On 2001/10/16 it was my turn to go down after 45000km on two wheels in 3,5 year.
I had slept late and was first on my way to work at 9:00 and had only ridden 2 kilometers when I came up to a crossing of a major road. The traffic lights were green and I looked ahead and made sure that the road was also free on the other side. Just before I rode into the cross my focus shifted to a lorry which was waiting to do a left turn across my lane. The lorry was rolling so I kept my eye on the chauffeur to make sure he waited. When I looked back ahead, a car had pulled onto the road in front of me, from a parking lot too my right. I was doing 50-60km/h (60 zone) but the car in front was rolling very slowly (<20km/h) and I had to brake very hard.
Unfortunately I misjudged the friction of the wet road and blocked my front wheel. The wheel then slid away below me and I hit the road with my right elbow still doing around 50km/h. The scooter and I then skidded 10 to 15 meters before coming to a halt. When I got back up the car was gone ....
With the help from the lorry driver (the only one to offer some help) I got the scooter to the sidewalk and then came a bus and all the witnesses that had been waiting just were I crashed were gone - before I got to ask them if they had seen the licence plate of the car that pulled out in front.
So there I stood trying to make sure that nothing was broken and looking at the scratched scooter. I could move all my limbs and the scooter could start so I rode to work. As soon as I got it rolling it was evident that it didn't ride the way of the handlebar, and I just hoped that It wasn't the frame that was bend but only the handlebar.
After an hour I still had trouble lifting my right arm. I could use my fingers and the forearm, but couldn't lift it, so I decided to visit the casualty department of the nearest hospital. So I rode the scooter down to the local shop and called a taxi from there. In the casualty I had to wait the usual 1.5 hour before being examined (if you aren't bleeding you are at the back of the line) I passed out twice while being examined and I was sent around to get some x-rays of the shoulder. Nothing was broken, so I can call myself lucky to get away with a burn on the right elbow and a very sore shoulder.
I always ride with full protection and I'm pretty sure that my Rukka clothes gets the honors of me walking away from this with only a very sore shoulder/upper arm. My cheap leather gloves also took the beating without the leather being worn trough but the shoelaces on one off my boots gave up and I was lucky that the boot stayed on my foot...
Because I used most of the day being checked out I first talked to the police the day after. I told the same story as above but they didn't think I had a case. Even if I found the car that had pulled out in front of me It would be very difficult to prove his guild since I didn't hit him. And then the officer pulled his ace. If I insisted on having the traffic accident officially reported I would get a ticket for driving to fast in the conditions (even trough I were not speeding). So I left without a case number ...
Most of the damage to the scooter can be seen on the picture. The windscreen is broken in several places and the rear blinker was also broken off. The rest are mainly scratches, especially at the front near the blinker, at the side of the footboard, by the peg for the passenger (the peg is also bent) and on the exhaust. Where the plastic is scratched it is not only the paint that has gone but also a lot of plastic, so to get it nice again I'll have to start with plastic-padding before paint. The rear luggage box also took a beating but since it has never been painted it does not look that bad. Besides scrathces the tube that goes into the exhaust was also squeezed a bit. I don't know whether the slightly smaller hole trough will affect the performance. But the above are mainly cosmetic and I was afraid of the damage to the steering/frame. Luckily Søborg MC could just straighten it and with 1,5 meter of gaffa tape on the windscreen I picked it up again on 2000/10/18.
I took it very easy since my shoulder still hurt and I almost had to use my left hand to lift the right hand onto the handlebar. But once I was seated I could easily ride it without pain as long as I didn't brake to hard so as I got any load onto the shoulder.
| Last edited: 2001/10/21 | |