wreck Saturday - US52 Manchester Ohio

[ScubaCinci]

When my wife had her accident years ago, she was maybe doign 20mph. Her helmet was deeply gouged from the chin, all the way down one side and the faceshield was ripped off. Had she not been wearing a helmet or only had an open face helmet, she'd be very much disfigured if not worse.

[Ken45]

FYI, my wife came home from the hospital Friday and is improving although it will be quite a while until she is fully recovered.

She is saying that she definitely wants to ride again. I don't know, we will have to see.

BTW, I finally got a chance to inspect our gear. My jacket looks fine except for some blood. Her jacket has a hole in one shoulder. I don't know, we were very, very fortunate.

Ken

Edited August 27, 2012 by Ken45

[J_Copeland]

Praying for you and your wife!

[snot]

Praying for you and your wife!

+1. You and your wife are lucky. I pray for a speedy recovery for both of you.

[Scruit]

"I saw them but the didn't stop" Man, that annoys the snot out of me.

Some old guy used that line when he cut me off in my cage. Made a lane change from his stationary lane into my moving lane right as I was going by, but argued to the cop that he made the lane change slowly enough that I should have seen him and slowed down / let him in. The cop was unmoved and cited him for "Turn and Stop signals" (Which states no person may change lanes unless it can be done in safety)

[wht_scorpion]

Glad to hear you guys are ok

[Ken45]

Glad to hear you guys are ok

Thanks.

Well "okay" is relative, I'm still worried about my wife's ultimate recovery.

But now the S*** is beginning. Turns out, State Farm (MY insurance) has taken it upon themselves to move the trike to a salvage yard without my permission or anything. All I did with State Farm is to notify them, not make a claim. Oh, they also mentioned "actual cash value", which means if we have to rely on them, I'm sure we will lose big time (the trike was bought new.)

Now I just get a call from the doctor's office wanting OUR "auto insurance" for their billing. I don't know about other companies, but State Farm does not provide "medical claims" on motorcycle insurance.....

(Is that standard in Ohio for mc insurance not to include medical claims?)

We may be forced to get a lawyer real fast.....

Ken

[Ricochet]

That sucks to here.. i would consult a lawyer anyway just to cover all bases.

[InyaAzz]

That's State Farm for ya. Good rates...until you have a claim..or you notice you don't have medical coverage. They did me a favor by dropping me.

I hope everything works out for ya. If you haven't retained a lawyer yet, now's the time. You CAN do this all on your own, but it will be time consuming, difficult and frustrating. The insurance companies will prey on the fact that you are handling it on your own, assuming you don't know what you're doing.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[nautical1]

I'd recommend getting a lawyer who knows how to handle these situations to help fight for you. The insurance companies will do the bare minimum they can get away with while a lawyer will continue fighting for more. Also, since the other driver caused the accident you need to make sure their insurance is covering your medical expenses and make sure that any future problems your wife may have related to this incident are covered by her insurance as well, don't just settle to get the whole thing over with.

[M_Quick]

ken45,

Sorry to hear about the wreck! And I to hope you and wife have a speedy and full recovery. As far as the lawyer goes, I'm surprised they haven't been contacting you already. Your accident must of been in the boonies. Here in the city if your in a accident they check the public records and spam call you! If you cant get a hold of the lady at fault to get her insurance company, then yea you might have to cough up 33% of your claim to a lawyer. Thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife.

[Ken45]

Oh yeah, I've gotten some postal mail and today even text messages from lawyers (oh joy! How did they get my cell phone number?)

However, I don't want to just grab any lawyer that says "hire me" and I also wonder if we will come out worse after a lawyer takes his cut. If they get 30% of a ten percent bigger settlement, that's a bigger loss for us.

We do have a local lawyer we have used on real estate and wills but he seems like maybe a too nice of a guy (LOL) and besides, I have a suspicion he probably at least knows the other driver since they are both long time residents in the same small community.

I know a couple of lawyers that relatives have used and I'll probably be contacting one of them as soon as I get done running to medical offices with my wife.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to select a decent lawyer, I would appreciate if you would PM me.

Thanks,

Ken

[InyaAzz]

They have an RSS feed to the local police department accident reports.

When I was hit from behind, I think it was on a Thursday evening. I had snail mail and phone calls by Monday.

[Ken45]

They have an RSS feed to the local police department accident reports.

When I was hit from behind, I think it was on a Thursday evening. I had snail mail and phone calls by Monday.

And so the police (OSHP in this case) posts my cell phone number? Gee thanks guys.

[mello dude]

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

Ken

I used to develop airbag systems for cars. Airbags ususally are developed for a "zone" of most effectiveness. In cars the Fed, mandates the frontal test at 30 mph.

I would be curious as to what speed the Honda tests were run and what happens to the rider after the airbag goes off. (stays on the bike? over the bars still? -whats the dynamic?) Also a big question for you is what about crashes with 2 up? What happens to the passenger in the crash?

Crashes are all about the energy of momentum. The longer you can take to dissipate the energy, the less chance for injury. In your crash, you and you wife were probly fortunate to the thrown over the car and not hitting anything. That allowed you to roll out the energy to dissipate it at a longer interval and come out alive.

Airbag on a bike? Tough choice. If the crash is a tall truck and your gonna hit it solid and not go anywhere, the airbag is probly a good thing. If the crash is a over the bar type, I might pick that vs the airbag if the speed is 40 mph +.

Airbags are a fantastic lifesaving device, but its not going to work for all situation. Yet I commend Honda for pushing the envelop.

Best wishes to you and your wife. Heal well.

[Ken45]

What you have said coincides with my (unknowledgeable) thinking. How would they work for 2UP? What if an airbag slowed us down and we did hit the car instead of going over it? A million unknowns or variables in each accident. Cars are an unknown too but more of a closed system, especially with a seat belt.

Thanks,

Ken

I used to develop airbag systems for cars. Airbags ususally are developed for a "zone" of most effectiveness. In cars the Fed, mandates the frontal test at 30 mph.

I would be curious as to what speed the Honda tests were run and what happens to the rider after the airbag goes off. (stays on the bike? over the bars still? -whats the dynamic?) Also a big question for you is what about crashes with 2 up? What happens to the passenger in the crash?

Crashes are all about the energy of momentum. The longer you can take to dissipate the energy, the less chance for injury. In your crash, you and you wife were probly fortunate to the thrown over the car and not hitting anything. That allowed you to roll out the energy to dissipate it at a longer interval and come out alive.

Airbag on a bike? Tough choice. If the crash is a tall truck and your gonna hit it solid and not go anywhere, the airbag is probly a good thing. If the crash is a over the bar type, I might pick that vs the airbag if the speed is 40 mph +.

Airbags are a fantastic lifesaving device, but its not going to work for all situation. Yet I commend Honda for pushing the envelop.

Best wishes to you and your wife. Heal well.

[Revelstoker]

Wow, amazing story. Glad you are OK. The airbag on the GW is interesting but the reusable Alpinestar airbag leather suit has me wondering if it would be the answer. While the suit is great, it will still put you airborne where you can strike another object. GW airbike seems to keep you on the bike and absorbs most of your forward momentum. Intriguing.

Glad you and your wife are well. Time will heal the wounds and you will know when you are ready to get back on a bike. Don't rush it.

[Scruit]

And so the police (OSHP in this case) posts my cell phone number? Gee thanks guys.

All Ohio accident reports are online.

http://www.dps.state.oh.us/OHCrashReports/

[Ken45]

All Ohio accident reports are online.

http://www.dps.state.oh.us/OHCrashReports/

I had looked last week and it was not online then. Thanks.

But I think it is wrong for the state to post people's cell phone numbers. OTOH, it does help the insurance companies to make contact.

Ken

[jdonn]

How did I miss this?! That is one thing that scares the shit out of me is when coming to an intersection, someone pulling into the lain or turning in front/next to me. I had this happen last year where a car tried to take a rt hand turn into my lane as I was next to him. Luckily there was a turning lane for on coming traffic and no one was turning. Needless to say, that ass-clown got a mouth full at the next stop light and took off running... I was PISSED.

I hope for a speedy recovery and all these legal matters get solved so you and your wife come out on top (at least monetarily).

Edited August 28, 2012 by jdonn

[Bubba]

There is a lawyer who claims to specialize in MC accident practice who is a sponsor on ORdotcom. Believe his name is Tony Castelli. Here's a link from this summer:

http://www.ohioriders.net/showthread.php?t=95614&highlight=lawyer

Also, as has been stated many times here, prolly not the best idea to discuss legal/medical issues on a public forum if there may be a claim forthcoming. Hope you and missus are feeling OK in a few...Good luck!

[Ken45]

jdonn,

Intersections I have been hyper alert on. That's one of the reasons we mostly ride rural areas, to avoid heavy traffic.

Heck, it's not that I hope to "come out on top", just to come out somewhat fair instead of taking a major loss.

Bubba,

thanks for the thread reference, I'll check it.

Ken

[jdonn]

I see what your saying and that's more what I was saying... It's bad enought to endure mental and physical injuries, I just hope you don't get screwed by the insurance companies.

[Brownsfan1]

Good to hear that you are both OK.

[Ken45]

Reviving an old thread now that we are done with the lawyers.  

 

My wife had a very rough six months of recovery. Pain, oxygen 24/hrs a day, many trips to doctors and therapy.  She still has shoulder pain at times. But otherwise is finally doing fairly well.  I had knee surgery last spring and I'm doing okay.

 

We didn't know if we could ride again but it had been our greatest joy.  Last spring we bought a new trike.  We put less than 3000 miles on it last year, 1/3rd of our normal riding.   It just wasn't all that enjoyable, too many memories of the crash, too much fear of it happening again.  IDK if we will ever be able to enjoy riding like we used to.  It also gets uncomfortable riding for more than an hour.  

 

We will give the trike another try this year but if we can't enjoy it better, we will sell the trike.

 

Insurance companies:  Her insurance company's (Safeco) adjuster was a real piece of work.  Denial, wrong information, stalling, etc. Lies. When they finally made an offer for the trike, it was $15,000 less that what we paid for it 2 years earlier. I had documentation of comparable replacement costs but they just ignored that.   I finally turned it over to my insurance company (State Farm) who paid off under the "uninsured/underinsured" coverage.  They did a more honest evaluation, paying attention to the details and cut a check for $8000 more than the Safeco offer. 

 

Turns out, Safeco/Liberty Mutual/Ohio Casualty is all the same company.  We had our $3000/year farm policy with Ohio Casualty.   I cancelled it and found a new company and a new agent.  

 

Lawyers:  We went with Elk & Elk, a large firm.  Our lawyer was Craig McLaughlin.  He seemed to be knowledgeable and we feel he got us a reasonable settlement.   Communication was via phone and email.   

 

Ken