HolyFsk Huss! Glad you're able to tell your story, even happier you're telling us. Ducati Brotherhood forever mate! Heal on, heal on...
J-
Some of you may remember that I had an accident last May. I began talking about it, but was advised against it due to issues with the case. So I waited for things to settle before I told the story.
Riding home from work on my Harley, I was crossing through an intersection that was the same as any other in Los Angeles. Two lanes in both directions, with a third lane for vehicles waiting to turn left, steady flow going through. As always I slowed down a bit, scanned the traffic, proceeded through. I was maybe going 25mph.
Dry roads. Daylight. Perfect visibility.
I am in the outside lane. Next thing I know a red Subaru t-bones me from the left. I cannot begin to describe the violence of the impact. It took several weeks for my memory to come back. But it did. It was a surreal experience, the impact, being launched from the bike, landing on my face and left shoulder at the same time. Next thing I remember were people talking over me, the ambulance dood asking if I could hear him. Then nothing.
I wake up in a dark room and I f-in freak out. At this time I do not remember what has happened. But I do know I am in a dark room, I am tied down to the bed and there are tubes in my mouth and nose. A nurse comes to me and asks me to relax. She holds a notebook and puts a pen in one hand and says I should write any questions.
The reason I was tied down was just so I did not wake, freak out, and try to yank the tubes out of me. I guess they've had experience with that..
Fast forward. 5 broken ribs. My spleen had to be removed. Broken tibia. Broken heel. Broken bones in my left foot. Almost all the injuries were on my left side, the side that the car hit me. Both hands were swollen to almost double their normal size. I eventually lost my right thumbnail and will lose my left big toe nail.
But that was 'it'. Sounds awful, and it is/was but it would have been a lot worse if I was not wearing my gear. Full face GMAX helmet. One piece Teiz suit. Tourmaster gloves, Sidi boots. Maybe I'm one of the few people that rides a Harley dressed like that, but I ride ATTGATT not matter what I'm on. Vespa, Harley, Ducati. The road doesn't care.
I had zero abrasions. So why do I consider the gear a success? Let's start from the top. Helmet. I landed on my face and shoulder. The face shield was torn off, deep gouges in the fore-head and mouth area of the helmet. If I was wearing an open face or no helmet, I'm convinced I would be dead. My face would have taken the impact of hitting the road. This GMAX helmet (I also have Arai, Caberg, HJC) cost about $110. So you do not have to spend a lot of money to get a helmet that will save your life. Just make sure it is DOT/SNELL etc approved, and make sure it flippin' fits! If it comes off, it's useless, no matter the price.
Suit. Teiz Lombard suit. The armour in it worked. You can see from the pic the circular impact patch where I landed on my shoulder. I had a wicked bruise down my left arm and around my shoulder but no breaks. No abrasions. I'm not sure how this suit would hold up on a 'high speed' slide, but for impacts it worked.
Gloves. Tourmaster leather full gauntlet type (looks like race gloves but with no hard armour, just padding). All seams intact, cannot even tell if there are any new scuffs due to existing wear. So why were my hands swollen? I blame the bike's handlebars. The Street Bob has 'mini apes' which puts your hands in a position just lower that your shoulders. What this means is that if you are thrown off the bike in a forward trajectory, your hands/thumbs will be wrenched by the bars as they are in the way. You will not roll over the top of them like on a bike with lower bars. They are in the way. Which is why I'd never get a bike with bars like that again.
Either way, not the gloves fault that I got a couple of sprained hands from the bars.
Boots. Sidi touring boots. No abrasions. A couple of breaks. But how much can you expect when a Subaru finds it's way to your bike blocked by your leg? Wink
Anyway, five months later and I'm mostly ok. I can now walk w/o a cane and I'm expecting full eventual recovery. So that's cool. But it really sucked for my family and gf, more so in ways than for me as they had to get 'that' call from the ER, and they had to care for me afterwards. It was very frustrating and depressing. But making fun of Honda kept up my spirits.
So why did it take so long for me to be able to talk about this? Because even though there were two witnesses stating it was the Subaru's fault, as well as a 'confession' to the police officer taking the report that it was her fault, as well as the police officer determining it from the scene in his report statement, the driver later changed her mind...
18 year old girl, had her license for three months. Was waiting to turn left when someone apparently honked their horn at her, so she panicked and floored it.. That's what she told the officer at the scene, that's what it said in the report.
Changed her mind a few weeks later, claimed she was not moving and I swerved my bike intentionally into the front of her car. I'm not sure if she was directed to make this change by a 3rd party (guess who..) but her insurance company then refused to release any of her policy coverage information. Which is illegal in CA, but what do they care, they are 21st Century and sh1t like that does not apply to them. So I had to sue her and 21st with the net net being they admitted to 100% fault etc etc and I got her policy limits. Which was not enough but I guess I'm mildly surprised she even had insurance, seeing this is LA.
Her car was totaled by the collision. She won't be able to get insurance for a long while now with that on her 3 month old record. She does not have the money for another car (it was a hand me down) so she's going to be hoofing it for quite a while.
C'est la vie.
In other news. Happier news. I went for my first ride on a moto today since May 10. No, it wasn't the St4s - my leg isn't healed enough for the weight just yet. It was my Vespa PX150...
Hey, she's Italian, she has a manual clutch and 4 speed transmission, and she looks good!
Put 34 miles on her. May not sound much but that was lapping Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey. Baby steps, baby steps.
Take care all, and Dennis - you owe me some FO...
Huss
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