....I officially became a statistic Tuesday night. Heading home from visiting a friend's house on my "new-to-me" BMW R1200RS, a mouth-breather pulled out in front of me. I had the first street-related crash in my street history. Headed west on a 4-lane suburban road in the curb lane, crested a small rise and saw a parked car in my lane. Moved to the center lane and as I passed the parked car, I caught a flash of back-up lights from a driveway on the right. Moved to left wheel track and suddenly realized that Lashondra was backing out into the street at what I can only describe as warp speed, prolly 15-20 MPH--no clue what she was thinking. Must have thought the 'R' stood for race!!!
I did an emergency swerve but she never even slowed down or looked, backing across 2 lanes of traffic and caught me right behind the engine. Bike kicked sideways and I did my best Superman impression, just as if the bike had high-sided me. Both me and the bike ended up in the oncoming lane. Luckily, I didn't get run over by opposing traffic but the bike is a total loss and I spent 1 day in the trauma unit of UC Hospital. 6 busted ribs and a shattered collarbone and lots of soft tissue trauma, mostly right lung and liver. Did dodge the bullet of having a chest tube inserted but in so much pain today that the Oxy doesn't even help much.
Home now but moving like an old, mostly dead guy. To top it off, she is uninsured (of course) and I don't carry collision on my toys so I'm likely gonna eat an $8000 loss which will prolly be inconsequential compared to the medical. The thing I'm most pissed at is that, even though I'd only spent a little less than a year with Beemer, I was beginning to believe that after 55 years of searching for THE ONE BIKE THAT DOES IT ALL WELL, I thought this might be the Holy Grail.
Be off the streets for at least a month to 6 weeks, maybe longer depending on how much time it takes for the soft tissue injuries to resolve. The other good thing is that I could be the poster boy for ATGATT, as other than the torso injuries, I don't have another scratch or bruise on me. Legs, knees, arms, hands, head are 100% unscathed, which is truly amazing given how hard the hit was. I'll need a new helmet (was due for one anyway!) the pants and jacket are a bit ratty but overall, a good outcome.
Stay safe, keep the shiny side up, and be mindful of the idiots.