Jump to content

wreck Saturday - US52 Manchester Ohio


Ken45
 Share

Recommended Posts

If any of you were involved in the traffic tie up Saturday afternoon on US 52 between Aberdeen and Manchester, here are the details.

It was my wife and I. A car pulled out of the parking lot at Moyer's Winery, making a left hand turn in front of us. She told OSHP that she saw us but "they didn't stop". She is 82, is being charged with the accident and OSHP is going to recommend that her license be revoked. According to the trooper, she had not been drinking.

We were on our 2009 Goldwing Trike. I didn't have much time to react and there was nothing to do except lock up the brakes and watch the distance close. 99' of skid marks before impact. I hit the car dead center and I went over the top of the vehicle and hit the pavement violently. My wife tried holding onto the arm rest, doesn't remember anything else and ended up about 40' beyond me.

When I got to her, she was unconscious and bleeding. I am past EMT/VFD. I raised her head enough for her to breath (she was nose down in a pool of blood) and I supporter her until EMS arrived. She started to regain consciousness within a minute.

She was airflighted to University Hospital in Cincinnati (Level 1 Trauma Center) and is doing well with several fractures (ribs, scapula, collar bone), a few cuts and lots of bruises, but nothing critical. She was moved out of ICU to a regular floor on Monday. I was taken to the Maysville hospital, checked over and released. I'm still pretty stiff and sore.

We both had on full face helmets. Hers did come off, maybe it was too loose of a fit? But I'm sure it still protected her initially. My helmet has some deep scrapes on the top. I'm sure I would not have done well without it. We also had on mesh jackets and she had on new leather chaps.

The trike is totaled. But I think it did a good job of protecting us from worse damage. The car we hit is in pretty bad shape too.

The trooper, who is a bike rider, said I did as good as could be done and my reaction time was good. He feels that the trike was safer than a 2 wheeler.

Manchester and West Union EMS responded quickly with good personnel. Thanks guys!

Ken

IMAG0102.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

was that a pre-airbag model?

It was the base level Goldwing. We bought the trike new off the showroom floor, it was the only one they had (and was expensive enough!)

I wonder how well the airbags work and if they would have made a difference in our case.

FWIW, Honda makes four levels: L1 - audio/comfort, L2 - Navi (previous options + substandard GPS and XM radio), L3 - previous options plus ABS brakes, L4 - previous options + airbag.

Ken

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see...

based on what I've seen with the airbags it might have kept you from going over the car, you would have hit the bag, and your wife would have hit you... Dunno if that scenario would've played out better or worse for the 2 of you...but as I've said, I'm glad to read you guys are still with us, and hope you both heal up quick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a terrible experience, glad you're able to write about it. The trike probably was safer that a bike in this situation. You were able to keep the wheels on the ground providing all the stopping power that was available instead of having to lay it down and sliding into the car much faster than you were going. Good for you to have the mindset to take care of your wife while you were hurting, just like it should be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The state trooper agreed that the trike was better in this situation than 2 a two wheeler. It stayed very stable until after we were ejected. I feel that the size and the front of the Goldwing also provided some protection. I think most of my cuts and scrapes were from the left handlebar and maybe the GPS mount (the GPS was turned over but still attached, it was on a clutch reservoir mount.)

We were extremely fortunate that there was nothing on the other side of the car, just flat blacktop, no guard rails, telephone poles, or other vehicles.

We were also lucky that the car didn't roll back over us. After the crash, it was uncontrolled and rolled back into the parking lot where it struck a truck. If we had been laying in it's path, well, that would have been even worse.

Yesterday my wife asked if we were going to get another trike. I don't know yet, it's too early to think about that. But we really loved that bike and she loved riding it. We put 4000 miles on it in the last month.

Ken

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you get another one I would think it would be a good idea to try and find the airbag one this time.

That has crossed my mind although I want to find out if they actually do much good.

Although it would have made zero difference in this case (state trooper agrees), I would also probably want ABS.

FWIW, I got out of motorcycles in 2002 and started riding horses. Even including this wreck, motorcycles have been safer for both of us than horses!

Ken

Link to comment
Share on other sites

glad to know you guys are doing okay, reading these these personal experiences always helps us to rethink our priorities in life and try to ride safer next time. thank you for doing this

I have thought it over a thousand times and I just cannot think of anything I could have done different than staying home. We both loved to ride. State trooper said my reaction time was good and he said that I handled it right.

I agree with you, I'm constantly watching what I do and try to learn from everything I do, to do better. But about the only thing that would have saved us here was if I was doing 25 mph and that would probably have upset other drivers, LOL.

Some of my first thoughts (and even before this) was wondering if more lights or a different color would have helped. But she admitted she did see us. Visibility won't help there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That has crossed my mind although I want to find out if they actually do much good.

Although it would have made zero difference in this case (state trooper agrees), I would also probably want ABS.

FWIW, I got out of motorcycles in 2002 and started riding horses. Even including this wreck, motorcycles have been safer for both of us than horses!

Ken

Safer and most likely less expensive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That has crossed my mind although I want to find out if they actually do much good.

Although it would have made zero difference in this case (state trooper agrees), I would also probably want ABS.

FWIW, I got out of motorcycles in 2002 and started riding horses. Even including this wreck, motorcycles have been safer for both of us than horses!

Ken

Here's the video of it in action if you haven't seen it already

Crash dummy at 4:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phPUFWJpKsU&t=3m59s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow, glad you guys are doing well, your wife gets a +1 rep for not being too afraid to consider another ride! good luck with the decision, how many years of safe riding have you had?

jbot--- duuuh she had "Imbiggeritus" and figured she was priority by size lol, stupid cager

Edited by RideSlow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That has crossed my mind although I want to find out if they actually do much good.

Although it would have made zero difference in this case (state trooper agrees), I would also probably want ABS.

FWIW, I got out of motorcycles in 2002 and started riding horses. Even including this wreck, motorcycles have been safer for both of us than horses!

Ken

Thank god you are okay. That looks nasty. Sounds like some good riding made the best of a horrible situation. Horses seem dangerous to me too. My wife rides them. I don't want to negotiate with a 1200lb animal and hope it sees things my way.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad to hear you guys are walking away from that... I gotta tell you though, I'm not sure I could stomach getting back on a bike after that. Even if I did, I don't know about ever riding two up again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow...good to hear it didn't turn out worse. I'll give the old bag credit for being honest but it's a good example of why the elderly should be tested regularly. Lucky, most move away to God's waiting room (aka Florida) before they cause too much trouble here.

IMO most people who claim "I never saw them" didn't make the effort to look with proper diligence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow...good to hear it didn't turn out worse. I'll give the old bag credit for being honest but it's a good example of why the elderly should be tested regularly.

I'll go one further - I think the driving and written driving test should be part of every renewal. Too many people take it when they're 16 and don't ever care again. Testing my vision doesn't mean anything when I come to that traffic light that doesn't have power...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did she have insurance to cover all this damage and related medical bills?

So far all I have from OSHP is her name. No address, no insurance company info. Hopefully she has good coverage. Then there is our uninsured motorist coverage. (I actually noticed on the Nighthawk, I pay more for uninsured motorist than I do for $1m liability....)

As for us riding again, that will be a difficult future decision. If I ride solo, I will be leaving her home to worry about me. If we ride 2up, then of course I have to worry about hurting her....

OTOH, riding has been our biggest joy these last few years.

As to my experience, I first started riding in 1985. I had about 60,000 accident free miles until Saturday. About 34,000 of those miles have been the last two years. The trike just turned over 17,000 miles.

Ken

p.s. here is a photo of the top of my helmet

IMG_1784.jpg

Edited by Ken45
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...