Apparent group riding fatality

[Jetmaker737]

** Warning - not an official account. Eyewitness and hearsay**

Traffic was stopped in both directions for about an hour this afternoon on Hwy 410 near Greenwater. Observers reported that there was a fatality among multiple injuries in a group of motorcycle riders about a half mile from where I was stopped. They stated that riders had been sharing and splitting lanes between each other and apparently got tangled up. I witnessed 3 or 4 aid cars leaving the area at high speed with lights.

I had actually come upon this scene earlier from the opposite direction. Saw a dozen or more bikes parked helter-skelter either side of the highway with folks running down one side of the road embankment to aid someone to my right. Several cars were on the scene too. I noticed one rider down hill in the trees (to my right), on the embankment. He was sitting up with eyes open, full face helmet on, and folks were tending to him. At that time I figured it was just a one-rider incident and lots of people already on the scene so I rode off. Came back about 45 minutes later to the stopped traffic as described above.

Hope it's not true about the fatality but the amount of investigation going on at the scene indicates otherwise. Remember to be smart and safe out there, especially in groups!

 

[Checkswrecks]

He was sitting up with his eyes open??? When people get really hurt, they frequently don't realize how bad they are. It actually can take the pain a while to hit and I'm sure every one of the medical types in the group can tell all sorts of morbid tales about accident victims going into shock.

Sometimes in a get-off, we slide and things are essentially OK, other than maybe some light road rash. However, as a first responder to your best friend or anybody else, you need to know the difference. Your heart is wanting to say that everything is OK and to just shake it off. But is it?

Everybody is alway talking ATGATT ("all the gear all the time" for the nubes) but something that I don't see mentioned nearly enough is that there is no reason to not have at least basic competence in giving first aid. We're out there playing on 100+ mph machines that weigh 600+ pounds and the world can go from rosy to total **** in a heartbeat.

Hopefully it'll be somebody else in your group who goes down, but please take a freakin first aid course. A good one. It's as easy as asking at your local fire station where and when to look.

Stepping off soapbox...

Bob

 

[Scab]

Stepping off soapbox...

Stay on it. That is a worthy soapbox if I've heard of one. Far too often, someones chance of survival is dependent on the skillset of the first to arrive.

 

[bikerskier]

Gunny +++ on the first aid stuff..

I'm lucky enough to have taught and examined first aid for the Ski Patrol for a 20 year+ period, but I really hope if someones stumbles over me after I've had a get off, they also have some training. Jus sayin...

 

[Duff]

Nineteen years of recurring First Aid training in the military and I have only needed it once. Last year I kept a girl from going off the deep-end with a bad case of heat stroke. I was working concessions at a NASCAR track when a woman asked for a cool cloth. It only took one look to realize she needed much more than that. To top it off, the racetrack was TOTALY overloaded with heat-related calls that day and it took over an hour for them to get to her.

Thankfully, she recovered before she needed serious attention. She went home and later emailed me to thank me. I am glad that is the only time I have needed the training.

I'm glad I have it though... better to be prepared and never use it than to need it and watch someone slip away from a serious injury that could be treated.

By the way... what's in YOUR First Aid kit?

 

[Scab]

By the way... what's in YOUR First Aid kit?

Hey, an ounce of prevention...

 

[zenwhipper]

I was up on Rainier on Sat (13th) riding my FJR. Its been phenomenal weather in the PNW and it brings out a ton of bikes. Saw more than a few "sport bikers" on the roads. Saw a few Park Rangers with bikes pulled over. I think it was in Enumclaw - but I saw a group of about 30 bikes parked by the road, waiting to head out. The bikes were those bling bling all chromed pimped out sport bikes kind. I thought to myself - yah know, if that entire group rides at the same time - its going to be pure caos!

Anyway- when I was on Saturday - it wasn't too bad, just needed to watch out for slow caged park gawkers.

Scott

 

[Jetmaker737]

Update on this story. I got the following PM from one of the persons involved in this accident. Glad to hear he is OK. His friend is not so OK (but is alive!). Forum name for this person is WoolZ...

I can’t figure out how to reply or add a reply to the posts yet... but... maybe you can repost this. I was one of the riders in the crash between Greenwater and Enumclaw on 9/14/08. Nobody died. The other rider was much more seriously injured than I was. It's hard to say exactly what did happen because it came from behind me. But having spoken to my friend, the other rider, this is what I believe happened:

I was the lead bike as it was my idea to ride around the mountain that day as one of the last days of the summer for such a nice ride. There was a small group of us I believe there were 8. We came up to a line of cars and a dashed line and clear for passing so I made to pass some of the cars. As I came to the end of the passing lane, I crossed back over the center line to my side of the road- !!!BANG!!!- I hit the ground and thought to myself, "Ok, I’m alive... ****, I hope I don't get hit by a car... I hope I roll off the side of the road (out of traffic)". I came to a rest off the road as I hoped to. I did a ‘system check’… opened my eyes, took a breath, started moving a little to see if anything was majorly broken. Everything seemed fine so I crawled up to the side of the road and started looking around to try to figure out what happened. To my right the cars were stopped and my bike (black CBR600 F4i) was on its side in the road. To the left across the road was smoke coming from the trees. Further down the road to my left were people and commotion down in the ditch. I guessed that I was hit by another bike but I didn’t know which one or how. I stood up as my friends who were riding with me came to my aid and asked if I was ok and what happened. “I’m ok… What happened?” Nobody had any answers yet. I stood up as friends told me to stay down and still. I took off my helmet, backpack, and jacket so I could breathe easier. I got really dizzy and sat down for a minute. Things cleared up, I still felt like I was ‘ok’… banged up and hurt, but alive, coherent, and able to move on my own.

I began walking toward the other downed rider and recognized him as one of my friends (‘P’). I don’t know him well, met him last year on a ride, but would still call him a friend. He was sitting between some trees and had people all around him. I walked down to where they were and it was clear that I wouldn’t be much help. He seemed very ‘out of it’. There were a few off duty paramedics there helping him, LUCKILY. I walked back up to the road and tried to piece together what happened. One of the other riders said that (P) had lost control, grabbed his front brake and endo’d. The person in the car directly behind me said he was looking at his gauges and when he looked up there was wreckage, but he had no clear idea what happened. The rider in our group who was directly behind that car didn’t see it either.

Nobody saw what happened; none of the cars; none of the riders.

I went to Enumclaw ER and was treated for road rash, badly sprained ankle, fractured radial head in arm, and staples in my knee. I was wearing a FULL FACE DOT APPROVED helmet, riding gloves, a ballistic nylon/ Kevlar jacket, a backpack, denim jeans and lug-soled shoes… not boots, thus the ankle injury.

(P) was airlifted to Harborview in critical condition. I went to see him the next day. He was still asleep. His injuries include lost his spleen, part of his colon, lacerated kidney, bruised lungs, small fractures in his back, shattered femur (replaced with steel rod), and plenty of road rash. He was wearing Full Face helmet, riding gloves, 2 t-shirts, jeans, and tennis shoes.

The police who investigated said they ‘think they know what happened’ was; I went to pass, he tried to follow, lost control, skidded in a fishtail for 150 (+/-) feet, then laid bike down, (P) and bike slid another 300(+/-) feet and collided with my bike, taking it to the ground instantly.

I saw him again a few days ago. He was awake, sewn back up but still in bad shape. He didn’t know he (his bike) hit me; he thought he lost it in the previous corner we had come out of. He said “that’s a wicked bike. It scared the **** out of me every time I got on it.”

So that’s what happened. As best I can tell.

A lot can be said about it in retrospect. But enough can not be said about riding safely to minimize the possibility of a wreck and dressing like you know you’re going to.

I thank God for every breath and every day and I thank everyone who prayed for (P) and me.

 

[El Toro]

We had a death Sunday morning when a couple riding two up on their Harley struck a cage that had turned in front of them. The woman (pillion and 52 years old) was killed. The man (rider and 62) was hospitalized.

Its a jungle out there. This has been a really rough summer for motorcycle fatalities.