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Glendale, AZ United States | Here is a pic of a friend of mine's face after he was involved in a motorcycle accident recently, which wasn't his fault. He was cut off by someone making a right-hand turn that didn't see poor Santa and he had no choice but to lay his HD roadglide down. How many times have you all heard that scenario. He is extremely lucky in the sense he did not lose his eye and is complaining of still having blurred vision from the affected eye a week out in addition to significant road rash pain. Hopefully the blurred vision is a result of the swelling and 30 plus stitches around the eye, but he may need further surgical intervention if the blurred vision does not go away soon, which he is not happy about.
Santa is a good guy that has logged over 250K miles on a bike and has always opted not to wear helmet. To say I have always worn my helmet when riding here in AZ would be a bold-faced lie, but what happened to Santa can happen to anybody. All the issues he's dealing with could have been avoided give or take the road rash if he had either a modular or a full face helmet. Santa plans on getting back in the saddle soon, but has already visited cycle gear and has been looking at modular helmets.
I thought I would share my buddy's story with his approval in an effort for folks that ride without a helmet to reconsider. A small motorcycle accident doesn't exist and this can and will happen to anybody. Everybody be careful out there and wear the appropriate gear so we all come home to our families safe. Peace.
(Accident.jpg)
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 Accident.jpg (12KB - 3 downloads)
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | It only takes once; to make one a believer of motorcycle helmets. Unfortunately many do not get a second chance.
Once you get used to wearing a helmet; it's a non issue regarding perceived discomfort.
Wear a helmet. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 77
Bainville, & Mesa, AZ, MT | If we are going to arm chair quarterback he also should not have laid his bike down. Glad he is getting a second chance and wish him the best, that's got to hurt! |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | I hope he recovers quickly and completely. Thanks for the reminder, whether he wears a helmet or doesn't wear a helmet, laid his bike down or didn't lay his bike down, something will, or will not happen. I like to err on the side that it's my ride and I will do my best to keep you from interferring with it. Ride safe. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 752
Broken Arrow, OK | ouch! Glad he'll recover from this one |
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Tourer
Posts: 573
Central Illinois | <p>Looks painful. I kept my helmet from the crash that had me off work for 6 months. After about 10 years I decided to get rid of that reminder, because I just didn't need it any more. The tiny web of impact fractures on the back of that shorty helmet convinced me that I would not be here today if I had not been wearing it . Back in those days there were no helmet laws so I guess I got lucky thinking it was a good idea.</p>
Edited by Oldman47 2013-12-11 11:38 AM
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Glendale, AZ United States | DSmith - 2013-12-11 7:30 AM
If we are going to arm chair quarterback he also should not have laid his bike down. Glad he is getting a second chance and wish him the best, that's got to hurt!
His roadglide didn't have ABS and I am not sure if this would have saved things. 5K in repairs pending. OUCH! |
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Glendale, AZ United States | varyder - 2013-12-11 8:22 AM
I hope he recovers quickly and completely. Thanks for the reminder, whether he wears a helmet or doesn't wear a helmet, laid his bike down or didn't lay his bike down, something will, or will not happen. I like to err on the side that it's my ride and I will do my best to keep you from interferring with it. Ride safe.
We don't have much going for us when on a bike. Usually we have a longer field of vision, better breaking, handling, and acceleration then most motor vehicles out there. I always try to make sure that I am not in someone's blind spot and I have an out just in case somebody decides to do something stupid. I don't feel comfortable when riding on the interstate during rush hour traffic and have vehicles surrounding me on all sides. I will do what I have to, which usually involves blowing by the vehicles with a rare and occasional illegal lane split not to be in that situation and to have my out just in case. |
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Glendale, AZ United States | I remember way back when I bought my first motorcycle jacket and trying stuff on at a local family owned BMW shop. I wasn't too keen on the high visibility yellow and considering buying something else when Omar the owner told me flat out "You wanna be seen or are you trying to make a fashion statement when riding?" What he said stuck with me and I wear nothing but high visibility with a white Shoei Neotech modular to boot that I bought last year. I'm 6"2 inches tall and 265lbs so even on the Vision I must look like "Big Bird" from sesame street rolling down the road. It is what it is and I could care less what folks think as I'm rolling by. All it takes is that one close call or God forbid and accident to make you re think your situation in a hurry. From my standpoint, you could be Valentino Rossi, but that close call will come in due time my friends and usually sooner then later.
I'm not sure how it is where you folks are living, but here in Phoenix we have the luxury of riding all year long, but to deal with absolute freaks on the road, especially this time of the year where everybody is in a hurry to get their Xmas shopping and errands done not to mention being ranked #1 in the nation for red light running. My friends that don't ride think I am nuts by putting myself in harms way on the roads out here. It doesn't matter how you try to explain things to them since they don't ride they can't understand what motorcycling is about for me anyway. Vlad. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | I wear white helmets as well. The most visible helmet color on the road. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 139
| Actually, white is probably the least visible. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | lowtone9 - 2013-12-20 8:44 AM
Actually, white is probably the least visible.
Actually it is not. White has a reflectivity factor of 38%
A white helmet is the most visible. From my own experience as well as others; and studies to prove it. Here is one:
http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7444/857.full
Helmet colour
The main colours of helmet reported by control drivers were black (39.8%), white (30.6%), and red (13.8%). Compared with wearing a black helmet, use of a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower risk (multivariate odds ratio 0.76, 0.57 to 0.99). We found similar associations for red and a combined group of yellow and orange helmets, although these did not achieve standard levels of statistical significance.
Edited by willtill 2013-12-20 8:01 AM
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Cruiser
Posts: 139
| The Germans have it figured out now, anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYshHRVBPEE
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Cruiser
Posts: 65
| 400,000 miles no helmet plus 400,000 miles with helmet then Bambi's mother ran directly in front of me coming home from work. No chance to miss. Unconsious 10 min, 3 broken ribs, punctured lung, lacerated speen but it would have been worse w/o my lid, but your head.your choice.
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Glendale, AZ United States | lowtone9 - 2013-12-20 9:00 AM
The Germans have it figured out now, anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYshHRVBPEE
Thanks for the video! I'm not sure if that really went down or if it was planned. I would venture to say the ladder. |
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Glendale, AZ United States | We are all adults and if you wear or do not wear a helmet that is entirely your choice. With that being said, here is a little medical lesson for those interested. The medulla, which controls the body's vital functions is located very deep within the back part of the brain and brain stem. The likelihood someone will become "brain dead" as a result of a motorcycle accident is not very high unless there is massive head trauma and significant brain swelling that will then displace the brain within the skull since there is no room to accommodate for swelling. Most riders involved in a motorcycle accident will succumb to internal injuries and bleeding, but not "brain death" usually.
As a result, the likelihood someone will wind up in a long-term care center with a tracheostomy (hole in the throat) for long-term mechanical ventilator assistance and a feeding tube for nutritional purposes is fairly high in addition to having issues with short-term and long-term memory loss due to brain damage suffered, but not brain death. Most of these folks in time will usually succumb to a hospital acquired infection or pneumonia. When EMS arrives at the scene of a motorcycle accident they will do everything and anything possible to revive an individual. Once life support is initiated and not knowing the long-term prognosis of closed head injuries in general, the individual will be left on life support indefinitely unless "brain death" has been determined by way of lack of brain activity and multiple apnea studies.
I am not trying to scare anybody, but it is virtually impossible by law to withdraw life support if the brain stem is deemed to be intact. Don't take my word for it and check into the laws within your particular state if you like. I think that is enough to scare anybody, including myself. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 259
Land O Lakes, FL | I admit a lot of times I go without, sometimes with. On my sportbikes always with but that's no excuse I know. I've many that have had wrecks with helmets and gotten all screwed up and those without and haven't so much as got a headache but hey when it's your time its your time and we never know when that is coming. I went down on my sportbikes a few times, the 2 times with my helmet it never hit the ground and didn't so much as get a scratch on it but that was just luck.
Yeah I'm probably gonna wear mine more lol... |
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Cruiser
Posts: 117
Spring Hill, Tennessee | DSmith - 2013-12-11 8:30 AM
If we are going to arm chair quarterback he also should not have laid his bike down. Glad he is getting a second chance and wish him the best, that's got to hurt!
You are correct DSmith. "Had to lay the bike down"? There are many skills to master before ever going down as an avoidance measure. I hate to hear it when folks say these things. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | Inability to execute a swerve (for whatever reason) comes to mind; when someone "lay's a bike down". Either there was no where to go for a swerve; or the rider simply did not perform one. |
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Tourer
Posts: 466
Grand Cane, LA | Laying a bike down may not always be the fault of the rider. I had a bike lay down on me when a driver turned left in front of me at a red light. I tried to steer straight and stop but the pavement was wet and there was sand on the road at the intersection so the front tire slid out sideways causing the bike to go down. I came off the bike and the bike ended up hitting the drivers back wheels of her trailer. If I had stayed on the bike I more than likely would have went head first into the side of that trailer and possibly broken my neck. Luckily for me all I got was a little road rash and a bruised ego because I thought I was a better rider than that. There are some things that happen so fast that it is just a matter of time when one will get you. I would have never thought that lady would have turned left on a red on her side, but she even admitted to the officer that she was in a hurry and thought that I would stop just because I seen her turning. WTH!! Had I been the lead person at the intersection I could have seen her trying to turn and I could have prepared for it by getting on the brakes a little sooner, but since I was behind a van I didn't get to see her until she had already pulled into the intersection. Because of this, I now leave at least a whole cars distance between me and anyone in front of me at an intersection so that I can have more time to react. They didn't teach this in MSF class believe me. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | Good example atvtinker. Glad you made out; considering the scenario. |
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Glendale, AZ United States | Tennessee Vision - 2014-01-28 5:46 PM
DSmith - 2013-12-11 8:30 AM
If we are going to arm chair quarterback he also should not have laid his bike down. Glad he is getting a second chance and wish him the best, that's got to hurt!
You are correct DSmith. "Had to lay the bike down"? There are many skills to master before ever going down as an avoidance measure. I hate to hear it when folks say these things.
Shouldn't have laid his bike down? I'm sure that was his intention. Really? ABS brakes gentlemen? I don't have ABS on my 09 or anything else I have ever owned to date and I have had a few close calls when I had to lock them up, which is usually the first reflex/response in these situations irregardless of the amount of total control courses taken where you are cut off and don't have an out and hopefully it's not while you are leaned over negotiating a turn. Tennessee, I think Casey Stoner or Velentino Rossi are all ears and want a lesson on how to keep a bike upright because for some reason they seem have difficulty with that themselves from time to time. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 77
Bainville, & Mesa, AZ, MT | To clarify my point, there is a difference between laying the bike down as an avoidance measure and having the bike go down. The longer the bike stays on rubber the more speed the rider is able to scrub off and in theory make the unavoidable accident survivable. Atvtinker's accident may be a good example, he didn't just drop the bike, but stayed with it scrubbing off speed. Also, once the bike is on its side, everything is out of control.
I am a big believer in most of the total control courses, however if you do not continue to practice the lessons taught, the skills learned will fade. Most of the courses that I have witnessed do a pretty good job teaching straight line braking as well as braking in a curve. If practiced, the rider stands a better chance of doing a controlled braking in an unavoidable accident than the rider that does not. Also, while ABS is great, I have seen a good rider on a non-ABS bike do a faster stop than the riders with ABS were able to do simply because he had practiced and knew his bike. Practice is the key. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 117
Spring Hill, Tennessee | http://www.midwestmotorcycletraining.com
https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/mmsc/rider-training/Pages/civilian-...
http://www.northwest-motorcycle.com/index.htm
http://gcminow.com/wordpress/?page_id=415
They are all over the country folks. Do yourself a favor a look into taking a class this year. The MSF is great for the beginner. The rider who has been on two wheels for years and "thinks" they got it down....you need this kinda class!
Normal brakes can outbreak an ABS system? Only on days that end in "Y" and twice on Tuesday's.....if you know how!
You have no idea what you DON'T know until you've learned these advanced skills. If you don't believe me....take a class and see for yourself!
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Glendale, AZ United States | Tennessee Vision - 2014-01-30 5:01 AM
http://www.midwestmotorcycletraining.com
https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/mmsc/rider-training/Pages/civilian-...
http://www.northwest-motorcycle.com/index.htm
http://gcminow.com/wordpress/?page_id=415
There is certainly no substitution for practice, miles logged, and formal classes. No matter how good one thinks their skills set may be there are usually a whole ton of people that ride better. I agree in that it is good to take refresher courses every year or two since we all develop bad habits over time. I would certainly not consider myself to be an absolute pro by any means and there is always room for improvement, but I think I'm a solid middle of the road rider that logs an average of 12-15K annually as well as using a motorcycle as a daily commuter since I work in downtown Phoenix where parking is hard to come by. I understand that one can brake faster without ABS, but I think the likelihood you will stay upright with ABS is much higher then without. I understand about staying on as long as possible especially if the tires are still in contact with the road to shave off speed, but if the bike is sliding on the plastics then I think it's time to let go at that point.
All I'm saying is sometimes laying the bike down is unavoidable and these situations can and do happen for all riders irregardless of skills set and the need to wear the appropriate gear and helmet as a result. There is not a week that goes by where I don't have a close call of some sort dealing with downtown traffic congestion with folks in a hurry, Arizona #1 in red light running, texting, and just simply drivers not paying attention. I usually just plant that Vision headlight/front end on the right side of my lane so drivers get a nice visual in their rear view mirror, but you still get close calls. Will check into the class. I'm sure they will have something similar here. 
Edited by Vladezip 2014-01-30 12:19 PM
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Poor Santa. Should Have Worn a Helmet.
