Broke my arm, some road rash

[rsperko]

I haven't been on the forum for a week and a half now.

June 30th I was on my way to work on the right east bound lane maybe 25mph, there was a van in the left east bound lane a car length or so ahead. Apparently there was a car in the west bound lane waiting for that van to pass so it could turn. It did turn directly in front of me. I swerved to miss it and the next thing I know I am sliding across the road.

My first thought was "is that my helmet grinding on the pavement?" second was "my armored jacket is working!" and third was "wow, I am sliding a long way". I crawled out of the left east bound lane to the right where my scooter was laying figuring it would reduce my chances of getting run over. Then I blacked out.

Fortunately there was a guy on a Harley right behind me and he saw the whole thing. He called 911. The car just kept going.

So, I have a broken arm and road rash on the knee. I am VERY happy it wasn't worse. The scooter was taken across the street to the Harley Davidson plant where it sat in a long row of Harleys. One cheap chinese scooter and 500 Harleys.

After I heal I will probably ride it again. I had taken the MSF course. I had four seconds between me and the car in front, I know what was behind me, I was watching everything except what was on the other side of that van.

I just wanted to post this story, glad I took the advice here and wore the safety gear.

Thank you everybody.

[scooterollie]

rsperko,
Thank God you are OK and have relatively minor injuries. Your story is a great testimony about safety gear!! Thanks for sharing. Hope you heal fast. Just this year I started to ride with FULL safety gear. It is more fun to ride in shorts, a tee and bare knuckles but it sure isn't smart.

[rattlemeter]

Sorry to hear about your injuries, but very glad you're still with us.

How did your scooter come through?

[rsperko]

The scooter did way better than I did. The front left blinker lens is ground down a couple of scratches on that side and the ball at the end of the rear brake handle is ground to half its original size. From a little distance you cannot tell anything is wrong with it.

We had a friend who has been riding for a while inspect it and ride it home. He had no problems.

["Big Guy"]

Well rsperko I'm glad you're okay! Good thing you had the riding gear... Hope you heal up quick.


-Rich

[earlwb]

Bummer. Glad you came out of it OK. yeah the riding gear and helmet really work.
Heal up fast.

[bike4miles]

Were you wearing a full face helmet or just a standard? Glad you made it out ok. Really lame of the driver to just leave you behind but good chance they didn't even know what happend. I got hit on my bicycle once and the guy didn't even hit the brakes till I had already bounced off his from bumper.

Your story goes to show that even with defensive riding you still have to be prepaired for the un-expected with some protective gear!

[scootingranny]

I have been hearing about so many incidents where a cager caused an accident and just gets to drive away scott free. Angers me unbelievably. Wish scoots had an ejection seat with parachute and handling controls so that like 007, we could eject (safely and with control of where we land, naturally!) and just let the scoot slam into their car. I'd had to lose my scoot that way but geezz...sometimes it's as if they don't care what they did or are so oblivious to their surroundings that they don't even know what they did.

Glad your injuries are not any worse and that your scoot is going to be ok. Hope you are up and riding again soon.

[gusset]

I'm glad your gear did its job, rsperko, and I hope you heal up quickly and well.

Can you think of anything you will do differently when you get back out on the streets, in light of your experience? I try to imagine myself in riding situations when I read an accident report, in order to learn from the experience of others.

I have to admit, though it's only been a few moments of thinking, I can't come up with a really good "shoulda" for your situation. It's always good to do what you can to stay out of the "visibility shadow" of other vehicles via following distance from cars in all lanes, and the left lane is at times the most visible place to be from the standpoint of oncoming traffic, but both of those "solutions" are not perfect or universally available...if traffic in the left lane is passing you, there will always be a moment or more when you're in their "visibility shadow", and it's unrealistic to ride in the left lane 100% of the time.

If you have any thoughts on your experience relative to riding habits, I'd appreciate hearing them.

[buddymom]

so sorry to hear what happened. hope you heal and thanks to the harley rider, too bad he didn't get the plate of the car.

[gottascoot]

Thank God you are ok other than your arm and I hope it heals fast.I `m sorry I don`t care about the scooter you only have one body,scooters and motorcycles don`t feel anything.I have cut four fingers off my left hand,(guitar player)and had them put back on.PAIN? I`m back playing as good as ever.Thank God you are ok.Thank the biker for stopping to help,if I was on my motorcycle,on my scooter or in my cage I`m gonna help someone in need. -Gottascoot

[Scoot'n Blues]

Unfortunately cager's don't watch for scoots or motorcycles, or cycles. Most are too busy talking on their cell phones. I was in my cage and this lady almost t-boned me and never even noticed. And I am not kidding it was only a foot or two!!! Everyone else around looked shocked it didn't happen and gave me that look of "angels are working your brakes".

Glad you are alive and should heal fast.

[drhat]

i am SO glad your are OK ! your story has convinced me to go and get a reinforced riding jacket .
heal quick Bud !

[rsperko]

Since I do not see how I could have avoided the situation other than being on a different road at that time, I am going to pick up some tennis balls cut them in half and set up the MSF obstacle courses to practice. They gave us a booklet with their courses.

I ordered a replacement helmet and jacket yesterday. Now I just need to heal and fix my blinker.

Thank you for all of the comments and good wishes. They really do make me feel better.

-Rick

[tscoot]

wow get well soon and get back on,glad to hear the gear saved some skin ,gonna have to invest in some dont think the harley vest will go far on skoot lol

[dean]

Hi Rick,

Sounds like you will be back on the road before the doctors recommend it! For whatever its worth here are my observations:

An emergency stop is better than an evasive maneuver, if a stop is possible. If a (controlled) stop is not possible, then slow and swerve.

One thing to keep in mind is how fast you are going in feet per second. Its easy to calculate: multiply mph by 1.5. In your 25 mph case that is about 37 fps. (40 mph = 60 fps).

Problem: If it takes a half second to reach the brakes and another half second to squeeze them, you have gone almost 37 feet before even slowing down. Now add 20 feet for the actual braking and you have traveled 57 feet before stopping.

Did you have 57 feet between the time you saw the car turning in front of you and the time you reacted? At 25 miles an hour you will need to know what is going on in front of you at least 60 feet ahead if you want to stop before disaster strikes.

Solution: If you cannot see that far ahead, which seems the case here while the van was blocking your view of oncoming traffic, you need to reposition yourself on the road so that you can (perhaps by slowing down to let the van move up farther, or moving behind the van at a safe distance). Sometimes I will position myself so that a car runs interference for me. Another thing I do is cover both brakes (and slow down if there is a potential hazard) whenever I approach an intersection; that will reduce reaction time and stopping distance in case of a surprise. Always use both brakes, even when just covering them -- in an emergency you will act according to habit, so develop good habits.

[rsperko]

Thanks for the feedback. Sincerely. I was focused on the MSF recommended 4 seconds and 12 seconds ahead. I was watching both sides of the street...

There are so many things that can happen on the road, now watching for vans running in the next lane is something I will keep a greater distance from. I also agree with your point on falling back on habit in an emergency. My goal is to practice maneuvering regularly. Stopping wasn't an option here, but I plan to practice my emergency stops more.

I found out today I need surgery for my arm. I am going in on Thursday. The nurse informed me that my doctor/surgeon doesn't wear a helmet. I do not know if it is true, but to each his own. My replacement helmet arrived today. Now I can sit in my chair wearing it. I am waiting on the jacket, but I am obviously in no rush.

I have gone out and done some one armed maintenance on the scoot, so yes, I will be back.

Thanks for all the input,
-Rick

[gy6rocket]

Glad to hear you are ok, I know you were following the 4 second rule, but you broke the rule that comes even before the 4 second rule, and that's: "See, and be seen"

Your placement on the road never gave the driver who almost hit you a chance to see you. The drivers field of vision was blacked by the van which totally eclipsed the scoot. Its even worse as you get closer in this type of situation. Permit me to elaborate with this quick paint render. The blue box is the scoot, the white boxes are cars. Yellow is divider, red is field of vision from car turning left. Riding at the same mph as the van is a bad idea, either fall back or pull ahead; as you can see in the diagram you were not seen.

[phaze]

when you guys get more seat time, you will learn, the problem is itll hurt, i read these posts all the time and i guess ive ridden some sort of extreme machine pretty much as a child, id guess 1974 ish dont hold me too it though,

well when i ride its like second nature, i always leave my self an escape but you cant possibly think youll always be able to escape, you wont but you can be better prepared for it,

your head has to be like a tank turret, i taught myself this technique when i was 15 and bought my first bike, i learned to drive in newly developed housing communities i was on the nights and weekends program, just like road america,

i learned how to make the bike do what it does so when i ride in public i can focus on the traffic as opposed to my bike, i think theres a good many of you that have never been on motor anything that are thinkin im 6'2 and i can handle anything type, i just hope you can handle the pain,

i am a adrenalin junkie and i am completely responsible for my actions and yes ive been down several times, but i always laid it down where it was the safest place. theres no safe place just a better spot i should say.
practice more in private roads or malls or as i did, you are too concerned with falling down and scratchin your scoot, you must learn at slow speeds first.

things like what your bike does when you nail the front brakes, how do you recover or your rear tire what happens if you hit a bump and your front end lifts a little, do you panic or say that was cool. what do you do if the back tire slips on you can you ride it out or are you going down. i guess you guys should just practice before you throw your self to the lions and of course this is just my opinion and if you are a pro rider then ride on as you already mastered it.