Wear a helmet!

[tonkota]

Thought I'd share here:

Last Thursday (May 13th) I rode my Kona to work. About a block from my home a lady opened her door in my path. I realize that I shouldn't have been riding so close, but it is a residential street and not that wide. The car had not just pulled up, it hadn't moved since I came onto the block. No brake light action. I had no reason to think that someone was in the car.

Anyway, she opened the door on her Hyundai Accent and it happened so fast! My head pounded the door and I hit the ground like a tub of sh!t. I'm not sure how fast I was going, but I'd guess 10-15mph (about my average rate).

If I had not been wearing the helmet, my head would have been sliced open. My helmet broke as it was. I feel pretty fortunate that I have minor bruising and a nasty abrasion on my elbow. My hands would have also been torn up had I not been wearing full fingered gloves.

The Kona suffered a bent front brake lever and some minor scratches (since I know you guys are interested in the bike )

 

[romegadave]

Glad you weren't hurt Tonk and you're right: Protect the noggin'

 

[Mr. Toad]

You got the door prize. lol.

Glad your noggin is still happy.

 

[ravewoofer]

Glad you're OK. I ride with a simple rule: No helmet, no ride.

 

[MANUCHAO]

Not even for a second blame yerself for riding "too close" to the right cars or no cars....
Glad you ok.
This happen to me when I used to live in Toronto...
I gave the person a piece of my mind....
Yes, helmets are life savers.. !!!

 

[Mr. Toad]

Not even for a second blame yerself for riding "too close" to the right cars or no cars....
Glad you ok.
This happen to me when I used to live in Toronto...
I gave the person a piece of my mind....
Yes, helmets are life savers.. !!!

I'm going to asume you're kidding. If you ride within door-swing radius of parked cars, you do so at your own risk.

 

[MANUCHAO]

TO is like NYC.. fast moving traffic, crazy drivers..to your left.. parked cars with a chance of a door flying open to your right...
I'll take my chances with a parked car any day eh !!!

 

[tonkota]

I don't blame anyone. It happened and I'm glad for my safety equipment.

 

[Zack1978]

This is such a sad story to read......

Last Aug my principal started riding his bike again to lose some weight and get in better shape. He was riding his bike to school early one morning, and he did not have his helmet on. A lady driving a Ford Bronco hit him directly in the head with the mirror of the truck. His body was thrown over the hood and tossed to the ground. He has over 300 stiches in his head alone. He has not come back to school almost a year later.......He has had a long recovery period, and it still not better. His short-term memory is gone, and most of his cognative skills are gone. I am not sure if he will ever recover. It is so sad because he truly was an amazing school administrator! I still hope and pray that he will make a full recovery, and that he will be back at the helm of his school!

Zack

 

[Mr. Toad]

This is such a sad story to read......

Last Aug my principal started riding his bike again to lose some weight and get in better shape. He was riding his bike to school early one morning, and he did not have his helmet on. A lady driving a Ford Bronco hit him directly in the head with the mirror of the truck. His body was thrown over the hood and tossed to the ground. He has over 300 stiches in his head alone. He has not come back to school almost a year later.......He has had a long recovery period, and it still not better. His short-term memory is gone, and most of his cognative skills are gone. I am not sure if he will ever recover. It is so sad because he truly was an amazing school administrator! I still hope and pray that he will make a full recovery, and that he will be back at the helm of his school!

Zack

That does suck. No chance he's coming back.

Something similar happened to a racer-lawyer I knew named Randy. Wife, kids, just made partner. He was wearing his helmet when a drunk old lady hit him and ran on his dawn-ish commute. Yes, she was bombed before dawn. She stopped at a full service fuel station and said she thought she hit a dog. They went looking and eventually found him. That was in 1991. He can sort of feed himself now.

 

[agomez]

That does suck. No chance he's coming back.

Something similar happened to a racer-lawyer I knew named Randy. Wife, kids, just made partner. He was wearing his helmet when a drunk old lady hit him and ran on his dawn-ish commute. Yes, she was bombed before dawn. She stopped at a full service fuel station and said she thought she hit a dog. They went looking and eventually found him. That was in 1991. He can sort of feed himself now.

I wonder if it was the same lady that drove over the kids in rodgers ranch and then proceeded to drive down 1604 in her car with no front tire....

 

[ravewoofer]

I used to be a roadie, but honestly, after switching to the mountain bike, I don't think I could really enjoy the roads any more. Unless I get up very early to ride, there's just too much traffic on the narrow, winding roads where I live.

Sounds like from reading above, riding early may not keep you away from the drunks. I'll take my chances with rocks and horses any day.

 

[John Smith]

It took me seeing a friend wipe out without a helmet a few years ago to finally get me to wear one for every ride. I always would wear one MTN biking or on long rides but did not usually wear one on short rides around the neighborhood.

Glad to hear your helmet saved you.

 

[pappy]

I want to know if you did any worthwhile damage to the car. Glad you are OK. I'm with ravewoofer ... no helmet, no ride. In the 30+ years I've been commuting I've only had one incident when I was hit by a landscape trailer (the truck pulling it cleared me). I know I should knock on wood since the odds are not in my favor. At least I have bike lane or bike trail from the second I leave the house until I arrive at work. Still I had a cop open his door on me once (I cleared the door, no words exchanged), and I had a cop swerve half way into a 6 foot bike lane last summer (which resulted in a formal complaint ... I'm getting too old to put up with this crap). When you hit the road you can't trust anybody.

 

[tonkota]

I have no idea. I was in sort of a daze after it happened. I am still missing details of what happened when I hit. It was a Hyundai so who knows?

 

[Junk]

I split my helmet a few weeks ago. Still not sure what happened other than I remember at some point sitting on the porch with blood running off my head. Guess I managed to ride home. Don't remember anything else that happened that day.

Bought a new helmet a few days later. Won't ride without one.

 

[pappy]

What is scary is I'm sure we all have our stories. Either something that happened to us, or somebody we know. I rode in the Iron Horse (Durango to Silverton) this last weekend and had a guy in front of me go down on one of the descents. We were going about 40mph at the time.

 

[nat]

I'm going to asume you're kidding. If you ride within door-swing radius of parked cars, you do so at your own risk.

Around here, if you ride out of reach of doors, you are in the middle of a lane, holding up cars. I am quite certain somebody would just run you over.

 

[nat]

years ago I worked in a hospital ER and me and my buddies never wore helmets.

Well, one day we get this patient in, who had been descending a big hill, missed a corner and ended up going through a car windshield, head first, like a missile.

The guy walked out of the ER with no real injuries.

We bought helmets that day. 20 years later and I am never without one.

 

[Mr. Toad]

What is scary is I'm sure we all have our stories. Either something that happened to us, or somebody we know. I rode in the Iron Horse (Durango to Silverton) this last weekend and had a guy in front of me go down on one of the descents. We were going about 40mph at the time.

At least you stayed right side up! That dude must have been raw sliding to a stop from 40.

I always looked forward to racing the IH each year.

Junk, did you get your noggin checked out?