Hypothetical Crash

[Yellow650]

Say you're travelling down the highway at no higher than the legal speed limit :wink: and all of a sudden you're cut off by a car moving into your lane (the driving have not seen you). You lay the bike down and slide quite a ways. You get up slowly, and after a few seconds of walking, you feel pretty good. Next, you:

A) Continue to check yourself for any injuries.


B) Walk over to your bike and begin a damage assesment.


Personally I think I would choose B.

[Ch00]

I think checking your self for damage would be the 1st thing to so. At then end of the day a bike (dare I say it) is just a piece of repairable metal and it can wait.

Ch00

[FG1]

Stay down. If the driver hasnt got the sense to check for hazards he deserves to be taken to the cleaners........

[swamp]

You forgot... Memorize the reg number of the car as your ass is sliding down the road because they are sure to drive off without stopping :?

[lynw]

I think checking your self for damage would be the 1st thing to so. At then end of the day a bike (dare I say it) is just a piece of repairable metal and it can wait.

Ch00

Experience says otherwise. :wink: :P :lol:

I think you partly know if youre seriously injured enough to stay down and not move, or whether you can get up. And if its the latter, your first priortity strangely seems to be your bike. I know from previous discussions Im not the only one to do this. :oops: :P :lol:

[sv650s_guy]

i did theis a feel months back a bloke pulled out and the first thing i did was check the bike gota have prioritys

[Mr UKI]

I got straight up after being taken out on a roundabout a couple of years ago to check the bike was OK, then fainted (think it was seeing the damage that did it!) :D

[Razor]

Thinking of the bike is a good sign. If you're in so much pain that you forget the bike you may as well wait for the ambulance.

[Scooby Drew]

I thought 'Bugger, the groceries' :lol: and toddled over to see that they were still attached to the bike. Followed by 'Hmm, hope those nice folks I just passed stop cos I need help to pick it up so I can ride home...' :lol:

[northwind]

I've never checked myself for damage... I sort of assume if I haven't already felt it, and I don't notice it while checking/picking up the bike, it can't be that bad.

[Warren]

B

i always have.
then found myself right in front of oncoming traffic.

once adrenalin kicks in, all i seem to wanna do is get my bike back up and get on it again.

strange aint it.

[haggis]

On both occasions I did B.

My initial memory of the first off was standing in front of the bike attempting to lift it when my knee and wrist told me to stop again. :(

The second one, a cage driver picked up the bike so I could wheel it to safety and check it over. Didn't realise my wrist was fecked again and I nearly dropped it.

[DanAbnormal]

My only crashes were one's where I could not get up, although apparently I tried to.

I think if it were a low speed off then I would probably try to get up slow to see if there was any pain. A guy at our gym had an off a few years back, he'd hit a kerb and broken some ribs bt still got and walked over to his bike, that's when one of the ribs went straight through his heart and he then died instantly. Poor chap. Makes you wonder eh.

[Ed]

First thought was to get out of the road before someone ran over me. I went to get up but I couldn't move my left leg - I thought it was broken. So I rolled onto the kerb and realised that it wasn't pretty.

[Lou M]

Mine was A, I stood up carefully thinking, I must have broken an ankle with hitting that bollard - bloody hell, I'm fine!

Followed by, oh no what's my direct access instructor going to say when he see's the state of his bike! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[thor]

I would get off the road first.

[timwilky]

My one and only experience says, if you can stay down. I was fortunate to have a copper along side and about 30 other witnesses. As I led in the road thinking what did I do wrong. and some old fart shouting sorry. I thought about my bike.

The copper ran the light in front, swang into my lane, reversed between me and the traffic island to park his car to protect me. Only when I was sure I wanted to try to move did he let me. He wouldn't let me shift my bike and having sketched its position did he move it himself and open the road.

He then stayed with me until my recovery arrived. Gave me a list of witnesses names and addresses, brethalised the old fart and cautioned him for due car and attention advising him that there were possible other charges.

He then apolgised and gave me a producer saying it was policy for all parties in an RTA. Nice thing was he disposed of my "illegal" can before the bike was trailered away.

[Ceri JC]

What Lynw said.

[ArtyLady]

B would be tempting but definately not advisable! :?

I once knew someone who got back on a horse after falling off because they felt fine - 2 hours later was paralysed permanently - they had broken their back without knowing it :? and it severed the spinal column as they carried on riding :shock: .

[Stig]

It's common instinct to get up straight away and check if the bike is OK. Some times crashes happen so quickly that the mind does not have time to react and let you know what is happening. Therefore you do not realise that you have damaged part of your body.

A few examples.

I came off my YZF attempting to take a bend too fast. I never made the corner and was flipped over the side of the bike. I flew threw the air and landed directly on top of my head on a grass embankment. I managed to compress all my neck muscles and squashed a disc in my lower back. As soon as I got up, I went running over to the bike checked it over, and rode it home. It was not until I got off the bike once home that I hurt like hell.

Another one, a car pulled out of a side road directly into my path, I hit is near side rear end and got thrown into the kerb. Again I got straight up and ran towards my bike, tried to pick it up. It was only then that I realised my shoulder would not work. I had completely smashed the collarbone on the kerb. Didn't feel a thing until I tried to pick the bike up.

Last one was a bit different. Sliding into the armco at around 80mph. I got stuck between my bike and under the barrier so couldn't get up even if I wanted to. But at the time I just thought the reason that I was having difficulty in breathing was because I was stuck. I thought at the time that as soon as someone got me out, I would be fine, be able to get up, have a fag and assess the damage to the bike.

It was only once the barrier was lifted that it became quite evident that this was not the case. Broken pelvis, 11 broken ribs, punctured lung, collapsed lung and some good internal injuries to boot.

I don't think there are many people that would actually stay down and assess all possible injuries before attempting to move. Like I said, accidents tend to happen fast. The brain does not react quickly enough. On top of that there could be the rush of adrenaline to disguise any possible injuries.

Normal first thoughts are for the bike and what damage has been done. It's normally when going to check the bike that the pain starts to develop, and even then not always.

My dad used to do grass track racing, he had an accident where he smashed his ankle to bits. He got up after the accident and walked off the track. It was only after he was off the track that he couldn't understand why he was walking funny. He looked down and saw the angle of his foot and went down like a sack of the proverbial.

Yes, it's common knowledge that bikers after an accident will think they are fine when they are not. This is why, should you ever be witness to a bike accident, regardless of what the fallen rider may say, try to make them stay still, at least for 5 minutes. Until the adrenaline wears off and the brain has time to catch up and let the person know if they are really injured or not.

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

When it happened to me (except the car hit me, and I woke up with a crowd around me) I just laid there while everyone ran about panicking and telling each other not to take my helmet off and asking me if I could feel anything. Felt sore but alright. One glance at the bike told me to not bother checking for damage - FUBAR

I've been knocked off another bike and my pushbike and both times I got up and checked myself then the bike for damage (having to remind myself to check me first, instead of the bike). If it's a biggie I'd advise anyone to stay down - looks more impressive on the insurance claim and probably instills more fear into the person who caused the accident. Maybe it seems like a waste of time and effort for the police/ambulance peeps, but then a) they wouldn't be there if the **** hadn't caused the accident in the first place and b) unless you're a qualified doctor, how do you know what damage may have been caused to you? No point leaping up and claiming to be fine then finding you've busted something oer the coming hours and days.