my head. I’ve been in minor wipeouts before. It COULD happen to me, but if I believe that it won’t and drive like it couldn’t it WILL happen to me.
One thing I try to do is if I ever think “where the f*** did that come from/go to?”, analyse it and see where I went wrong, what check I didn’t do, why I wasn’t looking in the right place - If you’re looking properly, you’ll never think this, but we all do!
Here’s the picture on the bike from the front of today’s paper. As you can see, the front was beat up pretty bad. Jeremy is not doing too great. They said one of his lungs colapsed early this morning. But later he was in and out of conscience, but I’m not sure how aware he was. And he was trying to breath on his own (they have a resperator on him). He wasn’t conscience so to speak, but aware of the tube going down him. They had to sedate him. They say if he can make it the next 36 hours his chances of surviving will be much better.
sorry 'bout the size
How very sad m8, my brother crashed his bike a few years back
and his mate who was on the back died instantly and my brother
burt his leg to the bone :scared: