My chum was knocked off last week, slow (15mph) speed but a U turning van cannoned him on to the road . Van on his left , he was pushed over to the right, and this is the important bit…
his reaction was to put his right hand out to brake the fall - result?
Nasty compound fracture ( ie smahed into tiny pieces ) of the wrist - has to be pinned, will wear a ‘cage’ over his wrist for 4 weeks etc etc.
My thoughts were that had he not put his hand out ( ok I know it’s not easy to overcome a natural reaction ) , held on to the bars, the first thing to take the shock would have been the bars and brake lever. My think is they would snap , bend etc and take the force instead of his wrist…see what I mean?
Having done parachute training years ago I know how to fall in such a way as to minismise shock to fragile bones.
Is there a way to fall properly or does anyone do any training for this sort of low speed accident?
It cheeses me off that he should have walked away with a few grazes and bruises - not be immobilised for months and maybe unable to ride a bike again because of weak wrists.
The PLF is designed to minimise injuries when you’re coming in feet first, so no real application in a bike accident, Something like a judo fall/roll would be far more appropriate, though not a failsafe option & it takes an awful lot of practice to instill something deep enough that it overides the body’s natural instinctive reactions.
End of the day sods law comes into action, sometimes you can walk away from relatively high speed smashes & end up breaking your arm tripping over the cat after making a consolation cuppa !
The only thing you can do to try and minimise injury is wear the correct gear. Anything else is pointless as accidents happen in a myriad of ways. Once you’re down the road its all luck…
I am sure we all know some people who’ve had a high speed spill and got up with just bruise or two or others who’ve dropped the bike at low speed and done themselves a mischief.
But as has been mentioned luck and happenstance and a natural reaction to splay your hands out tend to get in the way of adopting a ‘roll position’
Regards the broken wrist because he put his arm out to stop himself… ANOTHER mate ( yes I have more than one ) got a horrible compound break to his elbow which was very very nasty just by…
totally agree, plus as I havent ridden a bike for 15 years without full leathers & armour and have luckily just bounced in the 3/4 offs I have had since then, I dont panic when crashing, so my body is more relaxed, therfore, just like a drunk, less likely to be hurt if I to inspect some asphalt . . . . at least thats the theory . . .
When I had my accident on the road, I didn’t even know it happened. One minute I’m riding along, the next I’m picking myself up off the road, wondering WTF just happened. I really don’t think you get time to make a decision most of the time.
Thinking about this though you have stunt riders who come off of bikes I know they are probably lower speeds but there must be some kind of training to stop yourself getting so banged up…
I was knocked off (~15Mph, filtering, car flashed out from the left) … hit the ground shoulder first, and rolled, was on my feet and running before the bike hit the floor again, it is all just luck though…
I skate a lot (Inline skates) and you only have to fall a few times on your wrists before you start landing on your elbows because it hurts less, then your shoulders… I guess it’s just natural - but in the time it takes to meet the tarmac from your bike – you dont have time to think about much, it’s just down to luck!
In my last off as the bike went out from underneath me hit shoulder first and rolled, bruised shoulder and side of knee nothing else, just luck I hit the tarmac before I knew it.
best thing to do is hope and prey it dont hurt or over egzagerate the fall by jumping off and screaming very loadly until the driver comes over to see if ur alright and when he does attack him
I’m with misty… has anyone else experienced a car driver that wouldn’t talk to them… I was tending to my passenger – and the cage dweller wouldn’t come near me, though he was in danger :S
… so the cop acted like an intermediary while we argued with eachother… wierd!
(although in fairness, i would have jumped him if i’d have seen him in the first 30 seconds after I hit the foor)
when i got run over (probebly explains alot) the driver asked how i was shook my hand and drove off when i was picking my push bike up off the ground and ready for a bit of a fight. it turned out i cracked a rib quite badly i only realised that something was wrong when i started running home with push bike on shoulder (i’m so macho- army) and i couldnt breath properly (lucky i was drunk) still ran home and still went to work next day i stopped weeing blood a week later so alls good.
Now that’ll make your eyes water !
i only realised that something was wrong when i started running home with push bike on shoulder (i’m so macho- army) and i couldnt breath properly (lucky i was drunk) still ran home and still went to work next day i stopped weeing blood a week later so alls good.