[BoyElroy]

Just wondering what sort of accidents my fellow hi-fi'ers have been in. Circumstances, blame, results, advice?

My personal worst was on my motorcycle a few years back. I'd just rebuilt my fork suspension and some fluid had leaked onto my front disc brake. As luck would have it, later that night, a car in front of me stopped suddenly and I slammed into it going about 20 mph. It was on 2nd ave (very busy avenue/near 12th st.) and I went flying over the entire length of the car. I landed on my head and luckily for my noggin, my helmet saved the softer parts from too much harm. I was extremely lucky in that the point of impact was slightly off center. Two more inches to the left and I would have landed directly on the center of my head and the damage to my spine would have been something horrific. Two fire engines, an ambulance and four patrol cars showed up and they shut down 2nd avenue for a good 20 minutes while the paramedics put me in traction and took me away.

There was a couple in the car with a baby and the woman was crying hysterically. I asked her if the baby was okay and why was she crying. Her husband looked at me funny and said it was because she saw me flying past her in her rear view mirror and then land in front of her. He said that he didn't even feel my motorcycle hit their car.

The funny thing about all this was that I had to go into the emergency room recently at Beth Israel Hospital for food poisoning and the X-Ray tech remembered me from the incident four years ago. He said that he'd never forget me 'cos of all the cops that escorted me into the emergency room that night. Apparently, they liked my vintage BMW bike and wanted to make sure I was okay. Very weird experience.

It certainly changed my riding habits, though.

Any other stories out there?

 

[hongda]

Well, the worst involving a car and me was when a car hit me going about 10 mph. I was skateboarding down a sidewalk in front of a parking lot entrance and he was taking a left into the parking lot. Needless to say he didn't see me and came straight into me. Kind of surreal while it happened. It was at night so nobody was really at fault. My leg turned some interesting colors.

in a car I was having a bad night and went for a drive up a local mountain. There was some dew on the road that I didn't see and took a corner too fast, was able to correct for it, but I wasn't prepared for the next corner. Went straight into a pile of dirt. Got banged up. Bent the frame of my car. Nothing too serious though.

 

[rickcr42]

hmmmm........

coming down a hill in fifth gear on a 750

nice day ,in the wind , T intersection at the bottom

FORGOT WHERE I WAS

The panic set in ,no where to go

downshifted "way" too fast

the back wheel "hops' and rick is launched into space

The bike keeps sliding towards the intersectiuon , i am airborne and miss a telephone pole face first by inches (pure dumb luck) , hit the little strip of grass between the sidewalk and the road

bounce off that and go rolling acrosss the yard and when i come to a stop i am on the other street

All together about 150 fet of combination flying and rolling

i am laying there doing a "body check" ,going down the list of parts to see if they still work and after a bit get up stiffly ,no pain but still and walk back up the hill to where the bike was

looking at it there was little actual damage

one mirror and the crash bar had some scrapes but nothing more so iu try to fire her up and......


FLOODED !

DAMMIT !

I want a quick getaway 'cuse this did not go unwitnessed and i felt really stupid at this time

( a normal person would just be glad they did not crack thier head like a coconut on the telephone pole)

So i light up a smoke and when it is done fire that monster up and jet

Little did i know my wifes sister witnessed the whole thing and the moment i went spinning across the yards she was on the horn with my wife

I pull in the driveway and she is hysterical !

I'm like" honey ? whatsup ?"

DON'T YOU HONEY ME YOUSO AND SO ! I THOUGHT YOU WERE BADLY HURT OR WORSE "

To which "Now babes. you know it takes more than that to......."

WHAMMO !

she gives me a shot like the accident could not !

"don't you babes me !"


Tell you what though,the next day was spent in bed as were the next few days

I had a body bruise that started at my ankle and went to my damn neck !

i could not MOVE !

Hurts just thinking about it

Then there was the time that i .............

 

[BoyElroy]

Quote:

All together about 150 fet of combination flying and rolling i am laying there doing a "body check" ,going down the list of parts to see if they still work and after a bit get up stiffly ,no pain but still and walk back up the hill to where the bike was looking at it there was little actual damage -rickcr42

Oh man, that is too funny! You are one lucky dude to be able to walk away from a high side like that!

I don't blame your wife, either. I think riding when you're married is a whole different monkey than riding when you're single and indestructable.

 

[GlowWorm]

I was in a motorcycle accident myself about ten years ago. Some left turning @$$hole at a busy intersection downtown Pittsburgh nailed me, and my 1 month old Yamaha Virago. I went flying through the air about 20 ft., and my head just missed from hitting a steel pole by inches. I could have easily got killed, or the very least broke my neck. Luckily I only had a badly bruised leg, along with some road rash. My bike was totaled though. I hadn't rode a motorcycle again until a couple months ago when I decided to buy another motorcycle (you guessed it, a Yamaha Virago!). I just hope that I have better luck with this one.

 

[elnero]

I was hit by a car on the 401 just outside of Toronto. It's kind of a long story but here goes.

When I first moved there I had a regular day job and sometimes at night a friend and I did some car jockeying for another company. It was fairly easy money but we had to go on a moments notice.

This one particular afternoon my friend and I got a call at our regular day job to see if we were interested in going out to an auction house in Milton, pick up some cars and drive them back to the office to be put on a train and shipped out west. We were both pretty excited because these were much nicer cars then we usually drove.

It was the middle of winter so by the time my friend, our boss Beth and I got out to the auction house it was dark and the temp. had dropped to about -20 degrees. We picked our cars and headed for the highway. I was pretty excited to have got a Jaguar Sovereign, I had always loved Jags.

We barely got out onto the 401 when everything on the Jag died so I coasted it off to a small area between the highway and an on-ramp. Luckily Beth saw me slow in her rearview and she slowed down with me. She turned her car around so we could use her headlights to take a look and see if it was something simple. We couldn't figure it out so we decided to leave it and get a tow truck to come pick it up but we decided to push it off to the other side of the on-ramp because we were scared it might get hit sitting so close to the highway.

I was in the middle of the on-ramps lane trying to push the car across, which was proving to be quite difficult without power steering, when a police car with its lights on pulled up in front of Beth's car. I turned to look and see what he was doing and then heard Beth yell "that cars not going to stop". I turned to see a car headed down the merge of the on-ramp straight for me. My only thought was "This is really gonna hurt". I turned and tried to get around the Jag onto the shoulder but the next thing I know I'm flying through the air then rolling on the ground amongst the glass and debris of the two cars. I opened my eyes and I was only a few feet from the actual highway. I tried to look back to the Jag but couldn't really move. About all I could discern was I had flown about 20 or 30 feet. The cop ran up, asked if I was ok and then said "damn, I've never seen anything like that". Very reassuring.

When the Ambulance arrived they put me on a backboard and loaded me up. The told me I had a broken femur, possibly I broken hip, back and/or neck. It took three hours to get X-Rays at the Milton hospital they took me to and every second was agonizing pain. Not from my leg, hip or back but from my head being taped to the board and the damn hole for the handlehold digging into the back of my head.

When the results of the X-Rays came back they were all negative. The nurses unstrapped and untapped me from the backboard and sent me on my merry way. Only thing was I was in a completely different city than where I lived, had no money, it was -20 degrees and they had completely sliced one leg of my pants from bottom to top, and cut off my Docs as well. So there I was standing outside the hospital, the only thing holding my jeans on was my belt and one legs fabric flapping in the wind.

Although nothing was broken I had some severe problems with my hip and lower back. I was in therapy for probably a couple of years, saw specialists and had every test known to man. No one every really came up with a conclusive answer as to what was wrong and eventually it's tapered off enough that I now only have a slight limp, pain and stiff at times.

 

[kugino]

i lived in this tiny village in japan and was driving home one night in january in my little 550cc car...it was flurrying and being out in the country, it was pitch black. i came around a turn and hit the side of the road, which had a 5" high "curb" to separate the road from the adjacent rice paddies. next thing i know, i'm airborne, and when i land, i start flipping. it's strange, but the flipping was in slo-mo, and i thought, "oh my god, i'm going to die." i hit the right side of my shead on the door (remember, we drive on the right side in japan) and when the car finally stopped flipping, i could feel blood dripping on the side of my head.

miraculously, i didn't feel any other pain, but my glasses were knocked off in the process and i couldn't see s*!t. i couldn't get out from my side of the car, so i had to get out on the left side. when i got out, the ground below me was mushy and wet...there was nothing in sight. my eyes finally acclimated to the dark and i was in some sort of ditch. i climbed about 6 feet up to the road and i could see some light in the distance. i walked there and it was a karaoke bar in the middle of nowhere (amazing what you'll find in the middle of nowhere in japan). speaking my best japanese dialect, i told the woman that i had been in an accident and i needed some help. she looked horrified. she called an ambulance and when i went to the bathroom to wash up, i understood why she was terrified. the blood from the cut on the right side of my head had streaked down my face in a straight line, making it appear that i had slit my face open.

anyway, the ambulance came, i went to the hospital to get stitched up, and i was fine except for some headaches. the next day i went to the accident site with my boss and saw my mangled car sitting in the middle of some poor farmer's rice field. considering what the car looked like, i was pretty lucky.

and that's my worst accident.

 

[rickcr42]

Quote:

which had a 5" high "curb" to separate the road from the adjacent rice paddies.

caught a peg on a curb once going into a corner

My shin bone scraped along the curb for for about two feet before i righted myself

It didn't look too bad so being close to home i went in , put some hydrogen pyroxide on the wound after scrubbing it out with a face cloth (OUCHY !) and out the door i went "clubbing" (single then guys)

No problemo ,all went well and i was just a bit sore

Well when i woke up the next morning it turns out i had a REAL problem !

My leg had doubled in size ,was totally red and burned like hell !

Of to the hospital i went

Turns out (amazing how much medical information you get when you are always getting banged up

) the shin area has some of the absolute worst circulation than just about any other place on the human body

And because of this p*ss poor circulation infection can set in fast and easily

rick : "c'mon doc .you're craptin' me right ? I washed it real good man !"

doc : "in that area of the leg all it would have taken is one tiny little particle of asphalt that you would never even have noticed. The only way to be sure is if WE had cleaned it out for you. So why didn't you come to the hospital last night"

riclk : "jeez man ,it was just a scratch ! plus i had this date that...."

well my butt wqs layed up for two weeks !

antibiotics the whole nine

yep

i may learn the hard way but i don't need to be hit in the head with a stick for it to sink

like the wifey says

"yur riding days are over ! you are NOT a kid and i will NOT have our sons growing up without a father !"

rick "yes dear"

 

[TheMuffinMan_01]

once, i came about a foot from being hit by a car :O

 

[BoyElroy]

About five or six years ago, I was bringing my motorcycle into the gated courtyard behind my building at 4:00 am. I turned off the engine and was astride my bike when I heard a noise and noticed a couple lying no more than four feet away from me, in the middle of the alley, having sex. The lower east side back then had a ton of prostitutes and crack heads and the woman was obviously doing a trick when I'd come riding in on them.

I was so surprised to see them that I lost my balance and the heavy bike (about 550 lbs. dry weight) tipped over and pinned my leg against the fence. Of course, I wasn't wearing boots and the red hot muffler sank against my exposed leg and cooked through all 6 or however many dermal layers. I could smell my leg cooking as I struggled to get enough leverage to get the bike righted. It must have taken a good 15 to 20 seconds to free my leg and the sizzling sound and smell was something awful.

My leg got infected and I had to rub the scar tissue off with a wet towel every night to keep the wound "fresh" for the topical antibiotic. That was one of the most painful things I've had to do to myself -- it took about 2 weeks of flesh scrubbing before the infection subsided. I've still got this huge scar on my lower leg as reminder of my stupidity.

 

[rickcr42]

oh yeeeaaah !

the SCAR !

Wear it with pride man you earned it !

got mine ,it is the spot on my lower leg (among a multitude of other scars ,frankentstine don't have crap on the rickmonster) that does not tan

Shows up reeeel nice in the summer

 

[Elec]

I already posted about my car accident in a different thread, but I may repost here later.

But about scars

My first car was a 1990 Pontiac Grand Am, and it had quad exhaust - 2 mufflers with 2 pipes apiece that stuck out the back end. One day after I got home from high school football practice, I walked around to the back of the car and popped the trunk. I was wearing shorts (it was August) and as I leaned over to pull my gear out of the trunk, the side of my calf got up against the end of one of the pipes. It was so hot that it just instantly melted the skin it touched, and it didn't touch for very long. I went inside and put some ice, followed by a ton of neosporin on it. The worst part was, because my leg only touched the END of the pipe, the burn was a perfect circle. It wasn't too tough for anyone who saw the scab to guess what caused it, and I felt like a doofus. Fortunately, the scar faded out to where it's not even visible anymore. I had a backup plan though. I was going to use the circle scar as the outline for a yin-yang or smiley face tattoo

 

[rickcr42]

where is your loyalty man !

sounds like a perfect spot for the "HEAD-FI" logo !

 

[Demolition]

I've also had my share of accidents. Worst ones described here...

Traffic: At the tender age of 5 years old, I was hit by a car going 40 km/h (~25 mph -- according to the police report). I was walking to kindergarten with a friend and we'd just stepped into a crosswalk. The crossing guard was already in the crosswalk with her "STOP" sign up, but the driver didn't see it or ignored. My friend jumped backwards and I jumped forwards, but unfortunately the driver swerved, hoping to avoid us, but hitting me dead-on instead. I was tossed several metres, but luckily escaped with only a mild concussion and some cuts and scrapes.

Car: I've been in several wrecks, all of which were not my fault or for which I was not at the wheel or (i.e. I was a passenger). This only validates my belief that I'm the only good driver in the world and everyone else is a maniac.

By far, the worst was when I was a passenger in an Austin Mini that barrel-rolled for more than 100 metres and eventually crashing into a house. This occurred 17 years ago, when I was still in college. A friend and I were returning from a movie, and were on a steep road on he way to my place. The road was being repaved and, as a result, all of the utility/sewer main accessways were elevated 5-6 inches. The Mini's right front wheel hit one and was torn off. That caused the car to veer towards the curb. Upon contact with the curb, the car jumped onto a lawn and began rolling. We rolled through four yards before slamming into someone's house. I covered my head with my arms, just before putting it through the passenger side window. I ended up with a broken hand, glass embedded in my head (including a piece from my broken eyeglasses in my temple), and another concussion. My friend, the driver, ended up with a broken ankle and a shattered foot.

We had just crawled out of the wreckage when the homeowner came running out of the house. We thought we were dead meat, but he was very understanding. The police arrived while we were sitting in his kitchen, drinking tea. The first officer on the scene asked "Are the bodies still in the car?" It's funny now, but was kind of shocking at the time.

My friend eventually did go into shock. Unfortunately for him, the police interviewed him about the accident soon after. When asked "How fast were you going?", my friend said "Fa-a-a-ast! Re-e-e-a-a-al fast!" (in a long drawn out fashion and with this crazy look on his face) and of course they threw the book at him (i.e. Driving without due car and control, excessive speeding, etc... and his license was suspended). Turns out that we were going about 70 km/h in a 50 zone.

In the end, all the charges were dropped and his license restored because the insurance corporation's investigator found that the construction company had erected inadequate signage. There were no visible warnings of the elevated manholes, and no blinkers or barricades around them.

Motorcycle: Not technically a motorcycle, actually. It was a quad (four-wheeled ATV). I was accessing a remote cutblock during an archaeological impact assessment when I hit a partly buried rock on a steep incline. It caused the front wheels to pop up. I stood up to force the weight distibution forward, but it was too late and it flipped backwards onto me. I broke six ribs, and punctured a lung and a kidney. Typical crushing wounds from having a large weight fall on you. I rolled the quad off of me, then walked the rest of the way into the block (about 4 kms), surveyed the block (30 kms), then walked out (almost 10 kms).

Then, I finally keeled over at the truck. When I woke up, I tried to drive to the main highway, but passed out again and ended up in a ditch. So, this one was a combination car/motorcycle accident. Anyway, I survived, but barely.

Well, another one of my long posts. I wonder who will bother reading this one to the end.

D.

 

[strohmie]

One time...I bumped the back of a minivan. At 4 mph. Man was it scary.

Yea, all my accidents have come on mountain bikes or sleds (yay CD-sized bruise on my leg) or falling 10+ feet. I'm waiting for my dad to come back with his first motorcycle injury -- he got into a half dozen car accidents before getting his bke, so it's bound to happen sometime.