A crash with a happy ending

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fruitandveg

Pack Dog
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
75
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Location
Emmarentia
Bike
BMW F800GS
So there I was Thursday late morning 2nd of October the day before my big 30th birthday party, I was minding my own business riding my bike happy as a pig in sh*t on my way to Morningside Clinic to meet my wife for her final check-up before our new baby was to be born.

I pull off from a set of robots on Grayston drive in Sandton and Iâ??m approaching the next set of lights just before Rivonia road when suddenly a Silver Toyota Yaris pulls out of a complex driveway (77 grayston) in a moer of a hurry to try merge with traffic on the other side of the road. Iâ??m not sure if "she"(a Japanese woman with no insurance, no SA license, no clue and no glasses which her Japanese license said she should be wearing) even glanced in my direction or just didnâ??t see me but she drove straight into me and knocked me clean off my boney.

I did see her just before the collision but I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, all the brakes in the world couldnâ??t have saved me and believe me I hung onto them for dear life and there was no time to ride around her I was already heading straight for the dividing island to try get out of her way she was just travelling too fast. It must be the most kak feeling in the world when u know youâ??ve tried everything and a crash is inevitable!

I remember shouting fuuuuuuuuu$KKKKKKKKKK YYYYYYYOOOOOUUUUUU as my bike and i parted ways and the next thing I knew I was trying to stand up without much luck, I was in big pain but I couldnâ??t pin point where it was coming from. With the help of a lovely lady named Ellen (who witnessed the whole thing) I eventually got to my feet, checked all my bones limped around a bit, nothing felt broken but I was flippin sore.

My boney ended up on the other side of the road and I landed on my left hand side(hip) on the corner of the island separating the 2 sides of the road.

After collecting my thoughts and panniers and flooking the chick whoâ??d just f*&^%ed up my day I took out my phone and called my wife who was already at the hospital waiting for me for the check-up and asked her very kindly if she would come pick me up as some stupid chick had just decided she didnâ??t like bikers and knocked me clean off my boney but that I was ok and just need to be checked out. She calmly told me she was on her way (didnâ??t want her to panic or anything as she was 9 months pregnant).

After a couple of x-rays and an examination it turns out the pain i was feeling was caused by a badly bruised hip and a couple of torn muscles and a pretty deep hole caused by the set of keys which were in the pocket I fell on.

A few days later I examined my jacket and found the left shoulder and left elbow were in pretty bad shape but I had absolutely no pain in either so I highly recommend an M2R jacket for anyone whoâ??s looking, just donâ??t put keys in the pockets.

At the scene I had to go and switch off my GS which was lying on its side idling as if nothing had happened. I had called the guys at Lyndhurst after I called my wife and apparently the bike had been picked up within 30 minutes of the incident. Thank God for a boxer motors and crash bars or I probably would have had some very serious left leg damage!

The bike was back after a week with a new set of panniers and a couple of other cosmetics including crash bars, indicator, hand guard, lever, and screen. Pity we donâ??t heal as fast as our bikes.

The following day the show went on, I had my big birthday bash painkillers and all and 6 days later we had a beautiful baby girl!!!

I did learn something from all of this, no matter how competent and confident we get on our bikes we canâ??t control other road users out there, no matter how defensively u ride or how alert u are they donâ??t see us and can pull out from nowhere and drive straight into you, we are very very venerable on our bikes. Wear bright colours, keep your headlights on and make sure you are wearing good kit! Take it easy out there boys our JHB roads are full of absolutely useless unlicensed drivers these days. I was back on the bike the day it got back- so if u see a guy on a GS doing 10km/h down Grayston drive in sandton looking out for silver yarisâ??s thatâ??ll be me!
 
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