If you don't wear you helmet at all times, please do.

Thursday morning I was going to do a little jetting on my TT bike. I warmed it up and then took off down the straight gravel road that goes in front of my house. The nearest house is 1/2 mile away so my neighbors never complain about my riding. I was only checking jetting, not really riding hard so I left my helmet lie on the shelf. Since my wreck on my Katana six months ago, I always wear my helmet, but I was only going down the road and turning around, right? Well, as they say, accidents can happen at any time.
I left my shop at 9:30. The Dyna ignition had the banshee running like a champ, so I ripped through the gears. As I laid it into sixth, I obviously blacked out. I remember very little of the next hour. I vaguely remember sitting on my bike facing back towards my house, passing out and coming to repeatedly. Next I remember waking up in my bathtub with the shower spraying my head and red water running down the drain. My mom luckily came home from work early just as I woke, and I yelled for help. I couldn't at this point even remember what I was riding, just that I had wrecked. My mom went out to see if my bike was still in the road while I got out to see that the time was now 10:30. She came back in a few minutes later and told me that I made it all the way back to the shop and parked my bike. We then went to the hospital. I walked into the emergency room and they immediately took me into a room. It was then that I first looked into a mirror. My hair was matted down with blood and my face was completely covered in blood.
I had 4 gashes on my head that required stitches, a concusion, unstable hearbeat, and a broke thumb among other problems. My eyes were swollen shut, there were abrasions on my face and hands, my lower back was bruised, there were bruises on my shoulders, and my neck was in pain. What started as a quick ride ended as a painful night in the hospital. The nurses had to wake me every hour because deep sleep could lead to a coma. I had to sign various papers verifing it was okay to resusitate, be put on life support and how long for, etc. I am 21 years old, I have never even thought about ME being on life support let alone how long before I would want them to pull the plug. This is definetly my wakeup call.
My bike only suffered the handlebars rolled forward. As far as I can tell, it stayed on all fours. I must have flew off and hit a tree, fence post, or the road. I am finally stating to regain short term memory along with the ability to focus. I can't wash my matted hair due to the stitches, and I am experiencing the difficultllies of my first broken bone. However, a broken bone isn't nearly as bad as the pain my head is in. It could have been prevented if I was wearing a helmet, and it luckily wasn't any worse. My father passed away a year ago and my mother and sisters keep commenting on what if they had lost me.

If you don't wear a helmet for yourself, I am not asking you to do it for me. DO IT FOR YOUR FAMILY. Accidents can happen anytime. I have many hours in the seat and I even race the things, but I am proof that atv's can be dangerous. Its not always your experience that gets you home after every ride. You could easily black out also.

Thanks for reading,
Richard

 

Man, sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you get better soon.

EVERYONE WEAR THIER HELMETS WHEN RIDING..

 

OMFG I am sorry to here this. Like you I always where my helmet while ridding but I don't for simple stuff like that. Well you have now given me a wake up call as well. I will wear it from now on, period. I hope you recover swiftly and fully. Sorry to hear about your accident![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] But I am glad you are OK[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Take care, and get well soon.
Ben Ward

 

WOW you are so lucky, it could have been so much worse. Well I send you best wishes and hope you get better soon. Wait to see how bad you hurt tomorrow. I have been down many times on asphalt and I dont wish hitting the ground even on my worst enemies.

 

I just recovered from a potential Christopher Reevs accident. My advise to you is to rest, rest, rest. Rest is the only way your body can recover. Glad you're able to post this.

 

Pray while you were flying? Know how time slows down when your really screwed? I always use that time to pray if I have no chance of recovery. Considering you made it home on your own in that condition, seems like maybe you did get some help if you know what I mean. If it makes you feel any better, ill use this as an excuse to start wearing my helmet. My riding buddy wants one but cant afford one right now [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] . He drives like crap so im going to not help him fix his quad till he gets one or agrees to wear my spare. I prefer to learn from the accidents of others rather than have my own.

 

Thanks for the support guys. I don't even remember if I rode home or not. I might have pushed it home. I can't remember much about that afternoon either. I was tuning it for a race tommorow, guess I am going to miss it.

Thanks again.

 

Amazing story. Glad you're okay. I always wear my helmet when riding, except when I just want to take it for a few quick laps around my yard before/after work real quick. That will change as of right now. I dont care where Im at, Im wearing that helmet. In Michigan its a law to be wearing your helmet while on your quad, whether its running or not. No joke. I see why. Good luck in your recovery and the rest of your race season.

 

Alky, I am glad to hear that you are alive! After blacking out in 6th, I couldnt even begin to imagine what happened! Im very glad you are here today to tell this story and remind everyone to WEAR A HELMET! There will never be a time from now on that I wont wear a helmet. I've been very fortunate to never have any serious ATV accidents, but as u said, it can happen at anytime.

Thanks for bringing me to my senses!
-nick

PS.. Brandon, are you going to be doing any riding on the saginaw bay or kakawlin river? If so, let me know!

 

Sorry you had to post this but reality brings everyone back down to earth every once in a while, Good luck and I hope you have a fast recovery. Any idea what caused the blackout?