11 September 2006

Roll bounce

K and I were up early Saturday morning because we needed to insulate the attic. While going out to pick up supplies, we witnessed exactly the kind of incident that caused me to get my EMT certification in the first place. K and I riding together seems like an excuse for everyone around us to decide to wreck.

We were waiting at a stop light when a motorcyclist with the green light made a left turn into the right lane in front of us. Deciding to show off, he thought it would be a good idea to accelerate hard before he was even halfway through the turn. Bad idea. The rear tire slipped, gripped again for a heartbeat, and then slid out from under him. The motorcycle continued to slide down the road and off to the right shoulder. The rider hit the pavement on his left leg and quickly separated from the bike, and proceeded to bounce - left hip, head, chest, right shoulder, back - then slide to a stop. I'm sure he was very grateful that he was one of the few bikers in NH wearing a helmet and full protective gear.

About the time he stopped, we got the green light and pulled through the intersection to see if we could help. The other two left-turning cars also stopped, thankfully they were both far enough in front of him that nobody ran him over. By the time K got out, the guy was up and heading to pick up his bike. I stayed and called dispatch to send the ambulance, but before I could even finish explaining where we were and what happened, the guy was sitting on his motorcycle trying to start it. K said the guy swore he was fine, just a little road rash on the left knee, and refused to let anyone check him out. The guy then fixed his mirror and drove off. We were behind him down the road for a while, and he kept looking around at parts of the bike and himself, but he seemed like at least there was nothing too important broken. I'm fairly sure he ended up at the hospital some time that day because hitting the pavement at 25mph hurts, even if you're too embarassed about the whole scene to notice.

p.s. Yes, we finished the attic insulation and may save the $600 in heat in the first couple months this winter given the price of fuel and the fact that there was almost no insulation in the attic when we started.

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