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Hi Tink,
My accident happened the first time I got on a
bike as the driver.
It was not a big accident, but it was scary. In
order to deal with the incident I had to take a humorous view
and telling of it. But the reason I had to do that was because
if I didn’t try to put it into perspective through humor I would
have never gotten back on the bike.
I was trying to keep the bike from stalling. I
was uneducated and unaware of the power of the machine. Even a
250 bike is a powerful machine compared to a human body. I was
ignorant of all of the things that could go wrong and as such
was not capable of keeping bad things from happening. There was
no risk management going on at all. Bad scenario.
I let the clutch out too fast and grabbed too
much throttle. Because I had no idea that pulling in the clutch
would have disengaged the power from the rear wheel, I did not
pull it in. The consequences of that was I continued to
accelerate and I ran into the front end of my husbands car.
Had I been 2 feet further away from the car I
would have been going significantly faster by the time I made
contact with the car and most likely would have won myself a
ride to the hospital. As it was I put a foot long dent in the
front fender with my knee and took out the front headlight with
the headlight on the bike.
The car had $600.00 worth of damage. My bike was
fine and I was physically fine but completely spooked.
One of the biggest things that helped me find
confidence again was the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Course.
The information and practice I got in that course has saved me
more than a handful of times as I practiced and practiced and
even now as I ride.
About three months after that program I got an
e-mail from an acquaintance with whom I had taken that
Motorcycle Safety Course. We had both gotten our license upon
completion of the course. She informed me that about three weeks
after the safety course she was on her bike and leaving a
friends driveway when, as she released her clutch, she was
catapulted forward and crashed into a parked car across the
street at the end of the driveway. She had spent much time in
the hospital, three months out of work and had much more
recovering to do. She was completely spent physically and
emotionally and at that point had resolved to only ride as a
passenger. I can’t help but imagine how her life has been
forever altered because of those few seconds on that bike.
We had similar scenarios, but the results were
very, very different.
I think of her a lot and hope she is healing on
all levels.
Even the “smallest” of accidents can shake us and
those around us to the core. I do feel better when I talk about
it though, and I try to share what I have learned from it to
help others keep themselves safer. And I listen closely when
someone else tells about their close calls or accidents. Not
just because I feel camaraderie, but often the person relating
the story has some insight into how it could have been avoided
which helps me be a better rider. Any way, that’s my story.
Christina
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