BEWARE OF OTHER DRIVERS (Bikes in general)

Member Name: weeonelass

Product:	Bikes in general
Date:	09/10/01 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: absolutly loads

This opinion relates to all kinds of bikes. Bicycles, motorbikes and scooters.

My husband, at this precise moment is lying in an hospital bed after a bike accident.

The nightmare began the early hours of last sataurday morning on his way home from work. It was about 2.30am and he had finished his night shift and was on his way home with a bag of hot bagels he had picked up for us to munch when he came home. This is a tradition for us now. On a friday he brings us goodies and we sit up and catch up on all the time we have missed during the week.
Anyway, I was woken from my slumber by a phone call saying that my husband had been knocked off his bike and was on his way to hospital. That was all the information given I did not know what was wrong with him, which hospital they were taking him to or anything. I was in a frantic, confused mess. I did not find out until 7.30am where he was or how he was.

I was told he had a broken leg but other than that he was fine. "ok" i thought a broken leg, they will put it in plaster and then I can pick him up and bring him home. I went up to the hospital to see how he was doing to discover that he had been admitted and was waiting for surgery. I was in shock. Surgery for what?

It turned out that he had snapped his fibula and tibia (both the bones in the bottom part of the leg) and needed to have a metal plate and bolts to repair the damage. He was in surgery for 4 hours and has since been in and out of conciousness due to the pain and also the amount of morphine being pumped into his system.
Even now three days later he is still very uncomfortable and has not eaten or spoken properly. He will be off work for three months and will not be able to do anything other then stay at home during that time.
We were due to go on holiday next week, but that is now cancelled. Also I know money should not matter but practically we are worried how we are going to pay our mo
rtgage. All this because of a split second of madness from an irresponsible driver.

Why I am I writing this? I want to tell all of you that own or bike or considering buying one about the dangers. There seems to be an increase in youngsters riding about on these death traps. I am lucky to have my husband and I know that there are many people out there who have not been so lucky. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you will be safe if you are a sensible rider who takes care. This is rubbish. My husband was riding along a normal, well lit road and a taxi driver pulling into a junction just pulled right accross the road and straight into my husband.

Like I said he was very lucky. He could not have done anything to prevent this but he could have been protected. If he had been in a car he would have walked away unhurt. But on a bike it is just the rider exposed to the open road. You do not stand a chance against a huge car coming towards you at a speed of 30mph (that's is they are not speeding)
I know that some car accidents can be horrific but 90% percent of bike accidents end up with the bike rider injured and the motorist escapes unhurt. In most cases it is the motorists fault too as they do not see or take into consideration bikes. It does not matter how much leather you wear, how good your helmet is or how fast your bike is you will always come off worse in an accident. And lets face it accidents do happen. So next time you climb up on to your bike, think whether today you will be luckily enough to escape the fate of an accident because that is what it comes down to because you certainly are not safe.

Obviouisly others do not agree and feel that they are well protected and yes I do agree that it is cars that are to blame most of the time. All I want to say is try to stay safe.
Bikes are a more economical way to travel, better for the enviornment and also are great fun it is a shame that motorists
do not take care and look out for bikes while they driving.

Summary: