"I never saw him officer"
 

This accident involved the typical quote from the driver. "I never saw him." While riding home from school in Tampa in March 2012 on my 2009 Husky 610sm I start to pass a sports car in the center lane of the freeway. I'm going about 65mph making it a point not to linger next to him. As I'm just along side him he makes an erratic left lane change without looking and the drivers door pillar hits my handlebars. I had just enough time to look over and look into his eyes before we made contact and the rest is history. The bike goes into a vicious tank slapper and of course with me at top gear I've got no ability to power out of it. After what seemed like a dozen stop to stop hits the bike slams down hard on the right hand side and I'm skidding down the freeway on my left hip while spinning like a dreidel. The first thing I realize is there is a F-150 right behind me and the only thing I can think is "great I survived the initial impact and now i'm going to get run over by the following vehicle." Luckily for me the driver stopped in time. The driver of the car stops next to me on the freeway and then proceeds to ask me "what do you want to do?" I'm so stunned at this point I just yell for him to pull over to the shoulder as if I'd say "eh it's just a flesh wound just continue with your day." I quickly pick up the bike and move it over to the shoulder of the road. At this point I'm feeling pretty lucky as I was able to actually pick up the bike by myself I figure i'm doing pretty good. After taking a second to realize everything I can see is in working order I decide to sit on the guard rail and collect my thoughts. Which ends up being a huge mistake, unbeknownst to me I had skidded on my butt and that area of the pants is gone and the skin is exposed. Pain tells me to just lean over on the bike for support. The kid is terrified but luckily for me at least had insurance. Ironically he goes to the same school as me and saw me leaving the campus and was curious as to what kind of bike I had. Well he got the chance to get up close and personal with it. A fire and rescue rig shows up and gives me some dry dressings to cover my cheeks but I have to wait for 2 hours for a state trooper to show up and do a police report even though multiple sheriff's deputies just cruise on by. I don't understand the jurisdiction requirements, and why it even matters who writes the report. Of course the one day I don't wear my motorcycle jeans and substitue with another pair of pants I get in a wreck so needless to say ATGATT. But I was wearing everything else including my gloves, helmet, Astar mx knee guards, boots and jacket so I came out better than if I was in the typical squid attire for Florida. The bike suffered a smashed right radiator, broken rear set, axle sliders broken front and rear, scratched crank case cover, bent handlebars, and gnarled bark-buster. I'm just glad to be able to continue to ride another day and that I didn't have to pay for the repairs or replacement of my gear.
:deal Sleeping and driving a car was painful for the next month but I'll take that over a lengthy hospital stay. I thought the freeway a safer route home due to the less likelihood of cars turning in front of me but I was wrong on that day.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...1/IMG_1850.jpg
what's left of my carhartts
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my Astars knee guards that I wear all the time which saved my knee this time
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...1/IMG_1856.jpg
SS gear is cheap in price but not in quality, it performed perfectly and held up quite well for a mesh jacket
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...IMG_1852-1.jpg
ATGATT because pain is a strong reminder
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The line-x plastics done 3 days prior saved them from getting destroyed

In cases like this a trip to emergency can be helpful to get the wound properly cleaned. Expensive, but worth it. My last crash at speed, over 35 years ago, I went to emergency. They cleaned the wounds, it literally hurt no more than it did just being exposed to the air. The young lady was very gentle. She was also pretty, but not interested in me unfortunately.

Rod.

Anticipation, the aspect of motorcycling that detracts form the fun. What will they do, what will I do? The older you get, the more you anticipate. That's how you get older.

I've heard that before. High beams, extra lights, +5mph over traffic pace, and they still don't look. The only excuse they have is that you were not driving an 18 wheeler so they did not see you. They can't admit they didn't look :eek1 Glad you were not hurt bad!!

This is why my drivers education teacher said "Make in the habit of looking out for motorcycles, not cars, if you look for something small, you can't miss something big."

Also why I most spend my time off road. Asphalt at mountain bike speeds hurt, and the road is full of idiots. Learned that doing all that pedaling 30+ miles everyday. No interest in experiencing it on a motorcycle. It's like no one sees you, I been hit twice at low speeds on the damned mountain bike. car ain;t gotta be moving fast at all to hurt. Nothing worse than going through your right of way and you hear screech and then whack!

They're out to kill us all on two wheels, I honestly thank god you (and your bike) got out okay! Keep on riding bro

Can't tell you how happy I am to hear that you're okay and the jacket held up. I've got the same one (looks like Speed & Strength Moment of Truth) and really like it but have worried about its durability. Looks like it did better than I would have dared hope. Any feedback on the foam armor or anything else about the jacket?

This post also reaffirms why I spend the time putting on my uncomfortable knee pads every time I ride even though I hate them.

It's really in your hands....don't expect anyone to care
 

NOT trying to take away the driver's lack of mind set to look out for MCs, but the QUOTE says it all.

No one looking out for us but US. Ride into the battle ground daily, aromor on & you might just get to go home daily.

good luck to you

I went to the ER when I did a little circus act back in 2007. I had all the gear, but was a little bruised up, so I figured what the heck, let's take a ride. ER nurses usually have NO sympathy for riders that come in. Within about 15 minutes of being in the ER, I was told they were going to give me a CT scan. I asked why, I feel OK. The nurse told me in clenched teeth, "Because you could've ripped your spleen and you could be bleeding to death internally right now!" Gee thanks for the kind thoughts.

So, something else to consider when you hit the pavement hard. A ripped spleen is pretty painless, or so I've been told.

The pain from a ruptured spleen is felt in front if the left shoulder; I know, it sounds strange, but that is where mine hurt, had no idea I was bleeding internally until the X-rays came back. Still have the scar from removal plus from the hose in my left side, draining the excess blood; almost didn't make it.

The only place I have ever had to kick a car door was in In in Tampa...lol.

Glad you managed to get away with just scrapes and bruises.

On a side note, this is why I NEVER stay next to a car in traffic.

I did not feel anything from the spleen, but I had a lot of other issues.
I had no idea what one was or what could happen if you screwed it up.
It was my ortho doc who clued me in when he looked at my info and said I was lucky to be alive.
If you fall hard enough to damage the spleen, usually something else would hurt enough to mask any pain you might feel from the spleen, and it likely does not hurt till your innards fill up with blood.

What she really meant "You have good insurance and we're milking everything we can from it."

I get uneasy when they linger

Just rode the I-75 through Tampa last week. What a mess that is.

As to being in top gear and having no way to power out of a situation, I always ride through urban freeways dropped into fifth, that way I can hopefully still have some powerband to work with.

Words of wisdom right here.

My belief on this SMINSY phenom is that they do see you but you don't register as a threat to their movement.

I've seen, gosh countless times, some guy about to pull out into the street, but he pauses when he sees me riding toward him. After that hesitation, he pulls out anyway because clearly he knows I will need to brake or swerve or something. No way would he have done that were I a dump truck.

I'm sure that had I hit him not having time to brake or room to swerve, it would have been, "I never saw him".