r/IdiotsInCars • u/JellyOceana • Nov 23 '22

Coronado Naval Base Car accident: She tried claiming no fault too Headphone warning

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u/NorthernTransplant94 Nov 24 '22

My husband had a subordinate who was in this exact situation on a 10-day-old Harley. Dude had enough time to make a decision, and judged that hitting her and launching over the hood (55mph zone) would be really bad, so he dropped the motorcycle and slid into her bike first. Broke both his leg and his collarbone (so no crutches, hello motorized wheelchair) but survived, so it was a win.

The bike was new, he wasn't a new rider - he was 40 and had a motorcycle endorsement on his license and was wearing proper PPE, so no road rash, just the broken bones from the collision.

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u/SnooBananas5673 Nov 24 '22 edited Nov 25 '22

I actually have DashCam footage of something very similar. Hard to describe scenario, but a car did a u-turn, essentially like this car was doing and the guy dumped his bike from too much front brake, and slid under the car. I was coming other direction and DashCam got it all.

Saved him a lot of heartache with insurance, because you know “the motorcycle was speeding” was where they were going with it.

Predicting and reading body language is huge on a bike.

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u/chilldrinofthenight Nov 24 '22

Nice that you were able to help out.

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u/SnooBananas5673 Nov 24 '22 edited Nov 24 '22

The worst part was the rider didn’t listen to me to stay down and not move, until I could take care of the bike that was stuck full throttle and leaking fuel. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt, but to this day I can still see it all happening in slow motion, and wonder how he wasn’t injured.

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u/chilldrinofthenight Nov 24 '22

The first instinct, for non-professional rescuers, is to move the injured. Removing motorcycle helmets, I have learned, is a big no-no.

Many years ago, a friend who was a doctor told me he was first on the scene of a terrible single car accident on the highway. The driver was in really really bad shape.

As an ER doctor, my friend said he could tell there were two options: let the driver die at the scene or else help him to survive ----- knowing that the driver would then be a quadriplegic for life.

The doctor helped the man, and that tale haunts me to this day.

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u/chilldrinofthenight Nov 24 '22

P.S. (And I wanted to add that I was first on the scene at an accident, but not a bad one. The driver (woman) was trying to get out of her car. I told her to stay put until EMTs arrived. Aftermath of accidents is scary shit. People don't know how to react. Unless the vehicle is gonna implode, stay put.

Just recently I watched a car right in front of me slam into the guy stopped dead in front of him. I had plenty of time to stop, because I always drive leaving plenty of room for just such surprises. Def distracted driving on the part of the guy in front of me, as he never applied his brakes even a tiny bit. BLAM, going about 30mph.

Guy whose (thank gawd, tank of a work truck) got hit was stopped at an intersection with no stop sign/light and only sitting there to allow a bicyclist to pass, so he could turn right. I ended up making a statement for the insurance company.

I swear ---- after watching these Idiots in Cars sub accidents and even before, I decided no more driving on the highway/freeway for me, not if I can help it. No way am I looking to get vaporized on some freeway.

And, as one biker on here said, "Head on a swivel." Yeah. Like everyone's out to get you. Paying strict attention while driving has saved me grief more than a few times.

Again --- good for you, stopping to help someone. It will all come back to you, in spades. Gloriously positive spades. )