I am a very lucky man.

[Outback in Idaho]

Glad you made it out okay, Chako, and that your bike survived.

My first motorcycle accident, similar thing. Was on the inside lane, guy from the right lane made an immediate left turn in front of me - I was not even half a mile from home that night, heading home. Hit the brakes, trying to get the bike down on the engine guard/saddle cage asap, but hit him and went airborn. Don't recall the details past that...

But like you I felt totally at peace. Nothing hurt. The breeze was warm, yet soothing. I saw no cars, no people. Was absolutely the most amazing feeling since my first baptism. I looked up and saw this glowing orb. Thought it was the moon, it was big, full, bright - but not blinding. Was at peace. Then someone lifted up my right arm to help me up... then I woke up in pain. Good thing too, someone said I sat up just about the time a guy in a car was about to run over my head/helmet. One of them stupid looky loos!
Witnesses said they was yelling at the guy to stop, and then I suddenly stood up. The guy hit his brakes. I got over onto some car, then the paramedics came. Not sure how my parents ended up at the scene. Got taken to an Air Force hospital, and I had captain bars on my lapel of my Harley Davidson jacket - a friend in the Air Force was a captain. I got seen right away cause of them bars!

Road rash ate the left shoulder of my jacket, yet it survived. Chipped bone on left left, got a cast. Bike made it. Had to get a new helmet though - went full face after that!


And to this day I remember that feeling, calmness, the warm soothing wind, and the moon.

But here's the quirky part. There was no wind, it was summer in North Sacramento, hot, and the moon was just coming over the horizon! And no one human helped me up by lifting/supporting my right arm. Witnesses said I stood right up, but I was barely able to stand, lost balance and didn't know what was going on. So there has to be a god, angels, something divine there. Hope when I die it will be as peaceful.


Grats again that you are alive, Sir Chako! 

[jzmtl]

Speaking of insurance, good thing you aren't in quebec or you'd have to get your insurance company to pay for it, and stuck with increased premium next year, while the other driver gets off without paying a cent. 

    

Yep, "no fault" insurance, if I recall you aren't allowed to sue the other driver in civil court either.

[Zed]

glad all ok steve, ive had a few motorcycle accidents and ive broke my ribs a few times although mainly bmx racing, in fact my rib cage isnt straight anymore    as said they cant do much and it does hurt so i hope it heels fast mate 


paul

[Outback in Idaho]

glad all ok steve, ive had a few motorcycle accidents and ive broke my ribs a few times although mainly bmx racing, in fact my rib cage isnt straight anymore    as said they cant do much and it does hurt so i hope it heels fast mate 

paul

And don't watch or listen to anything funny! Hurts like hell! 
And stay away from pepper and other sneeze inducing agents.  :O

[Teofilo]

Glad you're ok man! Get well soon!

[Zed]

glad all ok steve, ive had a few motorcycle accidents and ive broke my ribs a few times although mainly bmx racing, in fact my rib cage isnt straight anymore    as said they cant do much and it does hurt so i hope it heels fast mate 

paul

And don't watch or listen to anything funny! Hurts like hell! 
And stay away from pepper and other sneeze inducing agents.  :O

  yeah sneezing is pure pain,

[Chako]

The Docs have me on several pain meds right no. So far I am doing ok. My most painful thing to date that I can't do is bending down to feed the cat. This morning, I remembered I still have my mother's reachers...and using that, I was able to grab the bowl and feed him at his right proper time instead of having to pester my great neighbour. 

I slept in the lazy boy and it felt wonderful.


Last night, a friend called and woke me from a deep sleep. I forgot I was injured and almost passed out from the pain of that sudden motion of grabbing the telephone. Ah well, no pain no gain I guess. 

[duckman1975]

Glad to know you came out almost fine, get well soon 

[Fisting_Chili]

Damn Chako!  You take care buddy.  Get lots of sleep and take your vitamins and eat well!  Last thing you need now is to get sick and get a cough, so stay as healthy as you can!

[Fisting_Chili]

Hells Bells Chako  .
Glade you are still with us mate  .
Take it easy & mend fast mate.

On a side note, I absolutely love your avatar picture MultiMat!   

[Chako]

Just called the Police Dept. The officer who took the case is on vacation. However, the traffic officer on duty read me the report and it would appear they didn't catch the other guy.

[Fisting_Chili]

Just called the Police Dept. The officer who took the case is on vacation. However, the traffic officer on duty read me the report and it would appear they didn't catch the other guy.

grrrr.....

I wish slow rectal leakage upon him/her!

[MultiMat]

Hells Bells Chako  .
Glade you are still with us mate  .
Take it easy & mend fast mate.

On a side note, I absolutely love your avatar picture MultiMat!   

  , a little cheeky 

[Grant Lamontagne]

The Docs have me on several pain meds right no. So far I am doing ok. My most painful thing to date that I can't do is bending down to feed the cat. This morning, I remembered I still have my mother's reachers...and using that, I was able to grab the bowl and feed him at his right proper time instead of having to pester my great neighbour. 

I slept in the lazy boy and it felt wonderful.


Last night, a friend called and woke me from a deep sleep. I forgot I was injured and almost passed out from the pain of that sudden motion of grabbing the telephone. Ah well, no pain no gain I guess. 

Pain is good- it proves you are still alive!

Next time you see a guy saying Helmet Laws Suck, use yours to knock his teeth in.  I've gone without a bucket a few times just for the thrill of it, but only in rare circumstances with little or no other traffic.  It's a great feeling, but so is not being dead.  In fact, I think "not dead" is one of the greatest feelings out there.  Sure you still may not survive a wreck with a helmet on, but as you've proved, it sure helps increase the odds!

Oh, and Jie- a Jeep is no guarantee of safety.  Despite mine being bright yellow, people keep trying to hit it.  I'd almost prefer a stealthy black bike so folks wouldn't be drawn into it! 

Def

[Mr. Whippy]

Just called the Police Dept. The officer who took the case is on vacation. However, the traffic officer on duty read me the report and it would appear they didn't catch the other guy.

What?  An accident occurs at the site of another accident and they let the offender hit and run?   

That is completely PATHETIC!

What exactly happened?  He merged into you and then ran? 

The other guy needs some of this:     

[David]

Chako I`m glad your okay. Hope you heal up fast.

[Chako]

Working hard on the healing part.

This is what happened as far as I can tell...

I was cruising doing the speed limit following traffic on my way to either home or a close friend. I was going down a hill on Second line west. Off in the distance, I could see an ambulance coming up on the inside lane. Now this road is a 4 laner. The road was busy with traffic. I saw the two cars ahead of me turn on their blinkers to move away from the approaching ambulance and into my lane. As there was plenty of room, I slowed down and allowed them to enter. I was slowing down due the Ambulance anyways. Next thing I know, I hear a screech and then I can't breath followed by a wonderful time out. I woke up to a bunch of emergency folks looking over me. I asked about my bike and one told me it was in great shape. I looked a little and saw it over on my right shoulder about 30 feet away or so. They quickly got my gear off, supported my head. One of the firefighters present is a friend. I was taken off to hospital. In Emergency, his wife lied and told them she was my girlfriend in order to talk to me. Up to that point, I was no use to the police officer who was trying to take my statement. I was coherent, but doped up on some heavy stuff. My friend informed me that there were witnesses, and that a car either clipped me or cut me off, that I went over the handlebars, and that a charge is pending.

I phoned today to find out that they haven't found the other guy. The police report stated that I was cut off and lost control of my bike. That is it.

Ah well, I am alive and that is all that counts right now.

[ducktapehero]

I hope they find the other guy. Like Def said, pain is good because it means you're alive. Sending more prayers of healing.

[Mr. Whippy]

Working hard on the healing part.

This is what happened as far as I can tell...

I was cruising doing the speed limit following traffic on my way to either home or a close friend. I was going down a hill on Second line west. Off in the distance, I could see an ambulance coming up on the inside lane. Now this road is a 4 laner. The road was busy with traffic. I saw the two cars ahead of me turn on their blinkers to move away from the approaching ambulance and into my lane. As there was plenty of room, I slowed down and allowed them to enter. I was slowing down due the Ambulance anyways. Next thing I know, I hear a screech and then I can't breath followed by a wonderful time out. I woke up to a bunch of emergency folks looking over me. I asked about my bike and one told me it was in great shape. I looked a little and saw it over on my right shoulder about 30 feet away or so. They quickly got my gear off, supported my head. One of the firefighters present is a friend. I was taken off to hospital. In Emergency, his wife lied and told them she was my girlfriend in order to talk to me. Up to that point, I was no use to the police officer who was trying to take my statement. I was coherent, but doped up on some heavy stuff. My friend informed me that there were witnesses, and that a car either clipped me or cut me off, that I went over the handlebars, and that a charge is pending.

I phoned today to find out that they haven't found the other guy. The police report stated that I was cut off and lost control of my bike. That is it.

Ah well, I am alive and that is all that counts right now.

First:  Heal up!  That's the main thing

Second:  It is important to try and figure out what happened.  Motorcyclists who have accidents where there's no understanding of the mechanism have a high rate of quitting (they start to fear crashing all the time).

If there was no contact, my GUESS is, you swerved and applied brakes at the same time.  This will cause the front tire to wash out without ANY warning and the bike will drop out from under you.  You'll go over the bars, but it's really a lowside crash. 

If there was contact (and hopefully the bike will show evidence of this), then you likely highsided as the bike wobbled/stopped from the hit.

If it was a lowside (first instance), then it's a learning experience.  There is only so much traction available.  Stopping takes a lot, sudden turning (swerving for example) takes a lot.  The two together rapidly raise your risk of going down.

Again, heal up!

[Top-Gear-24]

I know the feeling man ... I'm glad you're still here to tell us your story ...

I've been in a head on collision with my motorcycle and a car (driving on my lane, in the opposite direction  ).  This happened in 1996 and some days I can still feel the pain in my neck. 

Anyway, very glad to see you're doing alright now, all things considered ...

[Outback in Idaho]

The guy or gal that clipped you off was prolly in politics or a friend of the law enforcement. Convenient that the officer that took the report is on vacation the next day.

[Chako]

No clue about that. I do know it was the guy next to me in the other lane. Mr. Whippy, I had no chance in evading him. I was out of his blind spot and in fact was ahead of him slightly. That didn't stop him though. Some of the details are coming back to me now.

Be that as it may, Ontario has no fault insurance…so the details are only required for my own knowledge.

[jzmtl]

Be that as it may, Ontario has no fault insurance…so the details are only required for my own knowledge.

Oh FFS Ontario has it too? I thought it's only a quebec thing.

[Craig]

Glad you're alive. Get well soon

[Black Rose]

Glad you're relatively OK Chako.

Hoping for a quick recovery.

[Turnstone]

Just read the whole story, had a lot of work the last days...

You are really a lucky man, Chako! Good to hear that you are alive and at home, and I hope your pain will be better soon! 

I know what it feels when you are alone at home with an injury and you have to ask your neighbours for help. I had a broken finger when I lived alone, and it was really difficult to do the household with the huge bandage on the hand. I figured out how to to a lot of things after a while, but some things just couldn't be done... 

[ITtechguy]

Bloody hell mate! Glad you are okay

[Paul]

Only just read this Chako, glad your'e OK!

[Chako]

The Insurance Adjuster was in today, and I took him to the garage. It was my first time looking at the motorcycle myself. It pained me to see my Triumph with so much battle damage. The front fender is severely scratched on both sides right down and past the surface plastic layer. Both my mirrors show scrape marks on the housings. There is a dent on my front headlight. There was also several scratches on my beautiful windshield. Both my foot controls are bent and my floor boards on both sides are busted. My new saddle bags don't look so good. They are still useable but they don't look good at all. Various odd dents and scratches on other surfaces. Overall, not as bad as it could be. The adjuster figured the bike got off lightly as most he sees are complete write offs. He took plenty of photos and will now have to do research on Triumph parts to get it back into fighting trim. The windshield and saddle bags protected quite a bit of the motorcycle. My turn signals front and back are still intact. Handlebar grips and controls don't look bad at all. The seat seems undamaged other then boot dirt marks I left during the accident. I know the bike starts up and was driven by my friend to my house...which means the motor is still good, and the foot controls, although bent, are operational. That also tells me the frame is solid and the front handlebars and wheel assembly are ok. The tank looks good also from what I could tell.

Still pained me to see her in such a bad state. 


On a personal note, I seem to be mending nicely. I now have this terrible itch in my ribs. My knees still leak plasma at times as I bend my knees and pull apart the scabs...but that I guess is part of the healing process. I find sitting up and down a bit easier. Still on some strong pain management though. Still stuck at home as I still can't put on a pair of pants to save my life. I had to call my neighbour over today a few times because I could not reach something low. Being dependent on the generosity of your neighbour is a true low for me...but my spirits are up, and thankfully, I do have a great neighbour. We help each other out all the time. So things could be definitely worse by a large margin.

[J-sews]

Just catching up on the week's events Dan. Wow, you are indeed one lucky bugger!! Things could have been so much worse.

But hang in there and keep your spirits up mister, I'm sure you'll be back to 100% before you know it!