My Accident: What I did right and what I did wrong

By Dianne Lorang

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10 February 2008 23:31

It happened without warning, as accidents do. 

I was tooling around downtown Great Falls, Montana, when suddenly I knew I was going to get hit. My first thought was “That was stupid,” realising my mistake, and the next was “Cool! Just like in the movies!” as I rolled up on the hood of the car. Later I learned that I broke its windshield.

I ride a Honda Reflex, a scooter, but the rules of the road are the same as for motorcycles. In fact, because the Reflex has a 250cc engine, I had to get my motorcycle license.

I took a safety course alongside men with dreams of Harleys, but the basics, other than I didn’t need to shift, pertained to me as much as to them. I am just as vulnerable as any other biker going the same speed in the same traffic, so I need to be just as alert and as focused on my riding.

I learned that again the hard way in June of 2007, when I had my accident. Whether luck or my guardian angel saved me that day, I don’t know. What I do know is that one second sooner, the car would have hit my leg rather than my scooter and I’d still be in physical therapy. Instead, I broke nothing and walked out of the ER with just a few scratches and bruises topped off with a mild concussion.

I’m grateful I wasn’t hit by a truck or SUV and that the driver of the car was a young woman with quick reflexes. She slammed on her brakes as soon as she saw me. I was making a left hand turn from the right lane of a one-way street, right in front of her. Our speeds were slow enough at impact that I landed with my head on the corner curb and my scooter just a few feet away by the fire hydrant.

Two EMT's on their way to work and an off-duty highway patrolman witnessed the accident. As they took all the precautions while waiting for the ambulance, I took all the blame. It was definitely my fault. But I had done some things right.

I wore a helmet, even though Montana does not require them. It took the brunt when breaking the windshield, and then again when my head hit the curb. I only saw a few stars rather than years or a lifetime of dealing with major head trauma. My leather jacket and gloves protected me as well.

It was 95○ out when I left my mother-in-law’s that day. “Why are you wearing a black leather jacket on such a hot day?” she asked. My husband, who teaches motorcycle safety courses, answered, “In case she gets in an accident.” Little did he know that within the hour my jacket would protect my right arm, and my gloves, my right hand, which sustained the most soft tissue damage.

I also wore jeans and leather boots. Without even ripping my jeans, the accident left me with a large scrape on my right knee, similar to the scrape on my right elbow. When they finally let me get off the gurney in the ER to go to the restroom, road grit fell from under my T-shirt. “Imagine the road rash you’d have without all the protective clothing,” my husband commented.

Later that day, after picking up muscle relaxers at the nearest pharmacy since the doctor assured me I’d be really sore, my husband asked if I knew what I had done wrong. “Sure,” I told him, saying that I simply forgot I was on a one-way street. “Yes, that’s obvious, but what were you doing that might have distracted you?” “Well,” I confessed, “I was looking at old houses for sale.” We both have this dream of one day living in a Victorian charmer.

“So besides riding your scooter, you were gawking at old houses in a busy downtown area on streets you’re not really familiar with. In other words, you weren’t focused on your riding or the traffic around you.” He had me there. I’m not a great multi-tasker. While driving a car, I can’t seem to change radio stations without swerving.

So I agreed with him, yet I could tell he wasn’t finished. “Still, even with forgetting you were on a one-way street and not paying special attention to your riding and the traffic, if you had remembered to do one important thing, you would have avoided your accident.” “What?” I recalled being hot and tired and thinking I should just stop to rest in the shade of Gibson Park.

“You forgot to look before you turned. Remember to Slow, LOOK, Press, and Roll On. If you had turned your head the direction you were turning, you would have seen the car in time to stop.” He was right. The same rule that helps me make turns and take curves without straining would have saved me and my scooter a lot of pain and damage that day.

The only good thing that came out of my accident besides getting a sporty “new” scooter (it used to be red and now it is silver and red thanks to pieces and parts found on e-Bay) is that I learned why the rules of the road are what they are, and that even though I ride “just” a scooter, I need to follow them to stay safe. Next time I might not be so lucky.