Accidents (or, proof of safety gear)

[PDub]

Hey! TR Refugee here -- thanks to those of you who have welcomed me 'home'!!

I wanted to describe the events that led me to seeking out my scooter buds. On Mar 31, on my way to a friend's house (who had just come home from a hip replacement), I rounded a curve that I take every day on my way to work. This day, however, I was in a different lane, the outside lane, and it turns out that there was a lot of gravel there. Lucy's wheels slipped out from under me, and I went down on my face at about 30-35 mph. Scraped across the pavement, my right shoulder slammed into the curb, and my right side became the 'crumple zone' -- I broke my clavicle, scapula, and 11 ribs. Three nights in ICU, surgery to put a plate on my clavicle, then finally home. 

Here's the amazing thing:  no road rash, no bruises, no cervical, spinal, or head injuries. Why?

Despite the attempts by some people to tease me about wearing so much gear even when it's 90+ degrees outside, I always put it on. I have a full face Shoei helmet, and I wear an Aerostich jacket and pants. All the time. Even though it's "only" a scooter. From the scratches on my face shield, I would not have much of a face left without the helmet. If not for the helmet keeping my head partially above the pavement, I did not strike my head on the curb, which would have caused major head, neck, brain injuries. The Aerostich gear is amazing at taking the abrasion from pavement, thus NO visible bruises or road rash. 

Unfortunately, a few days later, the deep bruises began to make themselves known -- and some shortness of breath. Back to the hospital, diagnosed with pulmonary emboli and a partially collapsed lung. (Deep bruises in my calves traveled to my lungs; unknown why the pneumothorax appeared.) Another 3 days in hospital, many xrays & scans of various sorts. Fortunately, the pneumothorax began to shrink a little, so I did not need a chest tube. They stabilized me on blood thinners, which I will need to take for 6 months, and told me to avoid any activities that might increase my chances of head injury. I'm okay avoiding sky diving, bull riding, cage fighting, scuba diving... but scooter riding?? No scooting for SIX MONTHS??  I will do my best -- I have not been able to evaluate Lucy's damage yet, and she may need lots of repair that I'm not able to do yet -- but I do not know if I'm going to be fully abstinent for six months. We'll see...

So, after the first hospitalization, I was thinking about how on TR there was that sticky on the opening forum page about the rider who sustained major head trauma in a scooter accident -- someone who was not wearing a helmet -- and having to learn how to walk and talk again. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ME if I had not been wearing my gear.  I decided I had to do another search for my scooter buds, just to connect. That's how I found y'all, and why I was so happy about it!

I've ridden scooters and mopeds for 30+ years, and I've ridden a Ruckus full time for 10 years. (I no longer own a car.) This is the first time I've gone down, and boy-o-boy am I happy that I have stuck to my guns about always wearing my gear. Yeah, it's expensive. Helmet/jacket/pants cost 1/2 as much as a new Ruckus. But... if I were in long term care trying to learn how to talk again, would I pay that much to be back to my regular life? HELL YES!! I'd pay a hundred times that much. It may never happen to you. It was a LONG time before it happened to me...I hoped it never would, but it did, and I was prepared. My gear saved my life as I know it.

Let me tell you -- there are those few days in the past when I have foregone the Aerostich pants for something lighter and less bulky... I may never do that again. 

So... how do you preserve your life as you know it?

[lilpinny]

Holy Smokes! I’m glad you pulled through. And I’m glad you decided to get back on the bike.

I wiped out on my GY6 on the Fourth of July after making a run for BBQ. I was in shorts and a t-shirt (I did have a helmet) and I thought it would be a good idea to cut through a construction site. Anyway _I think_ I had sand on my rear fatty tire and it came out from under the bike and I went down. Road rash for days.... nothing like what happened to you though. I was in the clear, no obstacles I just hit the deck and slid. That was the second time my Ruck sent me to the ER. Road rash hurts like hell.

So from then on, I always wear something with some armor. I have a Klim jacket that’s textile and light weight. It’s still hot for Texas but it’s way better than the ER. I moved from a open face to a full face helmet (I did that before the wipe out) and I got some gloves with the Kevlar knuckles so I’ll slide. I have some Klim jeans with armor and riding shoes that are way more sticky on the soles than regular shoes. Nothing freaks me out more than thinking ‘what if my feet slip off the pegs’. It’s hot, but f- it.

I crashed my skateboard and in time got a clot and had to go on thinners for a year. They said no more scooter riding because you smack your head or something you’ll bleed out. I got off the thinners in time but I was like if life means no scooter then life ain’t worth living. Besides, check out those xeralto ads on TV. They are all riding motorcycles and get off to go into a restaurant and eat salad. It’s like they were talking to me... saying “if you hit your head go to the ER. There is a thinner antidote”.

There is (usually) an antidote. You just gotta realize when you should go get looked at. But don’t take medical advice from me! Get it from Tanuki. He knows more anyway.

Speedy recovery Pdub, Glad to have you back.

[PDub]

Thanks lilpinny,
Glad you are wearing good gear!
And thanks for the good wishes -- I'm glad to be here at all!

[Tanuki]

Glad your going to pull through, and

FUCK YOU and

[DownShiftDom]

Pdub!! Glad to hear you’re okay!

[woodini]

Pdub! So glad that you are OK after your wipeout! And so glad to see you’re here! WELCOME!!

Ray, the artist formerly known as T?@\7.

[90GTVert]

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope you have a full and speedy recovery.

There's nothing like a crash to make you appreciate gear. My first scooter crash was not long after I got my first scooter. I had on a t-shirt and jeans. I tried to take a turn way too fast and low sided. I got lucky and just sprained my foot and had a bunch of rash and bruises and soreness/stiffness. I had also crashed a pocketbike and hurt my shoulder once before. That stuff was enough to finally wake me up that the ground is really hard and that I didn't want to bounce my head off of it. I started wearing a helmet and gloves full time. Shortly after that, I got a good armored riding jacket.

Then I had a truck go by and lose a hay bale that landed directly in front of my front tire around 40-50MPH. Broke my hand and had rash and scrapes and bruising. Helmet definitely saved me from a lot of trauma to the head and face and the jacket saved some skin and who knows what else.






Then I did pretty well for almost 10 years till I hit a deer Sep 30, 2018 and broke my clavicle, scapula, ribs, tibial plateau, and got a contusion plus the usual bruising and some rash and such. I was knocked out for 2 minutes with a full face helmet on, so I'm pretty confident that I'd be dead without it. I had an armored jacket on, armored gloves, but jeans and sneakers.






Bought a leather jacket and textile jacket with armor to replace the jacket destroyed in that crash. Picked up 2 CE level 2 back protectors for them. New full face. I've got multiple pairs of gloves. Started wearing my work boots more often instead of sneakers. Now if I would just get some good pants. Being a fatass, it's tough to find something that fits well. I've ordered twice and got a lousy fit twice. Really need to go into a shop and try them on in person.

Sorry for such a long reply, but I'm with you on your quest to let people know that gear is worth the money. It's also important to understand that your skills won't always keep you out of trouble so don't think you'll never crash.


Oh, and be real careful with those blood thinners. Definitely get checked out immediately if you have any sort of impact to the head. My grandmother was on blood thinners and fell back and bumped her head on a mirror when getting into a truck. She didn't think it was a big deal and went to a party a couple of miles away. Before long she didn't feel right and started vomiting. They called an ambulance for her, but she died later and the doc stressed the importance of immediate care for any sort of head trauma when blood thinners are used. It's not a time to try to be tough or think nothing of it and avoid care if anything happens.

[spazter12]

I am glad to hear that your gear kept you "safe l" on that crash. I too get made fun of sometimes for wearing my gear while I scoot. Although I should wear my armored textile jacket more often, I always wear a fill face helmet, the GoPro I use to motovlog with helps me remember to grab it on every ride. I feel naked riding with out gloves, and I've burned my ankle on my exhaust enough times to learn to wear hight tops or boots every time I ride.

I am a strong believer on wearing gear because there was a time that the rear wheel of the ruckus slid from I see me on a turn and I ended up sliding about 5 feet. With out gear my road rash would have been pretty gnarly. Thanks to my jacket all I got was a bruise on my shoulder 😎

[jbjhillbilly]

pdub, glad your gear kept you from having worse injuries. I know for myself, it’s a full face helmet or no riding.

Here’s a reminder of why -

[aeroxbud]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope you have a speedy recovery.
I have had a few crashes over the years. A couple at fairly fast speed. Never managed to crash a scooter yet though. 😁
I always wear gear all the time. It's not just you. It's the other morons on the road. Always better to be prepared just in case.

[90GTVert]

I just made this thread a sticky. I think it is a good idea to share these experiences and maybe show our beat up gear. Maybe it will make other riders at least think about getting a good helmet or other gear. I also know that some people think scooters are more of a toy, but clearly you can be severely injured or worse at speeds that even stock 49cc scooters are capable of. Perhaps some of the experiences will show people that you don't have to be doing anything crazy or just an awful rider to crash. So, please keep sharing.

[lilpinny]

Apr 15, 2019 23:18:32 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope you have a full and speedy recovery.

There's nothing like a crash to make you appreciate gear. My first scooter crash was not long after I got my first scooter. I had on a t-shirt and jeans. I tried to take a turn way too fast and low sided. I got lucky and just sprained my foot and had a bunch of rash and bruises and soreness/stiffness. I had also crashed a pocketbike and hurt my shoulder once before. That stuff was enough to finally wake me up that the ground is really hard and that I didn't want to bounce my head off of it. I started wearing a helmet and gloves full time. Shortly after that, I got a good armored riding jacket.

Then I had a truck go by and lose a hay bale that landed directly in front of my front tire around 40-50MPH. Broke my hand and had rash and scrapes and bruising. Helmet definitely saved me from a lot of trauma to the head and face and the jacket saved some skin and who knows what else.






Then I did pretty well for almost 10 years till I hit a deer Sep 30, 2018 and broke my clavicle, scapula, ribs, tibial plateau, and got a contusion plus the usual bruising and some rash and such. I was knocked out for 2 minutes with a full face helmet on, so I'm pretty confident that I'd be dead without it. I had an armored jacket on, armored gloves, but jeans and sneakers.






Bought a leather jacket and textile jacket with armor to replace the jacket destroyed in that crash. Picked up 2 CE level 2 back protectors for them. New full face. I've got multiple pairs of gloves. Started wearing my work boots more often instead of sneakers. Now if I would just get some good pants. Being a fatass, it's tough to find something that fits well. I've ordered twice and got a lousy fit twice. Really need to go into a shop and try them on in person.

Sorry for such a long reply, but I'm with you on your quest to let people know that gear is worth the money. It's also important to understand that your skills won't always keep you out of trouble so don't think you'll never crash.


Oh, and be real careful with those blood thinners. Definitely get checked out immediately if you have any sort of impact to the head. My grandmother was on blood thinners and fell back and bumped her head on a mirror when getting into a truck. She didn't think it was a big deal and went to a party a couple of miles away. Before long she didn't feel right and started vomiting. They called an ambulance for her, but she died later and the doc stressed the importance of immediate care for any sort of head trauma when blood thinners are used. It's not a time to try to be tough or think nothing of it and avoid care if anything happens.

Re: the thinners

Man I'm sorry to hear that.

But That's exactly it. You bump your head or chest and you think it's ok when it's not and you don't go to the ER. That's the risk and why doctors want you to stay clear of anything that can cause an impact.

Once you go to the ER, They have antidotes for the various thinners and you should be ok if you catch it in time.

[bluebob71]

went to the er 1 time off a scoot crash was coming home from work and a local business owner lol was leaving his place and nearly hit me with his hummer on a wet day. messed both my wrists up decent but nothing super serious. crazy how fragile the human body is.

[dan50]

I haven't had an accident with a scooter, but I used to race motocross and ride streetbikes my whole life. I wiped out many times without injury because of the safety gear. One wipeout was really bad, fortunately I was wearing a full faced helmet (this was in the mid '1970's, it was RARE to see anyone wearing a full face helmet), armored boots (steel plates under the leather that covered my feet and protected my legs) almost to my knees and leathers. Didn't get serious body damage because of the gear. I did have a serious concussion, I was unconscious for about 5 minutes. My head hit a big rock as I went down. Did a lot of damage to the helmet, and I'm sure I would be dead if I wasn't wearing that helmet.

I don't have any pictures of that helmet, but the damage was really noticeable. I did replace the helmet immediately, and didn't wear it again.

It took 2 weeks to heal and I got right back on the bike.

Even on a scooter I always wear a full face helmet, armored riding jacket, gloves, jeans and boots. I never wear shorts. An impact at 30mph can do a lot of damage (without a helmet, a 30mph impact can easily kill you), the motocross incident I described, I probably was going 25ph to 30mph when I went down.
People (especially those riding motorcycles) look at me funny when I'm riding my scoot, but safety is first and always.

I live in a rural area and all roads are 55mph speed limit. I can only go 30mph (legally) and all the cars and trucks are going 55+ on the same road. Because of the farms, there can be stones, dirt, mud, corn and all manner of stuff on the road anywhere. I don't want to be a statistic!

Besides the gear I wear, I do my best to stay alert, and safe.

['O'Verse]

I commend you guys If you decide to ever ride a scooter again. Your a beast for that. I've only dipped my scooter in a turn briefly on some loose gravel. But had a slight idea that it was coming. Plus I've wheelied myself off the bike a couple times resulting in a couple broken tail lights. But nothing that would traumatize me enough to not think about riding again. 👍