Memorial Day Weekend Accident
05-29-2001, 01:26 PM
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Memorial Day Weekend Accident
This last Memorial Day weekend a few of my buddies and I decided to go for a ride out to lake Ray Roberts. The lake is about 45 minutes away from the North Dallas area. I ride a 01 Super Blackbird; the other guys had cruisers, a Harley and a Shadow. Anyway the day was spectacular and we had a great time getting there. We sat for a while at the lakeside watching the “scenery”.
When it came time to go the Harley and Shadow riders wanted to switch bikes so we decided that the Harley rider’s wife would ride pillion with me. In the end they did not swap but I kept my rider. We departed the park area and because I did not want to scare my passenger, I was very conservative taking all gears as smooth as possible and so on. The other bikes soon got a little ahead of me due to this.
About 3 miles down the road I come to a turn to see a cloud of dust at its apex and only ONE bike upright with a full-size Chevy pickup stopped beside it. I immediately assumed the truck had run one of my buddies off the road. Luckily the truck was rendering aid as the Harley Rider lost control in the turn by going too far outside, started to slide and tried to use his brakes which high sided him into the grassy shoulder. The 800+ pound bike had to be lifted off of him so he could get up.
He was quite upset that he spilled his bike and spent the first few minutes looking at all the damage. We however were more concerned with his condition. (Those Harley guys love their bikes!) We looked him over and saw nothing but minor road rash. He insisted he was OK. We picked up all the loose parts and placed them in his saddlebags. We then unsuccessfully spent about 20 minutes trying to get him to rest at a table before we headed home. He was determined to get his damaged bike home. We decided the bike was road worthy and finally allowed him to ride it out of the park.
Once on the road, we noticed he was meandering a little, so we stopped at a convenience store to check him out again. Once he got off the bike, he started feeling bad and in a matter of minutes could not move from a standing position. He told his wife he needed an ambulance and he thought he had broken his back! The ambulance, fire/rescue came and picked him up and we parted out riders to get the bikes home and then went to the hospital to meet him.
The x-rays showed he had two compression fractures of his spine and two broken ribs on the back. The emergency room doctor, a motorcycle rider, asked us for the details about the crash. He stated that a number of the injuries could have been avoided had the rider been wearing protective clothing “like the sport bike riders wear”. (FF Helmet, jacket with pads and spine protection, pants and boots) About the only thing our Harley rider had on that offered any protection were his wranglers jeans and boots. All the areas where he had road rash and other injuries are places that my phoenix jacket has padding. Despite his injuries, he was very lucky. He crashed INTO a soft grassy area, could have been a gravel shoulder.
Post Mortem:
Here’s what I know we did wrong
1. The rider was going too fast for his bike and the conditions.
2. The rider did not exercise the correct procedure for maintaining control of his bike in a turn. The rider could not overcome his survival instinct, which is counter-productive to motorcycle handling. Once he let off the gas, the bike lost its ability to maintain the correct track in the turn.
3. The rider was not wearing proper protection. No helmet, no jacket, no gloves.
4. We never should have let him proceed after the accident. Looking back, we should have realized there could have been internal bleeding as well as his other injuries, which we were not equipped to diagnose. The key information here was that the heavy bike was on top of him during the crash.
5. People may take a long time to show the effect of their injuries due to adrenalin and shock. Keep this in mind.
6. People in shock are not capable of making sound judgments. Be prepared to TAKE CHARGE.
We still are not certain as to the full extent of his injuries. The doctor said he would be out of commission and in pain for more than six weeks.
Please pray for our Harley rider and I hope this perspective may offer some assistance some day.
Thanks
When it came time to go the Harley and Shadow riders wanted to switch bikes so we decided that the Harley rider’s wife would ride pillion with me. In the end they did not swap but I kept my rider. We departed the park area and because I did not want to scare my passenger, I was very conservative taking all gears as smooth as possible and so on. The other bikes soon got a little ahead of me due to this.
About 3 miles down the road I come to a turn to see a cloud of dust at its apex and only ONE bike upright with a full-size Chevy pickup stopped beside it. I immediately assumed the truck had run one of my buddies off the road. Luckily the truck was rendering aid as the Harley Rider lost control in the turn by going too far outside, started to slide and tried to use his brakes which high sided him into the grassy shoulder. The 800+ pound bike had to be lifted off of him so he could get up.
He was quite upset that he spilled his bike and spent the first few minutes looking at all the damage. We however were more concerned with his condition. (Those Harley guys love their bikes!) We looked him over and saw nothing but minor road rash. He insisted he was OK. We picked up all the loose parts and placed them in his saddlebags. We then unsuccessfully spent about 20 minutes trying to get him to rest at a table before we headed home. He was determined to get his damaged bike home. We decided the bike was road worthy and finally allowed him to ride it out of the park.
Once on the road, we noticed he was meandering a little, so we stopped at a convenience store to check him out again. Once he got off the bike, he started feeling bad and in a matter of minutes could not move from a standing position. He told his wife he needed an ambulance and he thought he had broken his back! The ambulance, fire/rescue came and picked him up and we parted out riders to get the bikes home and then went to the hospital to meet him.
The x-rays showed he had two compression fractures of his spine and two broken ribs on the back. The emergency room doctor, a motorcycle rider, asked us for the details about the crash. He stated that a number of the injuries could have been avoided had the rider been wearing protective clothing “like the sport bike riders wear”. (FF Helmet, jacket with pads and spine protection, pants and boots) About the only thing our Harley rider had on that offered any protection were his wranglers jeans and boots. All the areas where he had road rash and other injuries are places that my phoenix jacket has padding. Despite his injuries, he was very lucky. He crashed INTO a soft grassy area, could have been a gravel shoulder.
Post Mortem:
Here’s what I know we did wrong
1. The rider was going too fast for his bike and the conditions.
2. The rider did not exercise the correct procedure for maintaining control of his bike in a turn. The rider could not overcome his survival instinct, which is counter-productive to motorcycle handling. Once he let off the gas, the bike lost its ability to maintain the correct track in the turn.
3. The rider was not wearing proper protection. No helmet, no jacket, no gloves.
4. We never should have let him proceed after the accident. Looking back, we should have realized there could have been internal bleeding as well as his other injuries, which we were not equipped to diagnose. The key information here was that the heavy bike was on top of him during the crash.
5. People may take a long time to show the effect of their injuries due to adrenalin and shock. Keep this in mind.
6. People in shock are not capable of making sound judgments. Be prepared to TAKE CHARGE.
We still are not certain as to the full extent of his injuries. The doctor said he would be out of commission and in pain for more than six weeks.
Please pray for our Harley rider and I hope this perspective may offer some assistance some day.
Thanks
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