The worst and best 3 seconds of my life.

estrasil

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I posted this on Facebook a couple days ago, and thought I might as well share here.


9/4/2020 a car turned in front of me and I was not able to avoid it, and hit it head on at 60 mph, entirely the driver’s fault. This is my story.

I had just finished a fabulous solo 5 day motorcycle ride on my 2013 Yamaha Super Tenere Adventure Motorcycle. This was kind of going to be my last hurrah before having to get serious about finding another job. I had gotten laid off back in January. I had originally planned to do the California BDR (Backcountry Discovery Route), but after having just passed through smoke from fires all day, and seeing nothing but more smoke in the Owens Valley, and sun to the east in Nevada, I changed it up and did part of the Nevada BDR. It was awesome. Scary, yes. Plenty of times… travelling down unknown to me dirt roads, taking wrong turns, and even dropping my bike in sand when I tried to take a shortcut. But for the most part it was all up to me to keep the bike upright.

As I was descending the west side of the Sierras on Hwy 88, from Kirkwood toward Pioneer, I was behind a pickup truck and there was also a car behind me. I was waiting for the next passing lane so that I could position myself in a more visible spot than behind a truck. But I was in the left of my lane, so that I could clearly see oncoming traffic. And I was wearing a bright yellow safety vest, full gear, and I had 28 light bulbs on in the front of my bike.

It was 3pm and all of a sudden I could not believe my eyes. A car coming the other way just turned right in front of me to enter a side street. My instinct told me to go where he is coming from, but there were cars behind that car, so I would have just hit other cars head on. To my right had been nothing but trees, so I really could not just madly throw the bike to the right. At 60 mph this was all happening in milliseconds. I did not have time to brake or slow down, I just tried to go to the right, but the car kept coming, and then I knew with 100 percent certainty that I was going to die. Instantly. No time for my life to flash before my eyes. The car was a Subaru Outback, bluish color… there was a horrific impact and I saw the blue paint and hood crumple. Then I was just spinning super rapidly… the sky and trees and ground were just a blur from spinning. Then the spinning stopped and I thought, wow… there is no way I could possibly be alive. Even if I am alive, I surely will be dead very shortly. Once I realized I was not dead yet, I figured surely I must have no arms or legs left. As a mechanical engineer I at least understand some physics, and nothing made sense that this was not my reality. Once I realized I was alive, I thought, wow, I will take it, even if I have no arms and legs, or am paralyzed. I was lying on my side and my chest hurt really bad. I was able to look back and see my bike far away and the car was totalled looking. Next I was able to roll over onto my knees. I was in the bottom of a ditch. A passerby arrived and was talking to me and offered to help. Another guy came over and looked very shook up. He said he was the driver and felt really bad. He said he saw me in the last split second and tried to not complete the turn and stop, and was hoping that was enough to help some. I was just so happy to be alive, I did not really bear him any ill will. I was very annoyed though that his carelessness almost killed me and possibly was going to take one of my favorite activities away from me. I was able to stand up! I was able to take my helmet and jacket off and sit back on the edge of the ditch. Fire trucks showed up very quickly and a fire fighter came and assessed me. Aside from a horribly sore chest and my left hand feeling very tender, it seemed like I was OK. In my head, being in shock, I thought I would have Kim rent a trailer and make the 3-4 hour drive to pick me and the wreckage up. Meanwhile an ambulance showed up, and a policeman. The policeman asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I was not sure. He said he thought I should. He asked if anyone had a mirror. Then he thought about the ambulance mirror and asked if I could walk. I walked gingerly with him supporting me to the ambulance and saw that my face was bruised. This was enough to convince me that I should probably go to the hospital. Some people grabbed some personal effects off my bike for me, and a very nice lady had found my phone down the road and asked if I wanted her to take pictures of the accident. All my pictures are thanks to her. I had a GoPro on my helmet, but only turned it on occasionally to capture the dirt road sections and wildlife. I also had forward and backward facing cameras on the bike, but the front lens had been chipped so I did not have it on.

I got loaded into the ambulance and I was in very good spirits. The ambulance lady that took care of me was super nice and she hooked me up to various things, and then I was able to text Kim what happened. She started the process of coming up to Jackson to meet me at the hospital. The ambulance ride was probably about a half hour. I got a CT scan and Xrays. This was during COVID, so that made things a bit interesting. But everyone was super nice. One of the male nurses also rides motorcycles, and I told him my biggest fear was that I would not be able to ride again, due to what others, like my parents, girlfriend, and kids would think. He said, you are an adult. You do what you want. That made me feel better. Yet it still took me at least 3 months to finally decide to tell my parents and kids. The doctor came in and said I got super lucky, it looked like I was going to just walk out. But then the technicians interpreted the data better, and next thing I know he tells me I have a broken sternum and a broken hand (Boxer’s fracture). He shot the hand with a pain blocker that made me not feel my hand at all for the next 3 days and then was super weird feeling as it started wearing off. He pulled and stretched and tried to manipulate the break back into place. He told me it was very important to breathe deeply and even to cough holding a pillow to my chest, so I would not get pneumonia. It was a displaced sternum fracture. I have never broken ribs before, but the pain was kind of like that, I imagine. I was terrified to sneeze or cough, and actually was able to keep from doing that for weeks.

Kim really helped me with my recovery. I ended up getting a lawyer, even though my whole life before I had avoided them. This ended up being a great move. The lawyer hooked me up with a pain doctor and sent me all over the place. I got 14 MRI’s. I had the broken sternum, broken hand, strained ligaments in both thumbs, a torn PCL, torn meniscus, and my groin was all bruised up. I went to physical therapy for weeks for the knee and the hand. Any sort of pushup motion could launch really crazy popping ripples throughout my chest/ribs. That part sucked. I walked with a brace, and walking downhill was awkward.

The money to replace my bike came right away. There were a few very weird things about all this. 1. My crash had happened at Inspiration Drive. 2. My friend David Bruegemann, 2 hours before the crash had texted me a picture of his 2014 Yamaha Super Tenere with only $2600 miles on it, that he had asked if I knew anyone that wanted to buy it. 2 weeks later it was in my garage and a great incentive to heal fast. But I was not going to get on it until I was fully healed and had put all the safety features I wanted on it, and I also wanted to buy an airbag vest, more lights, and put some lighted whips with flags on it, and buy a super day glo helmet and vest. I think it was about 8 months before I started riding again. 3. My friend Steve Bacca and his girlfriend (they both ride) were driving to Reno that day and saw a horrible motorcycle crash where they both felt the rider surely died. Well, that was me.

It was an absolute miracle that I survived this crash. I flew 100 feet. I am not sure how much of that was in the air and how much on the ground, it all felt the same to me. If you look at the pictures, there is a “watch out for bicycles” sign directly in the path of my trajectory. I have no idea which side of it I flew past, or whether it was even over it. That would have killed me. Had the car turned one more foot I probably would have impacted the side of the car instead of flying over the hood. My groin dented the gas tank. My chest destroyed the dash of my bike. This whole ordeal has been incredibly humbling and I have generally been super thankful for every second of my second life. I have had at least 3 dreams that were really scary, where I was absolutely convinced I had actually died and all my friends and family were just putting on a charade to make me feel better. I am even more alert and ridiculously careful on my bike, trying to pick times with the least traffic, treating every single car as an enemy, just paying attention beyond attention. People get in their cars and just zone out. You just feel safe in a car, and your attention wanders. Please, please, if you ride, be even more vigilant, and if you drive, think about this story. Don’t be the person that causes an accident like this. And get your affairs in order. Make sure all your beneficiaries are set up. My story could have ended so differently, and my loved ones would have been left to pick up the pieces. I have been wanting to share this story, and hopefully this will give me some closure.
 

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Madhatter

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glad you survived especially glad to hear your perspective.... as a professional driver with 45 years of accident free driving (class A driver ) till one year ago ,had a pick up turn left in front of me .... not 20 ft in front of me when he started his turn .... he is lucky I didn't kill him .... my instincts kicked in and my first move was pull right ,away from him .... but he didn't stop . I got a sprained thumb , he survived ....
you can do all you can but you cant help the kamikaze driver (my term for the driver who for no sane reason makes his move as if your invisible ) , mind you I was in a large class A commercial vehicle and he acted as if I was invisible .... I'm most thankful he survived , never want to hurt anyone for any reason ...
amazing how much goes through ones mind in those 1 or 2 seconds , it seems like minutes . 40 ton truck Vs s10 chevy , it could have ended so very different .
 

Madhatter

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flags are a different approach .... I burn rigid led lights on the front 24 / 7 when the bike is moving ... never trust any one .... head on a swivel .... semi aggressive attitude on the bike .... I own my space , and I use all of it. its weird the attitude change I have when I suit up....
 

estrasil

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glad you survived especially glad to hear your perspective.... as a professional driver with 45 years of accident free driving (class A driver ) till one year ago ,had a pick up turn left in front of me .... not 20 ft in front of me when he started his turn .... he is lucky I didn't kill him .... my instincts kicked in and my first move was pull right ,away from him .... but he didn't stop . I got a sprained thumb , he survived ....
you can do all you can but you cant help the kamikaze driver (my term for the driver who for no sane reason makes his move as if your invisible ) , mind you I was in a large class A commercial vehicle and he acted as if I was invisible .... I'm most thankful he survived , never want to hurt anyone for any reason ...
amazing how much goes through ones mind in those 1 or 2 seconds , it seems like minutes . 40 ton truck Vs s10 chevy , it could have ended so very different .
Wow, thanks for sharing! Your experience sounds horrific, and not comforting at all, that the driver did not see your 40 ton truck!! I had a horrible minivan accident with my mom, 2 kids and one of their friends in the van. The car in front of me just all of a sudden for no reason went left across oncoming traffic and sailed off a cliff. The people coming the other way had to go into my lane to avoid a head-on with that insane person. So I had to go to the right as much as I could. The oncoming car sheered both wheels off the van on the left, and the hill sheered off both wheels on the right. We all walked away with just superficial cuts from breaking glass! The lady that sailed off the cliff landed on the roof of a barn and evidently had a broken ankle. I think the car that hit me also hit cars behind me and there were surely other injuries. Beautiful day, great visibility, straight road... Coming back from a Renaissance faire. Also just a few seconds, me going 60mph and the oncoming car going 60mph. Absolute miracle. I was hoping that was my last accident.
 

estrasil

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flags are a different approach .... I burn rigid led lights on the front 24 / 7 when the bike is moving ... never trust any one .... head on a swivel .... semi aggressive attitude on the bike .... I own my space , and I use all of it. its weird the attitude change I have when I suit up....
I was reading up on why motorcycles are not seen... car drivers don't expect them, they expect cars. I saw some good explanations of that. I also read that motion can make you be seen. So I did everything I possibly could to my bike to try to be seen. I have the high vis helmet and airbag. All those lights. Even more that don't show in the picture.... the whip lights are constantly doing a light pattern. And the flags flap around and hopefully also get someones attention. But holy cow, if the person can't even see a 40 ton truck, all bets are off.
 

Checkswrecks

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One of my high school friends died when he drove into the back of a trash truck.

My"big" accident was sorta like yours but in the 70s. Small station wagon was coming the other way and made a left that crossed in front of me to go in a side street. I almost made it around his rear but hit it behind the rear wheel and went over the roof.
 

Strummer

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Happy you are alive and back driving.
It takes some guts to drive again after a serious accident like yours.
Well done mate.
 

Madhatter

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it was also daylight in my case and I run with my lights on ..... when we hit I was going about 55 mph ....
it completely freaked me out post wreck when the adrenaline wore off. I never spoke to the other driver ,never got an answer of why he did what he did . and the thought 'if he cant see this truck in daylight what chance on a motorcycle " .
I did my Colorado motorcycle trip , my friends completely pissed me off when complaining about my slowness in some areas with traffic , curves , 1000 ft drop offs .... I'm better now , not so reactive ...
I can read traffic , it comes from all the millions of miles , I've seen it all .... the number one killer of motorcyclist is not making the curve .... riding off the road and hitting something not left turning cars... their number 2 or 3 , getting rear ended is one of those I think .... its a dangerous world .
that person who has their head so completely up their butts they are out there.... and then there is the kamikaze driver .
 

Madhatter

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to me the biggest lie on the planet is "I didn't see him " , lie lie lie , they didn't care to make sure it was clear. but law enforcement seems to buy into that alibi ..... maybe if I shoot some one I can use that same alibi ? I didn't see them ,sounds lame , why do car drivers get off with that lame excuse ???
 

Checkswrecks

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to me the biggest lie on the planet is "I didn't see him " , lie lie lie , they didn't care to make sure it was clear. but law enforcement seems to buy into that alibi ..... maybe if I shoot some one I can use that same alibi ? I didn't see them ,sounds lame , why do car drivers get off with that lame excuse ???
Disagree. I've done classes on interview techniques and there is definitely a LOT we don't see. Below are a couple of humorous videos.



And I'll bet almost everybody here misses a detail in this one that's close to home.
 

WJBertrand

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Seeing something and then registering/recognizing in your brain what you’ve seen, are two completely separate processes as demonstrated by countless experiments.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

Madhatter

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You don’t see if your distracted. When you take the time to scan you will see. I understand human visual limitations. And things can get missed. But 45 years of no accidents in a class A vehicle is no accident . That other driver is alive because I reacted correctly. I saw him . What was he doing that kept him from seeing me. He wasn’t paying attention to the drive. That’s obvious.
 

Madhatter

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So when they tell the officers they didn’t see you and your life is slipping away, those videos should comfort your family.
 

Don in Lodi

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Ryan Fortnine does a video on selective vision, not the right words, but you get it. The brain does some weird shit sometimes. As outrageous as it sounds, it's really possible to "not see them".
 

Sierra1

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to me the biggest lie on the planet is "I didn't see him " , lie lie lie , they didn't care to make sure it was clear. but law enforcement seems to buy into that alibi ..... maybe if I shoot some one I can use that same alibi ? I didn't see them ,sounds lame , why do car drivers get off with that lame excuse ???
Then you have a lazy LEO. Just because a person doesn't see a car/bike, doesn't mean it wasn't there. I've always used the "reasonable man standard". And, with the exception of something physically blocking their vision, I never cared if they didn't see something. Would the ordinary reasonable man have seen it if he was paying attention? And, avoided the crash?
 

DamMechanic

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What a story of survival and glad your here and riding again.
I try to do all my rides early in the morning starting at sunrise. Where I live all the major roads are two lane highways with lots of recreational things for the cagers to do. By the afternoon people are driving like idiots passing other drivers and forcing the oncoming drivers to dive to the shoulders. Or in the case of this year, I’ve seen drivers passing slower drivers on the right hand shoulders.
 

Checkswrecks

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And CW you weren’t there.
Never said I was. I was addressing the judgement call that somebody saying they didn't see somebody/something made them a liar.

Separate subject: Glad you and the pickup driver both lived. When somebody dies on you, you question yourself forever after.
 
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