Greeblesnitz
Registered
I've been riding bikes for 6 years now and just had my first accident on Tuesday on the way to work. An older gentlemen, i've nicknamed him Mr. Magoo, had flashing red lights in a u-turn/turn lane on the southbound side of rt 13 in new castle, de. I was in the far right lane of the 4 lanes going north. Dry roads, clear out, 4pm, no sun in his eyes, no cars or trucks blocking his view of me, he cut across all four lanes in front of me to turn into a parking lot but did so very slowly. Didnt have any way out of the box (he blocked my lane and was crossing my lane into the shoulder), so I hit the brakes hard and went down. Bike slide for about 20 feet or so and I rolled after the initial hit. Got off the road quick so I didnt get pancaked by a tractor trailer. A couple nice people helped block the lane a bit and helped my get my bike up and off the road and the guy who cut me off stopped and stuck around.
Before I started browsing this forum (couple years ago), I really only wore a helmet and gloves when I rode. After seeing the posts in here about wrecks, low speed, high speed, and the worst, I started wearing gear anytime I road. That saved my hide. I have a nice gouge in my helmet and my face mask is gashed up good. Without the helmet, that would be a concussion or worse. The leather jacket has several spots on it where it is nearly worn through and there are several deep marks in it. Each of those spots would be significant road rash and would have torn up a lot of my ink. Brand new icon leather gloves I had just bought a week before to replace some worn out ones were skinned down but the asphalt didnt break through them. The boots were damaged also. I'm still banged up but it could have been significantly worse than it was. I went to the hospital yesterday and had several xrays done of painful areas and nothing is broken. Difficulty walking but swelling in my ankle, knee, and hip are already starting to subside. I wanted to give my sincere thanks to everyone on here who encourages riders to wear gear. I shudder to think what kind of shape I would be in without it. By the way, I had just gotten my bike out of a storage unit about 5 miles south and I only had another 5 miles north to reach my work. This accident occurred in that short amount of time, so don't make excuses about not going very far. If you don't already do it, gear up!
Before I started browsing this forum (couple years ago), I really only wore a helmet and gloves when I rode. After seeing the posts in here about wrecks, low speed, high speed, and the worst, I started wearing gear anytime I road. That saved my hide. I have a nice gouge in my helmet and my face mask is gashed up good. Without the helmet, that would be a concussion or worse. The leather jacket has several spots on it where it is nearly worn through and there are several deep marks in it. Each of those spots would be significant road rash and would have torn up a lot of my ink. Brand new icon leather gloves I had just bought a week before to replace some worn out ones were skinned down but the asphalt didnt break through them. The boots were damaged also. I'm still banged up but it could have been significantly worse than it was. I went to the hospital yesterday and had several xrays done of painful areas and nothing is broken. Difficulty walking but swelling in my ankle, knee, and hip are already starting to subside. I wanted to give my sincere thanks to everyone on here who encourages riders to wear gear. I shudder to think what kind of shape I would be in without it. By the way, I had just gotten my bike out of a storage unit about 5 miles south and I only had another 5 miles north to reach my work. This accident occurred in that short amount of time, so don't make excuses about not going very far. If you don't already do it, gear up!