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Encountered a motorcycle crash.

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Warning and spoiler alert: if you don’t like descriptions or photos of crashed motorcycles or crash victims, do not read this post.

Today I was riding my NCX in a scenic area near the Mississippi River. It was a Saturday, so I did see a large number of motorcycles out.

I rode about 200 miles today, sightseeing and looking for good motorcycling roads that I had perhaps not yet discovered. I chose a promising side road route and came upon a nice curvy rural two laner with good surface conditions. I settled in to an easy pace on this new to me road, enjoying the curves and scenery. Judging from the number of bikes that passed me from the other direction, the road had been discovered by other riders.

Rather abruptly, a trio of motorcycles appeared in my mirrors. I immediately thought, I don’t want those riders pushing me through the curves, so I pulled to the far edge of the road and waved them by. They took the bait, waved as they passed, and quickly disappeared. I was later able to identify these bikes as a Yamaha FJR leading two Harley heavyweight cruisers.

About five minutes later, I was gently rounding the second curve of an S curve, and came upon a crash scene. I had enough “bandwidth” to slow and u-turn to the side and park before actually passing the crash. The picture below is what I saw.

3DCCA951-4C0D-4CE2-B5C3-6865A8A5A262.jpeg

I walked to scene to see more closely that a Harley was wedged under the front of the pickup, and the rider was in the grassy ditch beside the truck. I monitored traffic coming around the bend to warn them to slow down. The two other riders in their group were tending to the downed rider.

FF21A750-8E3E-4226-AF56-69E3A4979BB9.jpeg

Worth noting in the first picture is that the skid marks indicated the rider had gone down while in their own lane, and slid across the road into the path of the law abiding pickup. The driver of the truck, about retiree age, with spouse as passenger, said he came around the corner to see a motorcycle sliding across the pavement into his lane. What could he do? I can’t imagine how this rider dropped the bike in his/her own lane, not even halfway through the curve, on clean, dry pavement, but that’s what the scene would indicate. It is also probable, from the early advent of bike skid marks, and from the visibility around the curve, that the crash rider was going down before he/she even saw the truck in the opposite lane. The truck just had bad luck timing.

Another aspect worth noting is the rider’s gear. He or she wore a jacket and a helmet. I don’t know about gloves. The pants were denim jeans and the on the feet were athletic shoes. One shoe was now under the truck, while the other was loose in the ditch. The rider had road rash on the lower back, suggesting the jacket rode up and exposed the back, and the jeans were somewhat shredded in the seat of the pants.

9C0DA26C-29A1-4F3F-902C-734901ED9D5D.jpeg

Eventually, nine emergency vehicles appeared on site and the injured rider was hauled off in an ambulance. There was talk of a possible helicopter ride, but apparently that was not needed.

So what is the takeaway? On the surface it seems two Harley riders were being led on a ride by a rider with a more capable machine, an FJR. Maybe the followers were less experienced, but who knows? They were going faster than me, but I had a large safety margin built in, to be able to stop controllably even before passing the crash site. The crashed rider lacked proper gear, wearing jeans and sneakers. The jeans partly shredded and the shoes left the feet. The shoes do no good if they’re not on your feet. I do have to say this rider’s gear was better than 97% of the rest of riders I saw today; most all were helmetless and clad in jeans, t-shirts and tank tops.

Key points: wear all the gear, all the time, don’t ride beyond your ability, and ride your own ride, maintain a safety cushion to deal with the unexpected. Little did that person know, that five minutes after the wave and passing me by, that the Harley would be totaled and he/she would be hurting badly and hauled off to the hospital.

E8DB9F43-E8F5-46E5-AA4B-70D8AEF7A718.jpeg

I also thought about how many other people were or would be involved in this rider‘s mistake: the sheriffs’s deputy, the city cop, at least a dozen firefighters, the ambulance crew, the couple whose truck was involved/damaged, the tow truck operator, the hospital personnel that will tend to the patient, the body shop that will fix the guys truck, the insurance adjusters, and on and on. And what if the rider has permanent or long lasting injuries? Simply put, this is a big deal, and something we all should be thinking about.

Ironically, as you can see in the first photo, the crash took place right in front of a cemetery. Hopefully it wasn’t this rider’s last day.
 
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Warning and spoiler alert: if you don’t like descriptions or photos of crashed motorcycles or crash victims, do not read this post.

Today I was riding my NCX in a scenic area near the Mississippi River. It was a Saturday, so I did see a large number of motorcycles out.

I rode about 200 miles today, sightseeing and looking for good motorcycling roads that I had perhaps not yet discovered. I chose a promising side road route and came upon a nice curvy rural two laner with good surface conditions. I settled in to an easy pace on this new to me rode, enjoying the curves and scenery. Judging from the number of bike that passed me from the other direction, the road had been discovered by other riders.

Rather abruptly, a trio of bike appeared in my mirrors. I immediately thought, I don’t want those guys pushing me through the curves, so I pulled to the far edge of the road and waved them by. They obliged, waved as they passed, and quickly disappeared. I was later able to identify these bikes as a Yamaha FJR leading two Harley heavyweight cruisers.

About five minutes later, I was gently rounding the second curve of as S curve, and came upon a crash scene. I had enough “bandwidth” to slow and u-turn to the side and park before actually passing the crash. The picture below is what I saw.
View attachment 50051

I walked to scene to see more closely that a Harley was wedged under the front of the pickup, and the rider was in the grassy ditch beside the truck. I monitored traffic coming around the bend to warn them to slow down. The two other riders in the group were tending to the downed rider.

View attachment 50052

Worth noting in the first picture is that the skid marks indicated the rider had gone down while in their own lane, and slid across the road into the path of the law abiding pickup. The driver of the truck, about retiree age, with spouse as passenger, said he came around the corner to see a motorcycle sliding across the pavement into his lane. What could he do? I can’t imagine how this rider dropped the bike in his own lane, not even halfway through the curve, on clean, dry pavement, but that’s what the scene would indicate.

Another aspect worth noting is the rider’s gear. He wore a jacket and a helmet. I don’t know about gloves. The pants were denim jeans and the on the feet were athletic shoes. One shoe was now under the truck, while the other was loose in the ditch. The rider had road rash on the lower back, suggesting the jacket rode up and exposed the back, and the jeans were somewhat shredded in the seat of the pants.

View attachment 50053

Eventually, nine emergency vehicles appeared on site and the injured rider was hauled off in an ambulance.

So what is the takeaway? On the surface it seems two Harley riders were being led on a ride by a rider with a more capable machine, an FJR. Maybe the followers were less experienced, but who knows? There were going faster than me, but I had a large safety margin built in to be able to stop controllably even before passing the crash site. The rider lacked proper gear, wearing jeans and sneakers. The jeans partly shredded and the shoes left the feet. The shoes do no good if they’re not on your feet. I do have to say this rider’s gear was better than 97% of the rest of riders I saw today, most were helmetless and clad on jeans, t-shirts and tank tops.

Key points: wear all the gear, all the time, don’t ride beyond your ability, and ride your own ride.

Little did that guy know, that five minutes after he waved and passed me by, that his Harly would be totaled and he’d be hauled off to the hospital.

View attachment 50054
My recent posts about wanting to ride with my wife as passenger. I met her while we were both working nights in a county hospital and we both can recall some of the riders that were brought into the emergency room. I'll leave the description at that. Thanks for sharing this sobering experience. Hopefully the rider that got pinned makes out well.
 
While I doubt you will hear more, please let us know if that rider survived. The road rash also convinced me to get a 3/4 length summer jacket.
 
My recent posts about wanting to ride with my wife as passenger. I met her while we were both working nights in a county hospital and we both can recall some of the riders that were brought into the emergency room. I'll leave the description at that. Thanks for sharing this sobering experience. Hopefully the rider that got pinned makes out well.
I sort of know what you mean. I knew a couple as close friends; the wife was a CT technologist, often working in the ER. She refused to let her husband ride street motorcycles, based on the mototorcycle crash victims she saw coming into the ER. He did get permission to ride dirt bikes, which aren’t entirely safe either, but in her eyes better than street bikes.
 
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do the fresh scrape marks in the first pic indicate the rider was down and sliding and went into the pickup?
In my opinion, and from what the pickup truck driver said, yes, the motorcycle was on it’s side well before impacting the truck. The first photo doesn’t show the entire length of the metal-on-pavement motorcycle slide.

This photo shows more:

7BCF7E4D-0CD0-441E-B57A-AE10FFB2C4EC.jpeg
 
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Failure to negotiate a curve that countless other vehicles did yesterday and everyday. I reserve my own judgement.

It looks like the bike low sided and rotated nearly 180 degrees before the two vehicles came together. I hope he recovers and gets back in the saddle.
 
This photo shows more:
Looks like a big rear brake "oh shit" moment

I came across a rider on my way home from work a couple of years ago. He was thrown about 20 metres off his bike into a suburban artificial lake. He appears to have reached highway speeds in a shopping centre carpark.
High on meth life,
Attire: basketball jersey and fingerless gloves.
Body: hurty
1660008096542.jpeg
 
Looks like a big rear brake "oh shit" moment

I came across a rider on my way home from work a couple of years ago. He was thrown about 20 metres off his bike into a suburban artificial lake. He appears to have reached highway speeds in a shopping centre carpark.
High on meth life,
Attire: basketball jersey and fingerless gloves.
Body: hurty
View attachment 50152
Fortunately being high on something means he won’t feel the hurty. Silver lining in every cloud.
 
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