Post by 90GTVert on Dec 3, 2009 23:01:52 GMT -5
As I mentioned in the Thanksgiving thread, my grandmother is in the hospital. It was 66 degrees today, but with winds of 15MPH gusting to 25MPH. I decided to take T2 over to visit her this afternoon and take advantage of the warm weather, even though it was windy. I made it about 6-7 miles with no real issues. The wind was a little rough but manageable.
I was cruising on the shoulder, as usual, doing about 50MPH when a truck loaded with hay bails passed me. Just as he got past me one of the hay bails (that were unsecured) blew off of the truck and directly in front of me, maybe 6ft ahead of my front tire. 6ft at 50MPH leaves no time or space reaction. I couldn't attempt to swerve because of traffic, not that I could have moved that fast anyway, so I grabbed two handfuls of brakes. I might have slowed to 40-45MPH(?) by the time the front tire hit the hay.
Luckily hay bails are a little forgiving, so I didn't get thrown over the handlebars. Instead, I kinda went down on top of the scooter for a second as we both slid down the side of the road. I came off of the scooter completely and rolled a couple of times. I thought, "well, that wasn't so bad" as I slid straight for a moment. Somehow I turned kinda sideways and took a hard roll or three after that. After a little more awkward sliding, I came to a stop. I looked around to make sure no cars were heading toward me and hopped to my feet.
By the time I stood up, picked my scooter up, and shut it off, I realized that traffic going both ways was stopped and everyone was staring at me.
People came over and told me I needed to get to a hospital and they wanted to call 911. I pulled my helmet off and saw that my nose was bleeding as I told them I was fine. My nose was just busted from impact and my glasses in the helmet. My glasses are bent too. My hand was throbbing enough to alleviate any other aches and pains. The driver of the hay truck and his passenger came back and asked if I wanted a ride. I told them I just need someone to push my scooter back to the next driveway (a produce market) because my hand was hurt.
The passenger pushed my scooter for me and some other people followed us, talking to me. After pushing the scooter back, the passenger must have walked off. I never saw the driver or passenger again, so I guess they just left. I told the stragglers that I would be alright. I just wanted to get my father to pick me up so I could get the scoot home safe. I called him and asked him to pick me up on his way home from work.
He showed up about 45min later. By then, my hand was really hurting. His ribs still aren't 100% since his scooter crash and I only had one hand essentially so getting it into the bed of the truck wasn't gonna happen. He ended up riding it about 3/4 mile to my uncle's house and I followed him in the truck. My uncle helped us load it and Dad took me home to take care of a couple of things before heading over to get xrays. I was sure something was broken from the pain and the swelling in my hand.
I got 3 x-rays and the doctor told me something is broken in my hand, but they couldn't really tell what. They said I'll need to see an orthopedic specialist, made a sorta partial cast, and stuck my arm in a sling. They gave me a prescription for pain killers (which seem to have no affect on me) and sent me home.
So, I've got something broken in my hand, road rash on my wrist, rash on my elbow, a stiff knee with road rash, bent glasses, and a little bruising on my nose. Pretty crappy, especially being one-handed now, but it coulda been worse. Luckily I never hit any cars on my left or went into the swamp on my right. I was wearing my nearly new full face helmet (that I've babied so it wouldn't get a scratch on it), my Joe Rocket armored jacket w/the liner in, leather gloves, long johns under jeans, and I still managed to get road rash. It probably woulda been rough if not for all that gear, but luckily it's all very minor. The helmet is scratched bad. I held it up to my father and said, "I just don't get why people wear open helmets."
The scooter is still in the back of the truck because I can't get it out right now. I do know it has a severely bent front end (handlebars and wheel are way out of line), busted turn signals, messed up mirror, messed up seat, skins and scuffs all over, and who knows what else.
It's been over an hour typing and doing this post 1 handed.
Fractured metacarpel.
I was cruising on the shoulder, as usual, doing about 50MPH when a truck loaded with hay bails passed me. Just as he got past me one of the hay bails (that were unsecured) blew off of the truck and directly in front of me, maybe 6ft ahead of my front tire. 6ft at 50MPH leaves no time or space reaction. I couldn't attempt to swerve because of traffic, not that I could have moved that fast anyway, so I grabbed two handfuls of brakes. I might have slowed to 40-45MPH(?) by the time the front tire hit the hay.
Luckily hay bails are a little forgiving, so I didn't get thrown over the handlebars. Instead, I kinda went down on top of the scooter for a second as we both slid down the side of the road. I came off of the scooter completely and rolled a couple of times. I thought, "well, that wasn't so bad" as I slid straight for a moment. Somehow I turned kinda sideways and took a hard roll or three after that. After a little more awkward sliding, I came to a stop. I looked around to make sure no cars were heading toward me and hopped to my feet.
By the time I stood up, picked my scooter up, and shut it off, I realized that traffic going both ways was stopped and everyone was staring at me.
People came over and told me I needed to get to a hospital and they wanted to call 911. I pulled my helmet off and saw that my nose was bleeding as I told them I was fine. My nose was just busted from impact and my glasses in the helmet. My glasses are bent too. My hand was throbbing enough to alleviate any other aches and pains. The driver of the hay truck and his passenger came back and asked if I wanted a ride. I told them I just need someone to push my scooter back to the next driveway (a produce market) because my hand was hurt.
The passenger pushed my scooter for me and some other people followed us, talking to me. After pushing the scooter back, the passenger must have walked off. I never saw the driver or passenger again, so I guess they just left. I told the stragglers that I would be alright. I just wanted to get my father to pick me up so I could get the scoot home safe. I called him and asked him to pick me up on his way home from work.
He showed up about 45min later. By then, my hand was really hurting. His ribs still aren't 100% since his scooter crash and I only had one hand essentially so getting it into the bed of the truck wasn't gonna happen. He ended up riding it about 3/4 mile to my uncle's house and I followed him in the truck. My uncle helped us load it and Dad took me home to take care of a couple of things before heading over to get xrays. I was sure something was broken from the pain and the swelling in my hand.
I got 3 x-rays and the doctor told me something is broken in my hand, but they couldn't really tell what. They said I'll need to see an orthopedic specialist, made a sorta partial cast, and stuck my arm in a sling. They gave me a prescription for pain killers (which seem to have no affect on me) and sent me home.
So, I've got something broken in my hand, road rash on my wrist, rash on my elbow, a stiff knee with road rash, bent glasses, and a little bruising on my nose. Pretty crappy, especially being one-handed now, but it coulda been worse. Luckily I never hit any cars on my left or went into the swamp on my right. I was wearing my nearly new full face helmet (that I've babied so it wouldn't get a scratch on it), my Joe Rocket armored jacket w/the liner in, leather gloves, long johns under jeans, and I still managed to get road rash. It probably woulda been rough if not for all that gear, but luckily it's all very minor. The helmet is scratched bad. I held it up to my father and said, "I just don't get why people wear open helmets."
The scooter is still in the back of the truck because I can't get it out right now. I do know it has a severely bent front end (handlebars and wheel are way out of line), busted turn signals, messed up mirror, messed up seat, skins and scuffs all over, and who knows what else.
It's been over an hour typing and doing this post 1 handed.
Fractured metacarpel.
!
....Kinda mad actually 
!
