It finally happened to me (CRASH)

[Plasterdog]

OMG thats my worst fear! i am glad you came out ok/good and hate to sound this way but, if theres witnessess and other people who seen this accident then you should fill out a police report and pursue him in court. the laws are pretty favorable when motorcycles are concerned. what options did he give you? none thats what! at least get him to pay for your medical bills and to get the scoot fixed. thank god your alive. get well soon and send me your helmet and i will get it painted up like new for free. cliff

The laws maybe favorable but juries are typically not. "he was riding a motorcycle therefore he must have been speeding therefore he must be wrong." Read MCN. Find a lawyer who has dealt with bike "accidents" before.

[Plasterdog]

Glad you and the bike are not FUBAR'd.

[Zooks]

I don't really know where he was. The cop I talked to said that he said he didn't see me so they must have talked to him at the scene. There were a bunch of witnesses on the golf course; one of them even called me last night to see how I was doing.

Glad you're okay dude. Get those witnesses details and make contact with them as soon as you can. You should be able to get info from the cop. Do it fairly soon whilst it is all still fresh. These things have a habit of dragging on and if you need to find witnesses a year from now it will be a lot easier if you already have their details and have made contact with them previously.

get well soon and send me your helmet and i will get it painted up like new for free. cliff

No offense to 1978GS1000custom but that helmet is toast. They are designed for ONE impact. If there was to be a next time you'd want to know that the helmet is still sound. Get another one. Accident compensation (from the truck driver) should pay for new gear. When you buy new gear, keep the old stuff and keep all of your receipts for the new stuff. Sorry to badger you, but those of us that have been through this before, know the drill. It's a very similar system of road law down here.

Get well soon.

[Billy Ricks]

Glad you're okay dude. Get those witnesses details and make contact with them as soon as you can. You should be able to get info from the cop. Do it fairly soon whilst it is all still fresh. These things have a habit of dragging on and if you need to find witnesses a year from now it will be a lot easier if you already have their details and have made contact with them previously.



No offense to 1978GS1000custom but that helmet is toast. They are designed for ONE impact. If there was to be a next time you'd want to know that the helmet is still sound. Get another one. Accident compensation (from the truck driver) should pay for new gear. When you buy new gear, keep the old stuff and keep all of your receipts for the new stuff. Sorry to badger you, but those of us that have been through this before, know the drill. It's a very similar system of road law down here.

Get well soon.

Good advice on all counts.

[IOWA450T]

Got Rita back

Went over there after work today and picked her up. Bad rash on the fairing and the edge trim is peeled back; bags are tweaked to the left (laid it down on the right). Case guard on the right pushed into the cover and ground down flat on the outside. All take-off stuff that can be replaced. My GPS was still on the bike and still operational. Radio still works. Start button has to be pushed in further and harder to make contact. Took a little creep around my neighborhood and everything seems ok except the fairing is making a different buzzing noise than before and is definately pushed to the left; the mounting bracket seems to line up correctly with the forks but the top of the fairing is definately a couple inches off center. Windshield has a new scratch. Dirt and sand stuck to all the little oil spots I already had. Doesn't seem to be leaking anything. I took some pics but I haven't posted any for awhile and will have to re-educate myself and it's too late for that tonight.

[80GS750]

glad your ok! rita too!

maybe you will be up for the ride later this month with the rest of us....

[kerrfunk]

I will add my voice to the chorus of "Glad you're alright, and Rita too!"

and thanks for the detailed description of everything. Riding condition, gear, all that. You are positively affecting riders here, and I'm sure that'll be passed on to riders elsewhere.


Regarding the ER nurse and her aversion to helmets, I wonder if her thinking was along the lines of "I'd rather go out with a bang than deal with serious-but-non-fatal-injuries and maybe end up paralyzed-or-somehow-disabled-because-the-helmet-saved-my-life"

p.s. shout out to Iowa! I lived there for 9 years... went to Grinnell, lived in Clear Lake / Mason City for a few years after that. Plus I did RAGBRAI XVI

[mcloud]

You have a pic of that biker nurse?...

[Plasterdog]

Good advice on all counts.

I'll second that.

The helmet may look intact, 'cept for the road-rash, but the polystyrene will be compressed where your head met it on impact. That will not protect you again.

[Jethro]

Cortech makes some nice jeans with leather in the hip and butt area and armor for the knees and upper shins.

I have a pair of them. I would rather crash in plain Levis then the Cortech jeans. The "leather" must me made from mouse skin as it is the thinnest leather I have ever seen/felt. Honestly, Levi 501 jeans are thicker than the jeans and leather sections of the Cortechs. And the knees pads don't sit in the right place, but that might just be a fit issue for me. YMMV...

[jimcor]

Man, what a bummer. Glad your +/- OK.

[dwvoss]

Glad you are ok. A rider near Council Bluffs wasn't so lucky yesterday.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090507/NEWS/90507021/1001/