Of motorcycle riders, they say, "it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when" in reference to your turn to take a fall. On December 3, 2009 at 4:05pm, apparently the motorcycle gods figured I had gotten too cocky and sent me a reminder of who's boss! Cocky??! Not me.
As a relatively new rider, I don't ever take too many gambles. Riding a 250r, there really aren't too many dangerous situations you can get yourself into, but nevertheless, it's a motorcycle and it should be recognized as one. Respect it the same way you would respect any other bike. And respect it, I have, which made me wonder, "how is it that people talk so much about falling over on bikes?" It's easy to ride! I didn't know if it was just natural for me, or because I wasn't working with as much power as bigger bikes, but not once did I feel as if the bike was not under control, and I was at risk of endangering myself. Until now.
Going Down
Traveling north on North St., I was in the left lane next to the center-turning lane of a 2-lane street. There were cars behind me, but the only car in front of me was a GMC Envoy, in the right lane, traveling at about 40mph (45 Posted Speep Limit), 30-40ft. ahead of me. So we were kind of in a tendem staggerred formation, similar to how you would ride with other bikes. As I approached a large Wal-Mart complex upcoming on the right which was about 400ft. ahead, there were cars exiting the Wal-Mart parking lot, making left turns heading south on North St. The street/lot they were exiting had an unprotected (no traffic signal) left turn, so essentially, it was up to the drivers discretion when to enter traffic. This is where everything went wrong. As I am now approaching this super Wal-Mart, and cars are exiting, by the time I am beginning to approach this parking lot exit, a Mitsubishi Outlander pulls up the to stop sign, which is essentially a T-shaped road, and after waiting for the Envoy ahead of me on my right passes, I'm guessing what happened is she (cager) didn't expect anyone to be behind the Envoy, and she quickly floored it, and pulled out into my lane, planning to turn left into the center-turing lane, and travel southbound.
I saw the woman driver the entire time!!! Not once did she look in the south direction to check for traffic, otherwise, she would have saw me, about 30-40 behind the Envoy. She didn't turn her head once. When she pulled out, I had no choice but to pull in the brakes (both) and attempt an emergency stop. It was completely unreal; next thing I realize I could hear the rear tire screeching, and I closed my eyes, afraid of what was about to happen next. In my mind, I thought I could stop in time. When I next opened my eyes, it was then, I had realized I was on the ground, tumbling violently, and my helmet smashing powerfully into the asphalt. Believe it or not, it was during my tumble, I had remembered a story on Kawiforums.com where a guy in Petaluma recalled tumbling, and sliding into the curb, and as a result, the impact shattered his ankle, causing an open fracture of (presumably the fibula) in which the bone penetrates through the skin. It was while I was on the ground tumbling, within nanoseconds, I said to myself, "I have to STOP myself from rolling somehow," and that's when I put my hands down, belly down, and used my feet, too, to bring myself to a grinding, skin shedding, halt.
I tried to diagram the scene and what happened. You can see the center turning lane, where she was headed, but problem is, I was there! This is how I imagine someone looking from above would view it right before I went down
At that moment, I realized what had just happened. I looked behind me, and saw the SUV in what would have been my lane, further proving that I could not have swerved out of the way, because I think she would have T-boned me, and potentially could have killed me. Miracolously, I hopped right up, and ran over to my bike which was about 50-60 ft. further ahead than I was. Witnesses say the bike slid at least 100ft., meaning I slid about 40-50 ft. There was a contructions job directly across the street, and all I can see were four workers rushing over to help me get the bike out the road. I picked up the bike myself and tried to move it, but it was stuck. Traffic had stopped in both directions, and while everybody was telling me to "sit down, have a seat" and asking, "are you okay? Are you hurt?" all I could think about was the condition of the bike. I was fine, physically, but it's true what they say, you worry more about the motorcycle than anything.
After the Crash
Driver of the SUV emerged and it turned out to be a student at the school I attend, and her husband was the passenger. By now, the construction workers were telling me how far I slid, and grabbing their tools to fix my gear shift in order to get the bike to the side of the road. The local police showed up and, at this point I still have my helmet on, and all I can hear was the driver of the SUV, by her own admission, telling the officer, "Oh my God, oh my God, is he okay?" Another officer asked me what happened, and still hysterical, I sternly said, "I don't even think she saw me...I don't think she was looking..." and I could overhear here say, "I didn't see him at all." Which explains why she was in the middle of the road once I looked back, while I was still on the ground.
I finally thought to myself, I better check out my injuries. I luckily only sustained abrasions to the left ankle, knee, forearm, and elbow, and right knee, and right elbow. The most serious of them is the left knee, as you will see in the pictures. Once EMS arrived, I opted not to go to the hospital, knowing I didn't have health insurance, and also being an Athletic Trainer, knowing I could treat my injuries myself. they did conduct a primary and secondary survey of my body, extremities, and spine & neck. The EMS guys were helpful and gave me some supplies, although I already had everything I needed, or could get it from our Athletic Training room.
I did, however, go and see the University's physcians the next day, and they gave me a tetanus shot (needed it renewed anyway), and prescribed Cephalex, an antibiotic, for concern over the knee, which I later realized had a hole in it...there was a fuckin' hole in my left knee! The scrapes had gone completely through the dermis, and exposed the underlying tissue. But, I'll take that over broken bones anyday. The nurses helped me clean my cuts and abrasions and were very kind. I'd like to thank the nurses who are very caring and understanding, and unlike some medical personnel, are not quick to judge motorcyclist and blame them for their injuries claiming we brought it upon ourselves.
Reflecting back
The crash had nothing to do with my inexperience or rawness. It was simply "a dangerous manuever from an inattentive driver," says the responding officer, that caused me to have to avoid being hit and lay the bike down. She was deemed at-fault and recieved a ticket.
In all honesty, this made me realize just how precious life is, and how much of a priviledge it is to have my mobility and strength. I could have easily been killed last week. Easily! The damages to my bike were 'acceptable' by my standards, being that it was a Ninja 250, and given the fact I walked away without being seriously injured. Really, all I could think about was all the people telling me, "I told you so," and "motorcycles are so dangerous," which is one reason why I didn't tell anybody. The other reason is because I didn't want sympathizers telling me how sorry they were for me. I understnad that is the acceptable thing to say in times and events like these, but I was really happy simply because I had survived! The first person I called was Ben to see if he could pick me up, and he came in 5 minutes despite not being home. And also helped take the pictures of my busted up, bloodied body, haha
Safety Course
Needless to say, I'm glad I took the course. Did it save my life??! Who knows, but I like to think it played a part in it. For three main reasons 1) The course taught me about gear. I was wearing leather gloves, which were completely ruined, if you read how I brought myself to stop from sliding across the pavement above, then you'll know why. I was wearing a full-face helmet, which I won from a $71 eBay auction. It was a El Cheapo piece of equipment with a poor fit. But that piece of shit helmet saved my life. The helmet looks cool azz hell, but the fit sucks (not like my KBC), and tends to shift when I go in the upwards of 60+ speeds. But I had it strapped, not just dangling loose. That's pretty much all the moto gear I had on, with jeans, SB Dunks, and my Cramer Trainer sling bag, where I carry my wallet/ID, and coincidentally, First-Aid kit, 2) The course taught me about emergency situations and what to do. So I know about swerving, emergency stopping, and emergency manuevering, and although evidently none of that came into play here, it may not seem like it, but it did! I laid the bike down which is what leads me into the last point; 3) The course instructor constantly continued to remind us "When you go down....." Every other or so sentence began with, "When you down..." or ended with, "...because when you go down,..." and I just began to pick up on it. I found that interesting, looking to other riders and asking them if they hear what the instructor is saying. That's when some of the experienced riders bolted in and said, 'You know he [Instructor] is right about saying "when" and not "if" because "It will happen!"
Finally...
And that's exactly why I say "please, spare me" to those who try to convince me, or any other rider, that motorcycles are dangerous. Especially those who have never even been on a bike. Thanks, I know there are dangers that come with riding a motorcycle, but the very act of riding is in no way dangerous. Heck, according to that logic, the very act of being on the road is dangerous, then. It is the decisions you make, the preparedness you have, and the experience of the rider, and most often times the other cages [cars] on the road that contribute to unwanted, or heaven forbid disasterously fatal crashes of motorcyclists. As in this very case.
I plan to ride again, and I plan to be even better at it. Maybe I'll even have a helmet-cam with me when I ride. The crazy thing about that is the afternoon of the crash, I was just talking to some of the athletes about possibly wearing a camera recorder when I ride, and behold, I crash not even 2 hours later. Crazy how that works!
The bike coincidentally is being picked up today and taken to Stone Fort Cycles in Nacogdoches. They are going to do their estimate of damage, and the woman's insurance people will come out and conduct their survey. So, given the fact that the police and her insurance company concluded it was her fault, I will await the results of the survey to determine if I will get a new bike, or have the current one replaced. From what I understand, her insurance company just wants to pay me the cash it will cost to replace the bike, or whatever figure they come up with.
Will keep you posted...
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