Speaking of Reflexes...

I started to bring this up in the gloves thread, but decided it might be better to start a new thread rather than threadjack

How many of you remember the details of your crashes/accidents (motorcycle or otherwise)?

Some people react differently as a reflex.

I watched my brother-in-law go down at low speed once. (He slipped on gravel pulling back onto the road waiting for me to catch up to him.)

He was only wearing a helmet but the way he fell, he basically tipped over completely and hit head first. He was banged up on his elbow and knee but his hands were fine...

When I asked him what was going through his head when he fell, he couldn't remember. He said he felt the back wheel sliding out from under him, the next thing he knew, I was pulling the Harley (The reason he fell IMO:Flip off of his leg and asking if he was alright...

He blacked out as a mental reflex and I guess just went limp.


As for myself, I remember every time that I've ever fallen, had something hit me in the face etc... and the hands were the first to hit.

I remember vivid details from both of my wrecks, especially that nasty sound of my helmet sliding on asphalt.....ick

My first lowside happened so fast I couldn't tell you what happened until after I stood up.

The rest, not only do I remember everything, I can point out exactly where I said "Oh ****". I remember thinking how to get away from the bike and weither I should tuck and roll, or spread out and slide when hitting the pavement.

And yeah. that helmet grinding is a horrible sound, but It sure it beats the sickening wet watermelon smashing sound of a head bouncing off the ground.

My "accident" was a very low speed lowside. Basically it started going over, I put one foot down and laid the bike down as gently as possible with my hand.
I could've swore that I remembered every single detail, but that evening bruises started showing up in strange places and I had no recollection of even being hurt at the time.

No I remember all of my crashes that I haven't hit my head. My big head smack, about 6 to 8 hits, I only remember getting hit by the other bike, losing control of my bike, flying up in the air and then waking up in the hospital as they were cutting me to put a tube in my chest. And to think I missed the helicopter ride! Damn!

I remember everything up to the "oh sh.." then didn't even know which parts of my body contacted the ground. Evidence was pieced together through a combination of broken bones, road rash, and gear damage. Never thought my head touched the ground, but the damage to the helmet says otherwise. Stuff like that.

BTW - the "Oh sh.." moment was replaying in my mind for several days and nights after the accident. Luckily it went away.

Usually I remember the whole accident, but this summer I was doning some downhill mountain biking in the Sierras and had a pretty nasty crash. Went over the bars at around 35mph and hit a doug fir head first. The impact split my helmet, blew up the foam liner, and knocked me out.
I woke up on my back, off to the side of the trail, and had no idea how I'd gotten there or how long I'd been out! To this day I have no recollection of the crash, one minute I was tearing down the mountain, next minute I was opening my eyes and looking up at the beautiful trees above me, thinking, "Was I dreaming? I swear I was riding my bike!"

ui have luckily only been in one accident that was scary enough to classify for this and it was in a car. I remember everything about the ordeal as if it was yesterday.

What I mean to ask is whether or not anyone has experienced a blackout without actually hitting their head.

The above example might be a bad one because in that instance, he did hit his head. But he's also had a couple where he hasn't and still blacked out.

I've heard that some people have this reaction to impending danger (Much like repressed memories of traumatic experiences). I had a psych teacher tell me it was normal which got me thinking that remembering isn't. (But then again, that was coming from the guy who said that not remembering a night of heavy drinking was sign of a serious problem also:liar

btw, I know the poll probly isn't very good but I'm hoping someone picks up on the "All my circuits" reference

Never had an accident on a bike or car. Fell of my pushbike a few times though at 30ish with no side effects. I was young then and when you're young you just bounce back up!!!

KensFz6 said:

I started to bring this up in the gloves thread, but decided it might be better to start a new thread rather than threadjack

How many of you remember the details of your crashes/accidents (motorcycle or otherwise)?

Some people react differently as a reflex.

I watched my brother-in-law go down at low speed once. (He slipped on gravel pulling back onto the road waiting for me to catch up to him.)

He was only wearing a helmet but the way he fell, he basically tipped over completely and hit head first. He was banged up on his elbow and knee but his hands were fine...

When I asked him what was going through his head when he fell, he couldn't remember. He said he felt the back wheel sliding out from under him, the next thing he knew, I was pulling the Harley (The reason he fell IMO:Flip off of his leg and asking if he was alright...

He blacked out as a mental reflex and I guess just went limp.


As for myself, I remember every time that I've ever fallen, had something hit me in the face etc... and the hands were the first to hit.

Click to expand...

Two possibilities he was KO'd, or it is as you put it a mental block.
I hope it is the latter.
I should have thought about this but the memory is to painful sob sob..... I was riding my mint condition totally re-built RD200 to work one morning and woke to find the sky was in my bedroom. Then a man dressed in green [Paramedic] said hello. I couldn't remember a thing. I rode over a drainage cover that collapsed under the weight of my bike. The witness said I went over the handlebars straight onto my head. I then slid 20 yards and ended up under a parked car. Unfortunately my bike also came under the car to check if I was OK lol.
Amnesia as a result of head trauma has a very strong case to be attributed to the patient being KO'd.
In the UK as a very general rule of thumb will allow an adult to be KO'd twice in an adult life time. After that we get a bit concerned.
If in doubt a medical opinion should always be sought.
Nelly

Nelly said:

In the UK as a very general rule of thumb will allow an adult to be KO'd twice in an adult life time. After that we get a bit concerned.
If in doubt a medical opinion should always be sought.
Nelly

Click to expand...

What, may I ask, happens after two KO's? Or however many KO's is deemed too many?

hardway said:

What, may I ask, happens after two KO's? Or however many KO's is deemed too many?

Click to expand...

Thats the trick my friend.
Your grey matter can only take so much abuse, just like any other organ of the body.
When you receive a significant head injury your brain will bounce around inside your skull. This bouncing around causes huge shearing forces on its structures. That may cause bruising [haematomas] that effect blood supply to that area and increase cerebral pressure. It is this pressure build up that can lead to ischaemia [reduced blood supply]. This pressure may then lead to cellular death that results in lesions. The more knocks you get the greater the chance of reduced cerebral function.
I am really sorry I have not reviewed enough clinical evidence to provide you with a less broad answer. RSW81 will certainly be in a much higher authority on the subject than I.

Nelly

Nelly said:

Thats the trick my friend.
Your grey matter can only take so much abuse, just like any other organ of the body.
When you receive a significant head injury your brain will bounce around inside your skull. This bouncing around causes huge shearing forces on its structures. That may cause bruising [haematomas] that effect blood supply to that area and increase cerebral pressure. It is this pressure build up that can lead to ischaemia [reduced blood supply]. This pressure may then lead to cellular death that results in lesions. The more knocks you get the greater the chance of reduced cerebral function.
I am really sorry I have not reviewed enough clinical evidence to provide you with a less broad answer. RSW81 will certainly be in a much higher authority on the subject than I.

Nelly

Click to expand...

I meant more, in response to your first post, does the government do something to you after two KO's, like take your license away? You mentioned that you get two KO's, then what?

I think he means being knocked out twice as an adult, then after any other knockouts, going to see a doctor to get checked out just in case.

hardway said:

What, may I ask, happens after two KO's? Or however many KO's is deemed too many?

Click to expand...

Sometimes you dont even have to be knocked out to damage the brain.

What happens after too many KOs? Look at Cassius Clay

OK. The last crash I had on my bike was my own fault, maybe. I was playing Joe Road Racer on the freeway and got the high speed wobbles as I was going on a long sweeping right hand turn. I started rolling off the throttle ever so slowly but the slower I went, the faster the wobbles got. I was in the right hand lane, so I started drifting towards the left (I was the only one on the road) and I remember looking towards the oncoming lanes across the center of the freeway to see if I was going to run head-on into any traffic. The next thing I remember is a guy came running up to me, holding a boot, and asked me if it was mine. It was. Then I realized that a highway patrolman had his arm around my neck and shoulders asking me where I lived and if I remembered my name. At that point my memory came back but I don't remember anything in between. I don't remember if I saw any traffic coming at me, and I don't remember crashing. I was put into the back of an ambulance and got a ride to the hospital and ended up with a broken collar bone for the 3rd time. I was told that I never lost consiousness and my bike flipped end over end at least 3 times. The other 2 times I broke my collar bone were on dirt bikes. And the 1st time I lost a little bit of memory, too. 7 broken bones, all except 1 were on bikes. They were all in my younger days. Hopefully, I'm a bit wiser, because I'm definately older.

I lowsided. The last time I looked at the speedo it said 48mph. I remember every split second perfectly. Street bike.

I highsided the dirt bike. NO HELMET being a jerkass in the backyard showing off. Landed on side of head and neck. Hurt, and I remember ever second perfectly.

Every car crash, remember perfectly.

Every time I remember a concious thought to relax and dont fight.
Thats all I know.

Cars.
passenger. Blow out at 80mph slide along blasted rock wall to a stop. Had just dug my seatbelt out of the seat in the back and put it on after saying HEY man this tire back here is going to blow. 15y old
passenger. Hydroplane spin at over 100 mph, took out a row of mailboxes with my door, bounced off a telephone pole, and slide backwards to a stop with a giant sharp chunk of mailbox pole sticking thru the windshield aimed at my face. No seatbelt 15y old.
Driver broken tierod end, speeding, drunk, high, and on LSD. Launched off a hill, car began to roll over, hit a dumped refridgerator, cut the passenger side open, set the car back flat, hit a cedar tree just big enough to slow the car and leave it balanced on the center chunk of the rear end with both wheels off the ground at a stop. 16y old
Passenger. fixed my friends cutlass for him. had been running on 5 cyl out of 8. Seat belt on. Said hey man slow down. most of the way thru that corner slid out off the road and bumped to stop in a ditch. 16y old
Stopped riding with people. LOL
Driver, turned left in the driving snow and sleet. Truck doing at least 60 mph in a 25 mph school zone passing on the right of the car I had plenty of time to get out in front of goes back into the lane I am in. tears the front off my truck. seatbelt on.


Driver, turned right on green light. Truck runs light to hit me in the rear.

Bike above
Bike above
Bike guy hits me with his mirror in the shoulder and takes off. I keep it upright and ride on.
Thats all.
I hope thats it.

Nick J said:

OK. The last crash I had on my bike was my own fault, maybe. I was playing Joe Road Racer on the freeway and got the high speed wobbles as I was going on a long sweeping right hand turn. I started rolling off the throttle ever so slowly but the slower I went, the faster the wobbles got. I was in the right hand lane, so I started drifting towards the left (I was the only one on the road) and I remember looking towards the oncoming lanes across the center of the freeway to see if I was going to run head-on into any traffic. The next thing I remember is a guy came running up to me, holding a boot, and asked me if it was mine. It was. Then I realized that a highway patrolman had his arm around my neck and shoulders asking me where I lived and if I remembered my name. At that point my memory came back but I don't remember anything in between. I don't remember if I saw any traffic coming at me, and I don't remember crashing. I was put into the back of an ambulance and got a ride to the hospital and ended up with a broken collar bone for the 3rd time. I was told that I never lost consiousness and my bike flipped end over end at least 3 times. The other 2 times I broke my collar bone were on dirt bikes. And the 1st time I lost a little bit of memory, too. 7 broken bones, all except 1 were on bikes. They were all in my younger days. Hopefully, I'm a bit wiser, because I'm definately older.

Click to expand...

(this might not be the most appropriate response, but it's what comes to mind)

Nice!:thumbup:

That's exactly what I was looking for. I'm glad to hear that you're better and still riding.

Thanks for sharing your story.

I remember everything about my accident. That is, everything that wasn't happening so fast that I could fully comprehend what was going on. What I do remember is seeing the small pick-up turning in front of me in the turning lane in the oncoming traffic, me yelling "Oh sh!t!!! Oh sh..." BAM!!! Lots of lights swirling around from the street lamps and store signs (it was night) as I was spinning through the air and then sliding on the ground, and then my coming to a stop in the middle of the road. Even though I wasn't yet in any pain, I knew instantly that something was wrong with my leg. I sat up, flipped up my visor, looked at my gashed leg, let out a low moan, and then ripped off my helmet without releasing the straps (that's why I got a nasty gash in my chin, and such a lovely scar). Knowing what was to come, I laid back and waited for the pain. Oh, boy did it ever come.

Other than my gashed leg and (unknowingly) self inflicted chin cut, I suffered severe sprains in both wrists, both elbows, and both shoulders when I tensed up before hitting the truck. It was so bad that when I was in the ER, of all things, my nose started to itch terribly, and I couldn't scratch it! I had to ask one of the nurses to scratch my nose for me. I also some had plastic from the right blinker embedded in between my pinky and ring finger on my right hand, and a sprained right ankle.

I also remember that after the accident, and as I was laying on the pavement, my mind wanted me to black out, but I held off the best that I could because I was afraid that if I did, I wouldn't ever wake up. Many of the memories from the accident have faded since then. However, once I started riding again this past June, they came flooding back, and I remember all of it as if it were almost yesterday.

Even though I was banged up pretty bad, I got off lucky. Very lucky.

X