I went to the dunes on Sunday to meet up with KC and his dad Kirby. They had a lot of family and friends there and we all went for a ride up to comp hill and then over to the face. After that we all played around on the back side of the face. Then I noticed Spencer's quad, (one of KC's friends), with a lot of people around it. I got closer and Spencer was face up, underneath the quad which was wheels down. Spencer’s pants leg was wrapped around the rear axle and a huge - dude, I mean freaking HUGE - open wound about 4 inches across and 6 inches long right over his knee cap.

Apparently the quad flipped over, landed on him, and his pants leg got wrapped up in the axle which pulled his leg, and kneecap skin, right between the sprocket and the chain, which ripped off a chunk of skin right from his knee cap about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long.

Dang! Hunter, Spencer’s dad was taking the lead in getting Spencer's pants leg off from his axle and everyone else was holding the quad up off of him. We managed to cut him loose and loaded him up in a bystander's Jeep Wrangler (cool people by the way). There an ambulance met him at the parking lot at the face and they did a little triage on him. Then the Jeep took him and his parents to the hospital.

I'm happy to report that they managed to not only find that big patch of missing skin from his knee cap, but have temporarily stitched it back in place as a graft. Its pretty cool looking too - the skin the put back on has sprocket marks on it! LOL.

Spencer is pretty freaking tough, was joking the whole time and was telling his mom that he needs to go shopping and get a new pair of pants! Mom and Dad are doing well too - Thank God everyone was right there - in the group, and we had plenty of help instantly. The doctors were cool too !

This was kind of a freakish accident, and I've never heard of this kind of thing happening before. But I suppose you always try and think of what could a person do to avoid such a thing. First of all, what he did right: 1) Helmet - he had it on the whole time & 2) Riding with a group. Now, thats two more than I usually do, so hats off to his parents for teaching him all about those things. I think if the motor would have been off when the quad landed on him, he would have been spared from the sprocket munching him on the leg - of course, the scar value with the chicks will be very high now, Im not really sure if it would be worth it next time! So, I'm gonna donate to him one of those tether kill switches, and may even put one on my quad as well. Like I said before, this was a really freakish accident.

I hope you all ate before reading this! LOL

 

Luckily it was only his skin that took a beating....and not his knee joint!!!

 

Yes! It was mearly a flesh wound!

 

Dam man that had to suck. Hope he has a swift and complete recovery. sounds like he is still young so he should. Tis one of the reasons I have my skidplates on all the time. I have been run over by my quad more times than i would have liked to and the smooth unducarriaged just slides right over ya.

 

The guy that it happened to is doing well. He been posting in that other forum. Some cool (somewhat gory) pics of his knee are also posted there!

 

We were out there on Sunday too. MY buddies girlfriend made the trip to the hospital as well. Her quad flipped and rolled over on her. She will be fine as well. She has a cool bruise and scrape over her coler bone. Nothing broken thank God. Glad to hear Spencer is OK. I think I've met him before while riding with KC and Kirby.

 

Did the quad in have a rear chain guard?

 

Rear chain guard? If you mean skid plate, no. The stock 400ex's have that skid plate which acts like a chain guard and might have helped. As you know, most of us remove them to avoid getting high-centered in the sand - but it might be something, among other things, to reconsider. A tether kill switch would have worked to stop that particular accident. If he had heel guards, that would have also helped to keep his leg out from under there. Of course, he could ride around in a plastic bubble, and probably still get hurt. I know I'd consider some of those PRM skid plates too. I know if he also lost the baggy pants, that would have also helped. It seems that all the kids these days like jeans that are huge.

 

So it would come down to baggy clothing and an open chain. I met a guy who lost his thumb to an open chain, and I doubt the chicks thought that was too cool [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]. The kill switch is no guaranty that the sprocket will stop in time but isn't a bad idea.

 

ouch! I was considering removing my swing arm skid. I think i will reconsider.