Motorcycle Accident 7-16-04

I posted this elsewhere at the time, but wanted to bring it over here to make sure it wasn't lost...

*******************
The Basics: While traveling down I-81 near Roanoke, VA, en route from Alexandria VA to Highlands, NC, I had an accident on my motorcycle. I'm generally ok, and am expecting to make a full recovery. For full detail, read further.

The Accident: I was traveling in the left lane of the Southbound side of I-81. Traffic was heavy, generally moving about 60-65 within a construction zone. As I was overtaking a minivan, located about even with their rear tire, they signaled and started to move into my lane. I honked a couple of times as I moved further left. They kept coming, so I hit my brakes. I guess I hit my brakes too hard, as I immediately skidded to the right. I think I grabbed the clutch, too, and let it back out while trying to recover, as the bike then flipped me off the left side. This would be consistent with the rear tire smoothly rolling as I skidded, then locking up if I too-quickly released the clutch. I ended up resting on the right shoulder of the highway, near the guard rail. I was resting face down, with my left shoulder under me.

As I lay on the shoulder of the highway, I started checking my systems. No problem breathing. My legs moved fine, as did my fingers. However, it really hurt to move my left arm, so I remained where I was, and didn't move any further. Very quickly, there were many folks helping out. An EMT was passing through, and quickly took charge of my head. A doctor was in the Northbound lanes, and quickly turned around and assisted as well. They stabilized my body, did a quick check, and opened the faceshield of my helmet so I could breath better.

The fire truck arrived quickly, followed shortly by the paramedics. They rolled me over, quickly checked me out, and removed my helmet. I remember telling them how to open the face portion of my modular helmet (Nolan N100E), as well as unlock the chinstrap. They then strapped me to a body board, and loaded me into the back of the ambulance for the 20-25 minute ride to the Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Once in the ER, they cut off my riding jacket & t-shirt, and pulled off my boots, riding pants, and bike shorts. I was the center of attention for a while, including a trip through the MRI for a scan of my torso and shoulder. The significant concern was damage to my spleen - evidently it was a level 3 injury, on a 1 (good) to 4 (bad) scale. They also observed damage to my shoulder and spine. After a bit they started getting me ready to transfer. I was allowed to make a few calls, and called my Father to let him know I'd be delayed, my mother & brother, and my girlfriend, Claudia.

While they were waiting for a bed, and I was talking to the nurse monitoring me, I felt a wave of heat then a chill, and started feeling dizzy. I told the nurse this, and she noticed that my blood pressure had crashed. I was quickly the center of attention again, with a 2nd IV going, and extensive observation. My blood pressure soon normalized, but this incident increased their concern. I won't go into the full details, but I spent Friday night in the ICU, before being stepped down to regular care Saturday evening. I seemed to recover fairly quickly, and was getting out of bed by Sunday, and made a couple of walks in the hallway by the middle of Sunday night. I was released Monday noonish, and returned to the DC area.

In the end, I'm a bit beaten up, but no huge injuries. My spleen did not require surgery, and expected to regenerate on i's own. My shoulder bone (scapula?) is fractured in a couple of places. The imagery the doc used was pushing down on a corn flake, and the multiple breaks that occur. Several of the "wings" along my backbone are fractured. These fractures appear to be remaining tight, but I'm warned about moving my left shoulder for a while. Not that I will - it hurts like hell. I've got some road rash and major bruises on the left side of my back, where the jacket road up and provided no protection. I've got several bits or roadrash on my right arm, with the worst near my elbow. Generally, they're forecasting a 6-8 week recovery, and 2-4 weeks out of work.

All in all, the accident caused grave concern to a number of people. My mother was prepared to fly out if surgery had been required. My father & stepmother drove up from Highlands Saturday am, staying through Sunday afternoon. A good friend of mine, Deanna, drove my girlfriend, Claudia, down Friday night, then back home Saturday. They both returned Monday after I was released.

My Gear: I was wearing a yellow full-face helmet (Nolan N100E), a red mesh riding jacket (Joe Rocket Pheonix), mesh riding pants (Fieldsheer Titanium AirMax), mesh motorcycle gloves (JR Pheonix), and boots.

The helmet is heavily scraped along the face. Evidently I was surfing the pavement face-down for a bit. No major impacts, and the mechanism still operates, and the chinbar stayed locked. It did it's job, and I have no head trauma.

The jacket is heavily worn on the right sleeve, with two significant openings where I got the road rash. It appears that the elbow armor rotated on my arm, providing limited protection. The back of the jacked rode up as I slid down the pavement, and offered little protection.

The pants were heavily worn on the right knee and hip. The armor pad in the knee was almost torn out. Still, I had no significant injury to my legs.

Ironically, 30 minutes before the accident, I had looked at the zippers on my pants & jacket. While close, since they were from different mfg.s, they didn't match. If they had, my back might be in much better shape.

The gloves are pretty torn up, but worked. No injuries to my hands.

The boots are Chippewa (?) MC boots. They close with a large Velcro patch on the calf, and 2 velcro straps at the ankle. While 1 foot shifted somewhat in the boot, the boots stayed on, and I had no foot injuries. One nurse asked about my boots, and commented that the boots fly off in many motorcycle accidents.

All in all, my gear did its' job. Several of the hospital staff said I was in *much* better shape than most motorcycle accidents they got.

The Bike: 2003 Suzuki Bandit 1200S, +/- 4000 miles. No idea of the damage, as I haven't seen it after the accident. The EMT told me as we were headed to the hospital that the damage seemed fairly light, mostly on one side. We'll see what the insurance report says.

Afterthoughts: There was plenty I could have done differently. Better position would have been difficult, given the heavy traffic. Perhaps I should have simply slowed down and stayed in the right lane. I was focused on making time to NC, so this wasn't high on my list. I should have hit the brakes immediately, rather the horn. I should have better control of my brakes than my panic-induced grab. It would have been nice if the minivan had taken a real look, but I can't control that. I think I remember the trooper stating the driver received a ticket.

Yeah, lots of learning from this one, and lots of room for improvement. Still, I think this is the end of my riding, for a while at least. I'm pretty shaken, and feeling lucky I'm alive.

Godspeed.

Brian