- Joined
- Mar 9, 2008
- Messages
- 2,595
- Reaction score
- 129
- Points
- 63
- Location
- San Jose, California (GMT -8)
A rider crashed pretty bad right in front of me yesterday - super scary situation. I had the very unfortunate experience of lifting his bike off of his lifeless body and checking for signs of life. I think he's going to be okay, but he didn't look in good shape right after the crash.
A car made a sudden-ish lane change in front of him and he yanked on the front brake and flipped his bike is what really happened. Thankfully the car stopped as soon as it realized what was going on. The rider did end up beside/under the car, but was barely touching it - if he hit it at all it was on the way down. What made it bad is that he went over the handlebars and the bike landed right on top of him - wheels up. I can't imagine what that would feel like, but at least he was unconscious.
He was first in a line of 6 bikes. All 5 of us stopped and helped him. There were enough of us to do all the jobs: talk to him, divert traffic, call 911, etc. Thankfully he came to after several minutes and was able to tell us his name. Everyone there knew the don't take his helmet off rule. He was pretty dazed still by the time emergency services got there and could only tell us that his wrist hurt. I hope that's all - I'm worried about a pelvis fracture the way his bike landed on him.
No point to this - I am just shaken up about it all and needed to share. I originally thought he impacted the car and by the way he was laying feared the worst.
Alright, two more things.
Don't be critical of the guy. Yes he panic braked, but there is no need to bash/criticize. Just be glad he's alive and send good thoughts his way.
Practice your emergency braking. Just have the muscle memory to know how hard to squeeze that front brake without flipping your bike. I had a similar situation months ago and did a stoppie without making contact. It was about as fast as I could have possibly stopped, and squeezing the brake much harder could have resulted in a similar situation. Instead I was just really upset at the person for not using an indicator and making a sudden lane change.
A car made a sudden-ish lane change in front of him and he yanked on the front brake and flipped his bike is what really happened. Thankfully the car stopped as soon as it realized what was going on. The rider did end up beside/under the car, but was barely touching it - if he hit it at all it was on the way down. What made it bad is that he went over the handlebars and the bike landed right on top of him - wheels up. I can't imagine what that would feel like, but at least he was unconscious.
He was first in a line of 6 bikes. All 5 of us stopped and helped him. There were enough of us to do all the jobs: talk to him, divert traffic, call 911, etc. Thankfully he came to after several minutes and was able to tell us his name. Everyone there knew the don't take his helmet off rule. He was pretty dazed still by the time emergency services got there and could only tell us that his wrist hurt. I hope that's all - I'm worried about a pelvis fracture the way his bike landed on him.
No point to this - I am just shaken up about it all and needed to share. I originally thought he impacted the car and by the way he was laying feared the worst.
Alright, two more things.
Don't be critical of the guy. Yes he panic braked, but there is no need to bash/criticize. Just be glad he's alive and send good thoughts his way.
Practice your emergency braking. Just have the muscle memory to know how hard to squeeze that front brake without flipping your bike. I had a similar situation months ago and did a stoppie without making contact. It was about as fast as I could have possibly stopped, and squeezing the brake much harder could have resulted in a similar situation. Instead I was just really upset at the person for not using an indicator and making a sudden lane change.