.png "Powered by vBulletin")
Red light & Unlicensed driver = Broken Bones
Hi all,
Well, the very last post of mine told of a crash involving a bit of gravel and rider judgement error. It doesn't look good when the next post is about another accident. :-| A little background on me: I have been riding bikes for many years, and have had a GS650GL for the last 4 of those now. Have been subject to all manners of road hazards (random lane changers, deer [hit one], left-turners, etc.) and most without incident. However you can't win all the time I suppose. I ride from February to November each year because of the climate that I live in and have even ridden a complete year before (Feb. '04 to Feb. 05 as well as the rest of '05 season). I'm not new to riding or it's dangers...
Now onto why I'm here... returning home from work 5 months ago, I was making a left turn at an intersection and as traffic was heavy, I took no chances and waited a full light just to get the green arrow for my turn rather than trying to time a gap in rushhour. So the little green arrow starts flashing and I start to go forward into the turn after 2 seconds. That's when I saw 2 headlights moving very fast in the opposing lane. Realizing that this person wasn't stopping for the light, I cracked the throttle open and power slid the bike to face the opposite way I had been headed, to minimize the impact that I knew couldn't be avoided with the way things were at that moment (glance off his drivers door... he was going to T-bone me at 70Km/h otherwise).
I tried to jump off the bike to the side, and made it about 3/4 the way off when the bike and truck met. My ankle was caught between 400Lbs of almost stationary steel and 3000Lbs of moving steel. The impact shattered my ankle instantly as well as made my body jerk back towards the truck and slam into it then rebound and slam to the ground. I remember every last minute detail of this as I did not lose conciousness. The driver did not stop until the other side of the intersection.
I pushed myself off the ground to my feet and could feel that something wasn't right in my ankle, but because of adrenaline and a touch of shock, it only felt like a twist to me, so I started stupidly walking around (I would later learn that the only reason I didn't fall over was because of the way the bones had broken and jammed against one another creating a semi-support). I then went a step further in stupidity mode and picked up the GS and walked it out of the intersection behind the guys truck. A nice citizen retrieved the many peices of my windscreen and various belongings for me. The guy didn't exit the vehicle for about 2 minutes while I told the bystanders that I was alright, no need to call the police until I have talked with the driver and firgured out what's next. When the driver finally emerged, he was on a cell phone... I thought to the ambulance and police, but no... the words I heard were: "ok, I have to call you back later hunny, I have to check on the biker I just hit, love you bye". I wanted to strangle him. He then started talking very fast at me and seemed alittle nervous. He tried to tell me it was my fault at firt cause I was making a left (remember the little green arrow...), then changed his tune to say it was both our fault and he would pay for all damages to my motorcycle. He wrote down his name and number after I took his license plate #, and then he left after firing up my bike to see that it ran still. By this time all I could think was 'I need to get home!' and get my head straight so that I could figure out the next move.
One further step in stupidity... I rode the mangled bike home, noticing halfway that I can't lift my right leg to the brake anymore, and was having to grab my leathers and pull it up onto the pedal to use rear brake. By this time is was dark, rushour traffic and had started to rain. Shoulda pulled over, but shock had other plans. Kept going. Always stopping on a slight left lean to ensure that I came to a stop resting on my good foot. I made it home with no further incident, but about 200x the pain in my ankle. I love my bike so much that I took the extra effort to put it on it's centerstand (soft driveway) using my left foot do do it. Then the stairs...oh boy, I had to crawl. I went through the door and then collapsed. My roomate took me to the hospital where in the confusion of things I could only get the jist of the doctors shocked expressions. I live within a stone throw of the hospital, so they reluctantly let me go home after 6 hours of treatment.
Now the real kicker... I called the guy to tell him it's an I.C.B.C. matter now cause I'm injured pretty bad, and he started swearing at me in anger and pleaded not to go to the police or insurance because he didn't have a drivers license, was prohibited from driving, and it was not his vehicle. He also asked that if I did have to file a claim, that I say it was his girlfriend that was driving. I also found out that the lane he was travelling in that day, was a right turn only lane, so going straight through was illegal for him.
I have been back and forth to various specialists to determine the long-term damage to my ankle because fragments of bone had lodged inside the joint and shredded some cartilidge, but was such that surgeons didn't want to risk damaging my ankle by doing sugery that couldn't guarantee removal of all the fragments. As a result I have been in a cast for the last 4 1/2 months so my body can absorb the peices on it's own. I just started my dream career as a commercial electrician. I might never be allowed to go back because of the environment of the work (ladders, trusses, and carrying weight on them).
As with my other post, I was wearing full riding gear, including suspender-style leathers, armored leather jacket and gloves, full-face helmet, and steel-toed boots (the right one has a nasty gash in the toe area from this, it cuts right into the steel. Don't want to think about what my foot might have looked like without steel toes).
Claim is in the prosses and for the fact that he tried to get me to make a fraudulent claim, I am showing no leniency towards this fellow. Why was he driving on a prohibition anyways? Not like he could say, "Oh, I didn't know my license wasn't valid, haven't checked in a while". He was told by a court (or cop) that he was no longer allowed to drive on the roads in British Columbia. Doesn't get much clearer than that.
Sorry for the long post folks, but it really 'irks' me that some people can be so ignorant and careless, without realizing that they might kill someone. So I thought I would share this horrible experience to serve as a warning to others about unlicensed drivers and as a major warning to those who drive without a license. The fellow that hit me, will be paying for it for the rest of his life and will be lucky if he doesn't do jail time for the offenses.
Safe riding this season everyone, wear your gear, and have fun.
-Scott
Well, the very last post of mine told of a crash involving a bit of gravel and rider judgement error. It doesn't look good when the next post is about another accident. :-| A little background on me: I have been riding bikes for many years, and have had a GS650GL for the last 4 of those now. Have been subject to all manners of road hazards (random lane changers, deer [hit one], left-turners, etc.) and most without incident. However you can't win all the time I suppose. I ride from February to November each year because of the climate that I live in and have even ridden a complete year before (Feb. '04 to Feb. 05 as well as the rest of '05 season). I'm not new to riding or it's dangers...
Now onto why I'm here... returning home from work 5 months ago, I was making a left turn at an intersection and as traffic was heavy, I took no chances and waited a full light just to get the green arrow for my turn rather than trying to time a gap in rushhour. So the little green arrow starts flashing and I start to go forward into the turn after 2 seconds. That's when I saw 2 headlights moving very fast in the opposing lane. Realizing that this person wasn't stopping for the light, I cracked the throttle open and power slid the bike to face the opposite way I had been headed, to minimize the impact that I knew couldn't be avoided with the way things were at that moment (glance off his drivers door... he was going to T-bone me at 70Km/h otherwise).
I tried to jump off the bike to the side, and made it about 3/4 the way off when the bike and truck met. My ankle was caught between 400Lbs of almost stationary steel and 3000Lbs of moving steel. The impact shattered my ankle instantly as well as made my body jerk back towards the truck and slam into it then rebound and slam to the ground. I remember every last minute detail of this as I did not lose conciousness. The driver did not stop until the other side of the intersection.
I pushed myself off the ground to my feet and could feel that something wasn't right in my ankle, but because of adrenaline and a touch of shock, it only felt like a twist to me, so I started stupidly walking around (I would later learn that the only reason I didn't fall over was because of the way the bones had broken and jammed against one another creating a semi-support). I then went a step further in stupidity mode and picked up the GS and walked it out of the intersection behind the guys truck. A nice citizen retrieved the many peices of my windscreen and various belongings for me. The guy didn't exit the vehicle for about 2 minutes while I told the bystanders that I was alright, no need to call the police until I have talked with the driver and firgured out what's next. When the driver finally emerged, he was on a cell phone... I thought to the ambulance and police, but no... the words I heard were: "ok, I have to call you back later hunny, I have to check on the biker I just hit, love you bye". I wanted to strangle him. He then started talking very fast at me and seemed alittle nervous. He tried to tell me it was my fault at firt cause I was making a left (remember the little green arrow...), then changed his tune to say it was both our fault and he would pay for all damages to my motorcycle. He wrote down his name and number after I took his license plate #, and then he left after firing up my bike to see that it ran still. By this time all I could think was 'I need to get home!' and get my head straight so that I could figure out the next move.
One further step in stupidity... I rode the mangled bike home, noticing halfway that I can't lift my right leg to the brake anymore, and was having to grab my leathers and pull it up onto the pedal to use rear brake. By this time is was dark, rushour traffic and had started to rain. Shoulda pulled over, but shock had other plans. Kept going. Always stopping on a slight left lean to ensure that I came to a stop resting on my good foot. I made it home with no further incident, but about 200x the pain in my ankle. I love my bike so much that I took the extra effort to put it on it's centerstand (soft driveway) using my left foot do do it. Then the stairs...oh boy, I had to crawl. I went through the door and then collapsed. My roomate took me to the hospital where in the confusion of things I could only get the jist of the doctors shocked expressions. I live within a stone throw of the hospital, so they reluctantly let me go home after 6 hours of treatment.
Now the real kicker... I called the guy to tell him it's an I.C.B.C. matter now cause I'm injured pretty bad, and he started swearing at me in anger and pleaded not to go to the police or insurance because he didn't have a drivers license, was prohibited from driving, and it was not his vehicle. He also asked that if I did have to file a claim, that I say it was his girlfriend that was driving. I also found out that the lane he was travelling in that day, was a right turn only lane, so going straight through was illegal for him.
I have been back and forth to various specialists to determine the long-term damage to my ankle because fragments of bone had lodged inside the joint and shredded some cartilidge, but was such that surgeons didn't want to risk damaging my ankle by doing sugery that couldn't guarantee removal of all the fragments. As a result I have been in a cast for the last 4 1/2 months so my body can absorb the peices on it's own. I just started my dream career as a commercial electrician. I might never be allowed to go back because of the environment of the work (ladders, trusses, and carrying weight on them).
As with my other post, I was wearing full riding gear, including suspender-style leathers, armored leather jacket and gloves, full-face helmet, and steel-toed boots (the right one has a nasty gash in the toe area from this, it cuts right into the steel. Don't want to think about what my foot might have looked like without steel toes).
Claim is in the prosses and for the fact that he tried to get me to make a fraudulent claim, I am showing no leniency towards this fellow. Why was he driving on a prohibition anyways? Not like he could say, "Oh, I didn't know my license wasn't valid, haven't checked in a while". He was told by a court (or cop) that he was no longer allowed to drive on the roads in British Columbia. Doesn't get much clearer than that.
Sorry for the long post folks, but it really 'irks' me that some people can be so ignorant and careless, without realizing that they might kill someone. So I thought I would share this horrible experience to serve as a warning to others about unlicensed drivers and as a major warning to those who drive without a license. The fellow that hit me, will be paying for it for the rest of his life and will be lucky if he doesn't do jail time for the offenses.
Safe riding this season everyone, wear your gear, and have fun.
-Scott
Comment