Has anyone had a motorbike accident?

[Gaile Hughes]

Hi Guys,

Can anyone offer me some insight.  I'm writing a chapter that includes an attempted murder where a a person on a trail bike 'power slides' into a road bike.  The person on the road bike is knocked over a very steep incline and suffers broken bones etc.

I've tried various blog sites, and haven't found anyone who describes the sensations that happen to a person in those moments immediatley after the collision.

Anyhow thought it was worth a shot here - cheers Gaile

[John Dishon]

I've had a scooter accident. A car turned in front of me and I had to hit the brakes to avoid a collision, which I did. But the brakes locked, of course, and I went down. Fell over on my left side. Shoulder hit the asphalt first, then my cheek (good thing i had a good helmet), breaking my cheekbone in three places. Then I slid for a good distance. Got some gnarly road rash from that. After, I was in shock and disoriented. I remember thinking that I needed to get out of the middle of the road, so I did that, all the while yelling at the douche who cut me off for help. I was scared, mostly. 

 

Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but that's the only experience like that I've had. 

[Gaile Hughes]

Thank you John, some of those injuries sound like something I could incorporate.  The sliding is good too.  Thanks for taking the time to reply - cheers Gaile

[Jon Paske]

A bike sliding on it's side running into the side of another bike will probably push out the wheels and have the upright rider fall onto the sliding bike. As a rider of both types of bikes & a sufferer of sudden asphalt injury I would have the dirt bike do a wheely into the side of the street bike to knock the rider & bike off the edge. The assign would drop off the back of the wheeling bike before impact. 
Helpful ? ;)

[Gaile Hughes]

And thank you also Jon, would you be willing to have a read of the para I have written and give me a critique, language and such.  I see you are from NZ so our jargon won't be a whole lot different - send me a private message with your email ie if you would like to assist - cheers Gaile

[Jon Paske]

Hi Gail I'd be happy to read a piece from your story.

[e-mail]

[Mark Porter]

Hi Gaile, I had an accident some years ago and on a small engine machine, which weirdly felt more dangerous to me, somehow; certainly from a vulnerability stand point.

 

I was approaching traffic lights down a steep hill and the car at the lights, which had just turned to green was driven by a learner. Just as I picked up a little speed to cross the busy junction in rush hour traffic, he or she stalled. I hit the brake and the back tyre couldn't grip on the black ice. The bike locked up, I lost the back end and skidded into and underneath the car in front, having been seperated from the bike.

 

The panic started at the moment the tyre failed to find traction, as the bike went down and the car behind me skidded, I felt a very real certainty that I was about to die. Sorry to sound dramatic but it really felt that way.

 

Ripped clothing and cuts and brusies later, I felt shaken but fortunate. The thing that sticks with me from a description point of view is the sheer speed of the incident. I was not breaking the speed limit, I know; bikers say that all the time... the road surface hit me in the side of the head and the elbow, seemingly at the exact moment that the handle bars turned to the right and the wheels locked. The impact was equally sudden and the noise inside my helmet when my head bounced off the floor is one I won't forget. As I slid acrossthe road surface, helmet and concrete combined to take a lot of skin from my face here and there.

 

When I got up and was helped with the bike, my legs seemed to move independently from any thought and when I sat down at the road side the shakes began.

 

Don't know if this will help.

[Gaile Hughes]

Hey Mark, wow - that was some accident.  Hope all the bits healed, and yes I had forgotten about the noise ie helmet on road, and the shakes, that's a good visual prompt.  Was there a moment of total silence before sound came rushing back,  I have heard that this phenomena sometimes happens?

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated - cheers Gaile

[Mark Porter]

Hi Gaile, I wouldn't say silence exactly, more like a short burst of tinutus.

 

Good luck with the chapter and the book.

 

Oh yes, everything did heal, thanks.

[Timothy London]

Gaile, my accident was slow and small.  As a courier in London I was used to haring down the inside of traffic to beat the jams.

 

In this instance, I was on the inside of a bin lorry (garbage truck) that turned left without signaling.

 

I found myself, legs still wrapped around the bike, half under the lorry, my top half on the edge of the pavement from which position I watched the door of the lorry open and someone look out.  The lorry had stopped moving.  Amazingly, none of the several bin men bothered to get out of the lorry's cab.  A passer by had alerted the driver which is why I'm still able to walk.

 

The whole incident seemed comical and a little embarrassing.  I was almost laughing to myself as I lay there.  The prospect of hurting myself in that fashion just seemed stupid and unlikely.

 

I got myself and the bike out from under the lorry.  Completely unhurt.  The lorry drove off and the passer by, once she'd made sure I was OK walked off in a hurry.  I got back on the bike and delivered the parcel.

[Gaile Hughes]

Hey Timothy,  immediately I had visions of the lorry's wheel heading for your torso - bloody hell! And you delivered the parcel. Were the legs not feeling like jelly? 

I see you are a writer - published?  I am still getting the story down, avoiding it right now by hanging here on CrimeSpace - back to the drawing, um writing board. Thanks for posting a reply - cheers Gaile

[Timothy London]

Nah, not published...  anyway, enough chat - go on, get back to work!

[Karyn J. Powers]

A friend put his bike down when he hit a deer. Slid, rolled tumbled 100 feet on asphalt. Broke his shoulder blade, ribs, punctured a lung. Didn't wear a helmet so road rash included scalp and cheek. Was laid up for six weeks. Saw a guy put a bike down in a rainy intersection in Seoul, So Korea. He slid on one hip and his pants disintegrated, including his wallet. The leather came apart almost a slice at a time with papers and money appearing from beneath him as he slid across the pavement. At least the cars around stopped and no one ran over him.