Those of us who live to ride and ride to live are well aware of the old saying;
“There are two types of motorcycle riders; those who’ve gone down and those who will.”
We are all well aware of the risks of the open road and we’ve all had our share of close calls. When the fit hits the shan, it’s those moments that remind us that no matter how careful we are there is always some knucklehead out there ready to ruin a good day. All we can hope for is that at the split-second we are alert and react fast. Often, it’s our attitude at that space in time that makes all the difference.
Not long ago during the Coronavirus Crisis our in Sunny Southern California, Malibu to be specific – Neptune’s Net was offering up ‘To Go Only’ orders and there was a line of cars which turned onto Yerba Buena Road after each received their meals. The cars then lined up facing down Yerba Buena at the stop sign on Pacific Coast Highway. The impatient drivers trying to make left turns and head back to Santa Monica often made unsafe pullouts onto PCH.
One such car pulled out in front of a motorcycle, and as you probably guess, this story didn’t end well. The driver of the SUV filled with people later told officers that she didn’t see the motorcycle. That’s interesting because all the eye-witnesses saw the motorcycle, and heard it too. It was a bright shiny bike with lots of chrome and an experienced rider and his girlfriend on the back. They’d logged over 10,000 miles together over the last decade.
The driver realizing her mistake for some reason froze and stopped rather than continuing the turn. The biker had no place to go. The rider admitted traveling 5 to 7 miles per hour over the posted speed and some might say he was partially at fault. You know what? It doesn’t matter, it’s still not legal to pull out into traffic when another vehicle is approaching.
Now it’s hard to say if the driver of the SUV was preoccupied with rowdy passengers, rewrapping her lunch to eat on the drive back, text messaging, or just had a brain fart. She was at fault. The motorcycle rider had a grade three sprained ankle, a little bit of road rash, a concussion, and hurt both his wrists. Needless to say, he won’t be working for a while. His bike was nearly totaled, ever seen a grown man cry? His lady friend will be okay, but they did end up taking her away in an ambulance. Guess how much that cost?
Since the gentleman on the motorcycle is a construction contractor who happened to still be busy finishing up his backlog of work during the coronavirus pandemic his financial losses will be substantial. His injuries will prevent him from working and as mentioned his beautiful one-of-a-kind bike was totaled or close to it. He’ll need a new one or have it completely rebuilt.
Luckily, he’s a lifer and won’t stop riding, nor will his gal. Still, they need to be compensated fairly for this accident. A serious accident with injuries caused by yet another left-turning oblivious driver who just doesn’t understand life on Earth.
