Had first bike 3 months - first serious crash

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Riding home on the 125, Micra pulls out directly in front of me for no reason, I didn't even have time to swerve. My front wheel hit the car so hard it went through the numberplate and grill and into the engine compartment somewhere.

I flew over the handlebars, over his bonnet so fast I didn't hit it at all apart from smashing my leg into his windscreen on the way past, flipped over, and landed on my head rolling onto my back and slid for about 3 metres. I have one small bruise on my leg and that's it. Nothing else whatsoever. The crash helmet has 2 big marks on it where it had slapped the ground. The bike maybe a write-off -- gear level thing was snapped off, the windmirror thing was snapped off, the stand was bent, but mainly the front wheel no longer faces forward it faces about 8 degrees to the left from the handlebars(!), and there are scratches and the like.

As soon as I did it I stood up, took off my gloves and for some reason chucked them at the bloke getting out of his Micra. I ended up with no medical problems at all, he ended up suffering shock and going to hospital.

Best thing was a policeman was on the beat and saw it all, and we're all fully insured and the driver said to the copper, on the record, it was 100% his fault.

This is my first spill on a bike, and the wierdest thing is it honestly wasn't too bad. I mean I play footy a lot, and all it was like is a hard sliding tackle into my leg. I was probably in the air for about 12 foot, but it just didn't kind of hurt at all.

So does this make me incredibly lucky? Or is 30mph being thrown over a car really not that big a deal if you're wearing all the protective gear and hit nothing solid apart from the road?

I reckon I could come off a bike at 60 and, if I just fly over whatever I hit and smack into the road and slide, walk away no big deal!!

Not put off bikes at all .. just learnt that the safety gear nowadays is pretty marvellous!
 
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Proper £240 helmet with visor down (!I ride a lot with it up .. which would have been nasty maybe!). Biking trousers, bike padded biking jacket with winter stuff underneath (for warmth but also would have done something).

Biking gloves and bike boots. Basically the full thing. One thing -- I will never EVER go out without the full protective gear on now (not that I did, but this has reaffirmed it)

Believe it or not Felix I was doing NOTHING wrong. You don't have to ride like a muppet to get caught out. But the other car drivers lept out of their cars like I'd just been beheaded or something! I was seriously telling the other drivers just to calm down, chill out, and go away! I must have said 'I am not hurt' over 30 times!
 
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Yep I'm only 3 months in. I did get lucky -- if it was a van I wouldn't have been thrown over it, I'd have been thrown into the side of it. Game over, thanks for playing!
 
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Lucky ;) Although, from personal experience, you get better at surviving them as you go along. As for coming off at 60mph, I came off at 70mph and surfed the pavement on one knee which left a pretty decent hole through to the kneecap. Pure luck that I didn't do more than break both wrists from the initial kerb impact and me hanging on for dear life to the bars (which bent as my wrists crunched).
I might be talking complete rowlocks but watch plenty of bike crashes on whatever vid site you prefer and if you're ever in a position where you can see an unavoidable smash about to involve you, you might just position yourself correctly to slide on through and get away with friction burns rather than crush injuries and/or breaks :)

Oh obligatory horror story, from nurse friend. Rider hit a car side on and went flying over the top and landed flat on his front and the road scraped away the front of the crash helmet and most of his face. Not sure of the speed involved but I think the road surface was shellgrip :O
 
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Do you have one of those jackets with the back brace thing? can make a massive difference.

I'd say the safety gear made a fair difference between walking away from it and more serious injuries.
 
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Do you have one of those jackets with the back brace thing? can make a massive difference.

I'd say the safety gear made a fair difference between walking away from it and more serious injuries.

Yea I have a full 'back brace' thing in my jacket. I think this may have saved a lot of trouble as my back took the worst of the hit.

My wife put it well when she said 'Even if with no protective clothing you ran at a Micra and threw yourself over the bonnet and landed on your back and head the other side - at - what - 5mph -- you'd still expect to be quite badly hurt'

Which is a kind of good point! I got away Scott free.

My mum said 'This is the 'devils warning' .. it means next time you'll die. Sell the bike!' . She is a bit of a wierdo though ..
 
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Glad you're ok.

The great thing about biking clothes is that they stop your skin coming off when you fall off. However, they don't stop you breaking yourself nastily internally. You were lucky this time, people have been injured far worse in far less energetic crashes.

Also, give it a day or two. You'd be surprised how much stiffness and brusing may come out over the next few days that you just don't notice at the time due to shock/adrenaline etc.
 
Soldato
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Yup, get yourself a new helmet mate (and carefully inspect your leathers in the cold light of day!).

This is why I could never bring myself to get a bike, you're just so damn vulnerable to a) idiots and b) honest mistakes that do happen, and can be disastrous.

Anyway, kudos to you for having the common sense to wear full gear :). Also makes you appreciate how ****ing crazy the kids on scooters doing 30mph in jeans and a tshirt are!

Get a good night's sleep matey, hope you don't hurt too much in the morning!
 
Soldato
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I reckon I could come off a bike at 60 and, if I just fly over whatever I hit and smack into the road and slide, walk away no big deal!!

This is true which is why MotoGP riders just get up after a crash.

It's when you hit street furniture or another stationary object at 60mph that you really do damage though.

Good to know you're ok. :)
 
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You were lucky that's all. Theres a guy that goes round the village where I used to live in a wheelchair with much the same accident as you but he landed with a jolt on his backside and lost the use of his legs.

You already seem to have this idea in your head that pulling on this gear makes you super human, a really bad for a biker to carry around.

If the angle you are thrown is a shallow one and you slide rather than hit with a huge thud or collect a kerb or lampost you will likely be fine in the correct gear but the biker death/serious injury toll tells you that doesn't happen that often.

You were lucky.
 
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In cases like this, are helmets replaced under the other persons insurance?

You make a claim for the damage caused, including anything you were wearing or carrying.

Glad you're ok, definitely lucky not to have been worse :)
 
Soldato
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Glad you're ok, I remember the first thread where you were wary of riding the 125 your misses had got for you, and now you've had your first proper crash and eager to get back on, good lad :p

My only real road accident I was stupidly not wearing any real safety gear, decent (but non-biking) boots, normal jeans, normal leather jacket without back protector (and had a rucksack with a chain in it on my back), but I did have good gloves and helmet obviously.

I suffered a broken femur due to my leg being sandwiched between a car and my bike, and the only other real damage was a fairly hefty loss of skin (it was a burn rather than being scraped away by the road) on my right knee, I was fairly lucky really and now never go out without proper equipment, it's not worth it.

Since then though I've had 3 crashes whilst racing (nice succesful first season :p), first two were around 50mph or so and I just slid, no damage to myself at all. Third one I slid and then rolled on the grass (did this in the first one as well) but whilst rolling I tried to stop myself rolling, cue a broken wrist, punishment for being impatient methinks :)

Anyway, yeah, what I'm trying to say in that ramble is that depending how you come off, and more importantly what (if anything) you hit directly, makes a massive difference to your injuries, if you hit something solid at 50mph it's gonna cause serious injuries, if you just slide along the tarmac chances are (with good equipment) you'll get up without even a scratch.
 
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