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

Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,508
Location
Surrey
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.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Apr 2014
Posts
18,532
Location
Aberdeen
The important thing is that you are alive, and you will recover. I know you will put every effort into it.

How are you finding Windows' speech to text ability? That's quite a complex post you dictated.

Your wife is a wise woman. I used to work in a hospital and they were called donor cycles for a reason.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,657
Had to have a think. All The Gear, All The Time.

Have a friend in Canada, I’m convinced he’s still with us thanks to his gear. He got knocked off his bike a good few years ago, doesn’t even know how or what happened, woke up in the back of the ambulance in immense pain. Months of physio and is back to 99% of where he was before hand. Dress for the slide, not for the ride.

My mum was an orthopaedic nurse, (broken bones mostly) and she swore blind around 60-70% of her outpatients were bikers and made me swear blind I’d never get one. Good luck on your recovery.
 
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,508
Location
Surrey
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 :)
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Feb 2006
Posts
4,798
Location
No longer riding an Italian
Sounds rough, glad you're ok though! Reminds me a lot of my off back in 2008 - that was on a roundabout at a fraction over 30 mph - iirc it was 10 days in hospital and 18 weeks off of work, and years of repercussions from the injuries; just bear that in mind when settling your personal injury claim, as you need to try and factor in the impact the injury will have on your life in years to come.

From experience it took years to settle my claim – lots of referrals to various private doctors and physios, I think it took nearly 5 years from my claim to getting the payout, which wasn’t what I had expected – heard so many stories from people at the time, who knew of friends with injuries similar to me and they had 60k+ payouts – I got a shade under 15k. But tbh, I treated it as money I wasn’t expecting, so didn’t take it to court to fight – that’s an option you’ll have, but bear in mind that (unless things have changed since then) if you were to get awarded less from a judge, you’ll then have to pick up costs for both sides!

As for getting back on a bike – when I was hit, I was single and living with my old man; so was literally talking about my next bike, whilst having my kit cut off me in resus. I know my family all wanted me to call it quits then and there, but I honestly couldn’t dream of giving it up – granted at that point I’d not even ridden for a year (think I was about 2 or 3 weeks away from my first year’s NCB lol) but there I was planning on an R6 next (ended up going R1 in the end :D).

These days though, I have a Wife and Toddler to think of – so I would have to give it some serious thought. I know my Wife wouldn’t want me to give it up – she knows it’s my main hobby, and how much of my life I have put into riding; but I would certainly have some soul searching to do… so I don’t envy you having to go through that now.

Wishing you a speedy recovery though fella, here’s hoping it all gets sorted in a timely manner too.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2003
Posts
2,769
Location
Cheshire
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.

Glad to hear you're (mostly) ok and good to hear you were dressed for the occasion, makes all the difference as the ambulance crew pointed out regarding the cyclist. I'm three weeks into recovery myself, broken and displaced metatarsals and dislocated big toe after an off at Anglesey circuit. Good gear makes a big difference, I've just replaced my Shoei lid with another Shoei lid. One new piece of kit I've thoroughly tested now though is an air bag vest, incredible, a big step forward in protecting your torso. I don't plan on testing it again though :D

As @Scort mentions, don't be in a rush to settle the claim. You need to heal fully to see if there will be any long term issues/ nerve damage etc. once you've settled it's too late if anything else comes to light from the incident.

I've never had the discussion with my wife about riding/not riding again as I was riding long before we met, she used to ride herself too. Thankfully I'm not a regular crasher and tend to ride more on track now than road but it would be a difficult conversation to have.

My mum was an orthopaedic nurse, (broken bones mostly) and she swore blind around 60-70% of her outpatients were bikers and made me swear blind I’d never get one. Good luck on your recovery.

Depends on the hospital really. I was in Bangor in North Wales and had a good chat with the nurses, they see a few bikers from the circuit, some from the roads around Snowdonia but they do see a lot of ramblers/walkers with ankle injuries from various tumbles and they also see a lot of mountain bikers (regularly air lifted in from various trail centres) and surfers/kite surfers. It depends on the hobby pursuits within the catchment area.
 
Associate
Joined
25 Mar 2021
Posts
243
My accident was August 2019 and still not settled, although a career change meant I wasn’t in a hurry to pursue it and the pandemic delayed one piece of remedial surgery by many months. Focus on your recovery, keep receipts for EVERYTHING and make sure family and friends who had to shell out for visits or other incidentals do so as well so you can claim that back on their behalf.

Took me a while to get back in the saddle but I was determined to face down any fears after having 2kg of titanium permanently added to my baseline body weight :rolleyes: At least now if I give up riding it will be my choice and not forced on me by some dozy bugger who can’t see a bleeding white Hayabusa coming towards him in clear conditions.
 
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,508
Location
Surrey
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.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2003
Posts
2,769
Location
Cheshire
My accident was August 2019 and still not settled, although a career change meant I wasn’t in a hurry to pursue it and the pandemic delayed one piece of remedial surgery by many months. Focus on your recovery, keep receipts for EVERYTHING and make sure family and friends who had to shell out for visits or other incidentals do so as well so you can claim that back on their behalf.

Took me a while to get back in the saddle but I was determined to face down any fears after having 2kg of titanium permanently added to my baseline body weight :rolleyes: At least now if I give up riding it will be my choice and not forced on me by some dozy bugger who can’t see a bleeding white Hayabusa coming towards him in clear conditions.

:eek: 2kg?! That's a lot of metalwork

Your skeleton best look like Wolverine now :D
 
Associate
Joined
25 Mar 2021
Posts
243
:eek: 2kg?! That's a lot of metalwork

Your skeleton best look like Wolverine now :D

If only! The 22" long rod in the femur apparently weighs around 900 grams, according to the surgeon who showed me the twin of the one I have. Then the plate on the knee that actually runs halfway down the shin and is considerably larger than the aforementioned rod. 2kg is an estimate, might actually be more than that, but the left side of my x-rays does bear a certain Jackman-esque resemblance :D
 
Associate
Joined
25 Mar 2021
Posts
243
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.

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 :p
 
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
19 Oct 2002
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29,508
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Surrey
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 :p
Nice to know you're family had your back :D

I was at the fracture clinic today and found myself jealous of an old chap using a zimmer frame :)
 
Associate
Joined
7 Mar 2022
Posts
123
Location
Brisbane, Australia
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.
 
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,508
Location
Surrey
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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