Ouch that hurt a bit - Thank **** for ATGATT

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Unfortunately I was knocked off my bike a few weeks ago. I didn't post anything about it at the time as I was advised to avoid putting details on social media. But the other party's insurance company have now admitted liability so I feel a little more able to talk about it. I am still pursuing a personal injury claim (again they have admitted liability) so until the amount is settled I will keep details fairly sparse and high level (it will be months before the amount is agreed as I have to heal before it is).

Last month I was returning from a short trip to a local motorbike spot on one of the first sunny days of the year. I only popped there for a coffee and some chips. On the way home a car pulled out in front of me while I was already on a roundabout.

Net result... the bike is a write off, I have a fractured leg and hand (both in casts) plus possibly some other issues I don't want to mention at this point for reasons already mentioned. I will be off work for a while as I am not very mobile, can't sit at a desk for long and can barely type with the hand in a cast cast. I will probably be in a full leg cast for months, will need an operation on the hand (it was postponed as I caught COVID, probably in the hospital) and physio on both.

When the whole matter is settled in the future I will post more details about it. But the other party's insurance company has admitted liability. I was very grateful that several people stopped to help, including people prepared to be witnesses and someone parking their van behind me for protection until the police and an ambulance arrived (I couldn't move from where I landed on the road). It was also extremely touching how many other bikers stopped to check I was OK (it really meant quite a bit at the time).

I was wearing full gear. Good quality stuff with armour everywhere including hips and back. Despite the injuries I did suffer, and even through it was a relatively low speed impact, I know from what happened, where I hit and where I landed that the helmet, jacket and trousers prevented more injuries. I would buy another Shoei helmet in a heartbeat.

It's going to be many months before I can walk properly, let alone drive or ride again. But my wife has already said she doesn't want me back on a bike. I don't yet know how I feel about getting back on a bike and I obviously need to take my family's feelings into consideration as well. It's a little depressing that a hobby I genuinely love may have been completely taken away from me because of someone else's careless actions.

Anyway... ATGATT, it may just save your life one day.

 

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Thanks all. Not using Windows text to speech as I can type with a finger on my phone for forums like this.

I guess I answered my own question about whether a white helmet makes you more visible... it didn't seem to on a clear bright day

While I was in the ambulance the paramedics were saying they attended a pedal cyclist and car incident earlier that day. Because the cyclist was wearing lycra and a plastic helmet, he had been injured far worse than me and had to be airlifted by helicopter.

A funny story told to me while they were putting the cast on my leg was a guy who came to have their cast changed after a few weeks. He had cut the back of the cast around his knee to help him ride his motorbike with it on

 

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Again thanks all. Yes recording all costs. Pain is manageable with codeine tablets. I've had a broken leg in the past so I know that I'm really looking at a year before it feels remotely normal. The difficulty this time is moving around on crutches with my hand also in a cast.

 

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I can absolutely sympathise with that. The broken leg was one thing, but the humeral fracture that left the ball in the socket, orphaned from my left arm, meant I had to start slow with a zimmer. The family got SERIOUS mileage out of that, the immensely supportive and caring b******s that they are

Nice to know you're family had your back

I was at the fracture clinic today and found myself jealous of an old chap using a zimmer frame

 

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Wow glad you people are doing OK.

Mate of mine had a VERY bad accident years ago (still impacts him severely pairwise) and it took ages for his claim to be rejected by the government / courts- was road surface issue improperly paved road. Problem was truck driver who ran over him was on his side first off but later changed testimony when appeared in court (presumably on advice of his insurance company or employer). Scum.

http://www.madmick3006.com/Bike_story.htm
also includes links to the bike photos and newspaper article where he was going to die.

Holy carp!

 

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Only taken me a month to add my 2 pence to this thread. Wholly stand by ATGATT.

Back in Feb 2021 I was accosted by an oncoming car cutting across my lane to make a junction on my side of the road because they didn't see me. Woke up in ICU 2 days later with a lovely nurse telling me I was in Derriford Hospital and I'd been involved in an accident. If you live in Cornwall and someone is telling you that you're in Derriford you know it's bad. I was airlifted from the scene and taken 50/60 miles away for polytrauma.

Woke up with a 42cm femoral nail down my femur holding the two ends together, broken knee, broken fibula, broken thumb, broken metacarpals, broken clavicle, broken neck, brain bleed, liver contusion, crushed larynx which required me to be intubated and 4th nerve cranial palsy amongst other things. I then had another operation a week later to insert K-wires into my hand and wrist so I looked like wolverine for a month and a bit.

Among all of those injuries the 4th nerve cranial palsy and clavicle (collarbone) were by far the worst. The 4th nerve palsy is what Marc Marquez has suffered with where you see double. That was the most unnerving thing as the hospital couldn't tell me what was wrong and I had 2 weeks of unknowing until an optometrist who was also a biker said what it was and it will get better over time. The collarbone was excruciating the entire time.

The hospital physios want you moving as soon as possible and they had me standing within 3 days. Given my femur was now held together with a femoral nail and my ankle/knee were broken but held together with an air boot I was in shock when they said what the wanted to do...Another 7/8 days in a ward progressively being more capable in my predicament I was then discharged.

It's a slow road to recovery. I just had to concentrate on all the little positives in the day and try to see improvements however small.

I attended court to see the proceedings as an onlooker and the driver was charged with 8 points and a reduced £300 fine based on her earnings. She was a locum pharmacist so obviously turned up in her pseudo NHS garb to curry favour with the magistrates. She played the game from the outset by delaying her statement to the police by a month, changing her story about not seeing me then saying she saw me but thought she had time, I was in a line of traffic so unsure how that sticks. She gave no apology or showed remorse, even after being convicted in court. Funny thing was a colleague had her on Facebook as she sold her items through there and the stuff she was saying that week was beggars belief. I have never seen anyone so self centred, god forbid she had a bad week whilst someone she hit was in hospital dealing with life altering injuries.

It has changed my life and the pain is ongoing but given the circumstances I could have been killed or had much worse lasting injuries/impairments than I'm currently having to deal with for the rest of my days. I think this is a testament to the gear I was wearing. Even if you're not intending to ride spiritedly and it's just a quick nip down to the shops. ATGATT!

Annoyingly the bike I was riding was my old mans Ducati Scrambler Cafe Racer which was being run in and only had around 500 miles on it.

Wow, that was a bad one Beautful bike. Really hope you do fully recover.

 

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This thread has definitely put me off bikes.

Everything in life is a risk and we have to decide our own personal risk level. But don't be too scared of dying to actually live a life.

When I was I'm the ambulance, the paramedic said they had been to a pedal cyclist earlier that day. He had been knocked over by a car. Because he was wearing lycra and a plastic hat, instead of full armoured gear like a motorcyclist, he was in far worse shape than me and had to be air lifted to hospital. Better not get on a pushbike I guess.

Edit: Sorry, I see you do ride.