By the grace of his riding gear my friend is alive

[jmillheiser]

Got some bad news today. Found out that a good friend of mine (who is also a new biker) was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on monday. It was of cousre a cager turning left right in front of him. He hit the cage and flew over the hood apparantly bouncing off the ground about 4 times according to witnesses and the police. He was wearing his riding gear (full face helmet and an armored Joe Rocket mesh jacket), when the police first got on scene they first thought he was dead but he was alive. His injuries consist of a cracked jaw, broken arm, a minor head injury (has not swelled but they are watching him just in case), and some road rash. His helmet cracked down the middle and his face shield shattered and his jacket was pretty well shredded.

My friend is awake and has no signs of brain damage or spinal injury, and is expected to make a full recovery.

The bike was destroyed in the impact but at least my friend was smart and started with a used bike (the bike was an 81 virago).

It was a foregone conclusion that had my friend not been wearing his gear he would be dead. So by the grace of his riding gear (and possibly some divine intervention) my friend is still alive.

[bigswifty]

f_yeah!

[Analog]

Good post.


Overall, I look at the situation as a positive.

Hopefully, your friend can make a recovery and enjoy riding again. I'm sure something like that can be very discouraging, but if somebody really loves something, they'll be itching to get back to it right away.

[honda599]

Good riding gear certainly helped. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

[Ninja Geoff]

Talk about luck. And people wonder why we (bikers) spend a lot of money on safety gear (well, some of us) and think nothing of it.

[Analog]

If he broke his jaw wearing a full face, I'm sure he'd be dead or permanently injured if he was wearing a half helmet... man...


If you don't mind my asking, how fast was he going when the car hit him? Was he wearing gloves?

hope he gets well and in good spirits.

[sapaul]

Really glad to hear your friend Is OK, Post this on the newbie site too and paste it on any thread that discusses safety gear.

[jmillheiser]

he was going the speed limit (40) when the vehicle pulled in front of him according to what ive been told. There was a skid mark so he did try to brake so I would guess he was going 25-30 when he hit. he did have gloves on. He has no memory of the accident right now, the info I have gotten has been from his mother who got the info from the police.

This accident also made the local paper with the name of the cage driver published for all to see. The cage driver was declared "at-fault" by the police.

Looks like my friend will be out of commission for a few months while he heals. Should be back to work in a couple of months we hope (in addition to being a good friend he is also a coworker). He got a basket of flowers from our employer (Lowe's) and will certainly have no shortage of visitors. HR already put in the paperwork for him to draw on his long term disability so he will have some imcome while he recovers.

[Forsaken]

Now I feel bad. =( I was thinking, "What an idiot, you turn left in front of oncoming traffic you're gonna get hit."

Then I read it again, and it's all clear now. It's good to hear he should make a full recovery. Hopefully he'll jump back in the saddle again.

[CustomZ]

Talk about luck. And people wonder why we (bikers) spend a lot of money on safety gear (well, some of us) and think nothing of it.

thats so true people have been telling me "why are you spending so much money on gear" but all my biker friends have told me "ON'T CHEEP OUT ON GEAR IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE SOME DAY" and you just got to think how much is your life/brain worth.

Hope your friend has a speedy recovery.