Went for a ride thurs. to run some fuel through the lines, been set up  a while. and on the way home went to take the exit and some little girl felt like she needed to take it too. WHILE SHE WAS ON THE PHONE. never saw me. I had to decide to hit her and the concrete or go for the grass. so I went for the grass. at about 50mph. tail got loose and went sideways, couldnt correct and it laid down on me. Needless to say the handle bars caught and catapulted me. Thank god I landed on my head..lol... But my shoulder took the blunt force. she never stopped. I picked up my bike tried to push it and realized my shoulder was blasted. cranked her up and "walked" her to the side of the road. 2 or 3 cars took the exit but no one stopped to help. So I picked up my arm put it on the bars (thank god I can still squeeze the clutch.) and drove it home then took the truck the rest of the way to the emer. room. Where I was told I have a cracked scapula (shoulder blade) and seperated AC joint, among torn mucles and tendons. I go to the orthopedic doctor today. To find out the extent of the damage. Oh and my insurance is gonna cover the bike even without a police report under the circumstances that no one stopped, but not cover medical. hopefully my insurance from work will cover all that. more to come later.

sorry ta hear that man... but at least you were able to walk away and ride home.  That's almost happened to me a number of times here in town with stupid ass-clown cabbies yappin on the phone.  Hope you have a speedy recovery and there's not much damage to your bike.

Man that sucks.
I hate folks on the phone while driving 



Here's to you hoping for fast healing.

Yikes. Glad you came through OK. Heal quickly.

Here's to all the self-absorbed asshats who operate motor vehicles!       people who ignore motorcycles

Glad you're basically OK, it could be worse.  Yes, your health insurance will cover this.  No-fault doesn't come into play unless there is an accident report filed, so don't file one!  As it is now, it's like a skiing accident as far as they're concerned.

Don't you feel warm and fuzzy knowing you helped that woman not miss her exit?  You know it would take her two hours to figure out how to get back to where she was going if she did!

Having said that, you did make a mistake as far as riding defensively is concerned.  You rode into the exit lane, catching-up to a cage, putting her next to you.  In short, you "stuffed" her.  Don't ever do that.  You just found out why.  You should have stayed behind her just in case she exited at the last moment, which she did.

Coincidentally, I just posted something about riding defensively last night:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=38355.0

Here is the relevant excerpt:

"I never allow traffic to stay near me.  I either fall back, or go by.  Never allow a cage to hang around next to you.  Only asshats who don't respect bikes will do that.  Get away from him ASAP.  If he screws-up, you're in the oncoming lane or off the road."

Could it be ESP?  Nah.

thanks everyone.

Bill, she was behind me. when I slowed down to 50 on the exit she didnt. she caught up to me. how she didnt see me is anyones guess. Im just glad she didnt go over me instead of around me.

Are you telling me if you didn't move to the right she would have run you over?  That doesn't sound at all like your original post.

You posted:    "I had to decide to hit her and the concrete or go for the grass."

That sure as hell sounds like she was next to you, moving into the exit lane you were in, forcing you off the road.

edit:  Oh, wait a minute.  I get it now.  She stuffed you at the last moment to enter the exit lane.  I'm surprised she didn't hit the guard rail going that fast.  I think I would have stayed on the white line and took my chances, but I'm not second-guessing you.  I wasn't there.

No point in suing unless they catch her.  My motorcycle policy does cover personal injury up to $50,000.  Check your policy, that's good advice.  I once had a similar situation in a car, and the guy who pulled-out in front of me was hospitalized.  Since I was a young man with only a cut on his head and two broken ribs there wasn't much to sue for, so my attorney didn't want to pursue it.  I could have sued his father (innocent party) for a few thou that would have taken years, and his father wasn't at fault, so I just moved on.  If you end-up disabled by the accident, and/or they catch her, by all means sue her ass off.  Otherwise, I think lawsuit-happy people are ruining this country.

Get out a copy of your insurance policy.  If you have medpay coverage, they should owe it, regardless, and your uninsured motorist coverage should cover the not stopping part too.  Take a look, then tell them you're not signing anything until they agree to cover your meds or you see an attorney.  Then go find an attorney.  Seriously.

Glad you survived.  Hope you feel better, and get well soon.  Wellwishes to you.  What did you learn from this experience?

I'm seeing a lot of threads about cagers on the phone....is that legal in the US? Over here its not and it'll cost you $200+ if you get caught. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen a lot though!

It is legal in many states. Here in WA it is now a secondary offense, so you can't be pulled over just for the phone.

Did you not have a cell phone to call yourself? I mean it is not good to go riding esp. after you said you hit you're head man you gotta call 911 on that you were taking a very high chance of doing that.

You're insurance may not cover this. Similar incident happened to me but my own stupidity. I was at a red light and ran out of gas (just got out of hospital trip meter had been reset and was already on reserve). So, I decided I could jump and push at the same time to try and get more momentum. Very bad Idea! When I jumped off the pavement was very uneven I lost my balance and got my right ankle caught up under the left side of the bike. As soon as I got up the ankle was already black and blue (not good). So, there was no damage at all to my bike ( sadly my main concern at the time) but I called Progressive anyhow because my ankle was mangled they said that since I was not moving and my bike wasn't damaged that it wasn't a MVA (motor vehicle accident). So, I filed it under medicare because I'm disabled now though I'm being told they won't cover because my moto insurance should cover. So, be prepared for that scenario!

It sucks that no one stopped for you happened to me on my bicycle once passed out due to my heart. Laid out in the Florida August heat until I almost had heat stroke. I was so out of it I could not even tell the operator where I was. Was less than a block from the hospital I could see it but didn't know how to get to it. They finally had to ping my cell phone and found me. So my cell phone saved my life. Turned out there was a guy less than 100ft mowing his yard. The medics asked why he didn't come to help. "I thought she was taking a nap" then they left my $500 bike with him 


Hope you heal up quick!
Mary

that sucks man! I hope you heal quickly and that there will be no permanent damage to your shoulder!!
In country where I'm from talking on the phone while driving is illegal unless you have loudspeaker or headset.
But here in "sodoma y gomorra" city no one gives a shaZam! about that. Every other person drives and talks on the cell 

hope your insurance will cover the bill and that you will get well soon! 

I hope you heal fast and get back on the bike man.  Scary shaZam!, good move taking the grass.  Out here all we got is dirt covered by rocks or pavement.