Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Rider Down Today!!

On my way to the garage for some fuel today I can across a tailback. I managed to use an adjoining car par to get to the garage. On the road opposite I spotted the problem. A rider was lying prostrate on the road attended to by a paramedic and two others. I immediately went over to see what I could do for the poor guy. The paramedic was doing his bit asking questions as were the two in assistance. They told me they were a doctor and a nurse and where at the scene at the time of the accident. The paramedic happened to be opposite in a car park.

He was in good hands so I decided to look after his bike. I told him I was a biker and would take care of it. He asked me to ring his dealer and it was the one I use – so that was easy I knew them well! I picked his bike up first and put it on its centre stand and surveyed the damage. It was a Triumph Sprint only 6 months old with superficial damage – plastic fairing scrapes and bent pegs. Rang my mate at the dealer and sorted a pick up (they will be with us in 30 mins.). Told the rider it was all taken care of.

Taking to some eye witnesses he just locked up and binned it doing less than 20 mph – no one else involved. Police arrived they took statements - I told them I was sorting the guys bike out and was going to wait with it to make sure it got to the dealers safe. Least I could do.

Went back to the rider to help lift him onto the stretcher and off he went into the back of the ambulance. Then it struck me – hey he was wearing full riding leathers, boots etc etc. He was only doing 20mph max and he didn’t look to be in a bad way. He was being told to lay still by the medics and he did as he was told. I heard him saying it is just my knee that is hurting – nothing else. I then peered into the back of the ambulance to see the guy being cut out of his leathers to reveal a slight graze on his knee. Man they were expensive leathers!!! Man that is a tiny graze.

Spoke to one of the cops – he said the driver will get a driver improvement notice (I don’t know what one of those things are but it doesn’t sound great). I pleaded with him to go easy on the fella in his report.

In short I think in a bizarre way he was in the wrong place to drop his bike. Now he has had the day written off, an improvement notice thingy sliced leathers not to mention the insurance paperwork.

Ok it could have been worse and thankfully it wasn’t but it could have been a whole lot better. The moral of the story is if you can move pick yourself up and get outta there double quick!!

Poor lad!

Glad to hear the rider seemed ok, but I suppose you never know and the paramedics these days dont take chances or make assumptions.

I only hope that if I ever go down there is someone like you around to take care my bike.

Cant help thinking though.... if it were me, and I could move, and providing there were no third parties affected, my bike would be off the ground in a jiffy and if it was still ridable it would be on the way home for close inspection.

Well at least he (and quite frankly, all of us) can be grateful it was not worse!

Man, Ivan...good for you for goin' out of your way for a guy you didn't know from Adam!

BTW, could you explain to us guys over on this side of the pond what you blokes over there mean by a "Tailback"???

(...'cause over HERE, a "Tailback" is a guy who often wins the Heisman Trophy for carryin' the football(that OUR kind'a "football" BTW) for the University of Southern California!!!)

Tailback = lots of vecicles waiting in line, usually because of an accident ahead or road works.

Thanks for the clarification there, Craig.

(BTW, in case you're interested here, which I kind'a doubt...USC beat Notre Dame again today 34-27...but those "Fighting Irish" did play their hearts out, I must say!!!)

You gotta let the pros do their jobs. Doesn't matter if it's 20mph. There have been some freak accidents at very low speeds. It sucks sometimes but I cringe think what would've happened to Freedom if we had let him get up and move around. Of course, he wasn't gonna ride out of there, his bike having been converted to a unicycle.

Be nice to have an update at some time on the guy (how bad or not he was ),you might be able to find out from the dealer how he is. As Im sure that will be his 1st port of call. But if that was me I would have to Thankyou for your part. So you may get a call. He was a trumpy rider after all. Had sense and taste of whats right . well done matey . atb geoff

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Hey Keith, Is this where I break into some ole Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tune from the 60's????

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Yer close there ol' John. I'd say break into "I Shall Be Released" by Dylan... a song written not long after his m/c accident in '66. I think that song was at least partly inspired by the incident.

Ivan, Good to hear you did your bit for a fellow rider. Sorry I wasn't able to make it today with you. I will update you on a PM.
Hope the rest of your ride to Whitby etc was a good un'

Speak soon mate

Paul

I'll bet that is a first for FJ... being called an angel that is. A neighbor once called me an angel and my wife informed her that "not even his mother, ever, ever thought he was or called him an angel". But as one non angelic person to perhaps another, good on ya FJ.

Now I have to find that Dylan song...

Yeah, I know the right thing to do is to lay there quietly and cooperate with the medical proffessionals. I just never have. Usually because there isn't anybody there to help. But generally, because the first thing past the pain, is thinking about the lift to the hospital ($400) the ER, ($450) and the attending doctor's services ($350). If I can walk away without anything falling off, I'm outa there. Probably be different if I had health insurance.

Firstly - Nice one Ivan, nice to see people still willing to help others.

The thing that puzzled me was the bloke who came off his bike. Was he mute or something?

I have come across the odd bike related incident in my day to day buisness and the generally injured motorcyclists do voice opinion as soon as the topic of cutting leathers off crops up.

Probably because I work for the ambulance service and ride a bike I'm a bit more sympathetic to people who have come off bikes and will try where possible to avoid cutting stuff off people.

However what you should consider and a rational for cutting expensive leathers and bike kit off is that a set of leather trousers can absorb a fair amount of blood.

Another thing is that leathers do hide quite serious fractures as I found out at the last motorcycle incident I went to where the pillion had a fracture dislocation of her ankle joint and didn't even know about it because she had other distracting injuries. Good job we cut all her kit off and boots because her foot was cold. Then we found she had also had a fracture to her upper arm. All she was complaining of was pain where her jacket had slid up and she had nasty gravel rash.

Wearing good kit saves lives. Good kit is expensive though. The best option is to get it put on your bike insurance or have a seperate policy for your kit that way you don't have to worry if anything gets damaged or cut off.

Graham, thanks for the technical input buddy!

Spoke to the dealer today - the fella broke 2 fingers, has a sore knee and was suffering from concussion to go with his dropped bike and sliced leathers.

All in all a bad day at the office!

Poor lad!

I did one of this slow slides to avoid being T-Boned one night last year. It was 12/12/08 and I was negotiating a right bend in the road. From the left I saw a small white car full of kids speeding across the road into my lane.

Either I continue on and get T boned or I needed to stop now. I was doing about 35 and in a tight curve to the right. Slamming on the brakes was not an option.

I ended up trying to slow down and the bike went down to the right side. I avoided being hit but I hit the blacktop at about 25 mph. I was in the right lane with traffic coming up on my from behind and the bike was laying across my right leg and ankle.

Try as I might I could not get out from under the bike and fuel was spilling all over my leg. Two teen aged boy ambled by and asked if I was alright. I said "****** no! Get this bike offa me as I am pinned". Just then a humongous GMC Suburban screeched to a stop about 3 feet from my head and the lady and her two teen aged boys jumped out. Between the 5 of them they got the bike offa me and I dragged myself out of the road. They moved the bike to the side of the road and put down the kickstand and got it up.

I struggled over and turned off the engine and made a quick assesment of my condition. My left wrist was sprained and the thumb about dislocated. My right pant leg was ripped and torn in a few spots below the knee and above as well. I had a scuff mark on the right elbow of my jacket near the elbow pad and my ankle was really in a world of hurt.

The bike had only minor damage to the brake lever end, engine guard and right saddle bag. Nobody had a phone and I forgot I had mine in my pocket. It was cold and I was hurt but felt I could get home ok.

They tried to get me to go to the hospital but being stubborn and my 3 drops of Scottish blood prevented me from aceding to their blandishments. I knew the ambulance ride was at least $600 bucks and my insurance did not cover that.

I dragged myself over to the bike and drove home really carefully and tried not to use that right ankle.

I got home and stripped off my clothes and applied ice to the ankle to prevent swelling, wrapped it in a ace bandage and put it up on a pillow. The next day was kinda tough but I got by until my ex called. I had to admit to dumping the bike and when I told her about the ankle she insisted on taking me to the hospital right now as she felt I could have broken it.

She was right. Busted the right Fibula and they put me into a cast which I had to wear for a couple of weeks. Then into a special boot which locked up the joint etc. Months passed the the darned thing would not heal right. Orthopedist decided to implant a Titanium Rod into the bone to bind it and let it heal. 8/4/09 we had the surgery and I am well on the way to recovery.

It has been a long 9 months and I am still not out of pain. I would have been injured more severly had I not had on a lace up pair of nylon boots, double thickness pants, riding jacket, gloves and helmet.

The point of all this is that I did not know had broken a bone and I could have made things a lot worse by moving around and putting weight on it. So I guess if there a next time I will get checked out prior to riding away.