Anyone who doesn't like reading or hearing about crashes, you'll want to skip this.

Back in early July, headed home from work in Phoenix, I was going straight through an intersection when a lady made a left turn directly in front of me, causing me to smash into her with enough force to spin her car a good 70 degrees. At least, that's what I'm told, as I have no recollection of the incident. My last memory is leaving the parking lot and my next is waking up in the hospital.

From top to bottom: Bone between my eyes was separated (not certain what that means), nose broken, both cheekbones broken, jaw broken, shards of glass in my right cheek below my eye. Another shard worked its way out of my neck after several weeks. No teeth lost, somehow. All this is despite a full-face helmet. I'm damn glad I wasn't wearing a beanie.

Fractured one of the vertebrae in my neck, no surgery required for that, just a brace to allow it to heal. Fractured ribs, both lungs collapsed. Some road rash on upper right arm, both bones in right forearm broken. Last but easily worst, burst fracture in one of the vertebrae in my lower back (L3). Had bone fragments threatening my spinal cord, that required immediate surgery. Surgeon did an excellent job, no permanent damage to the spinal cord itself, though the nerves branching off are still healing.

Spent 9 days in ICU, then 3 weeks in inpatient acute neuro rehab. I'm now back in Illinois living with my parents while I recover, which is estimated to take at least several months. Good news is, I'm walking, I'm eating, my neck's healed and the brace is off. I'm getting back to where I was, bit by bit. It's gonna take a while, but I'm determined to ride again and I'm not gonna let some college student who thinks oncoming traffic can't exist if it's got less than four wheels keep me from living my life. Doctors are optimistic so far, the speculation is I'll be back to normal - or almost normal - eventually. Hard to say when that'll be.

As for my bike, front end's destroyed. The gremlin bell I had hung under the headlamp is the only thing that survived, somehow. Quite a coincidence, eh? Maybe that's why I wasn't paralyzed. I haven't actually seen her since the wreck, just pictures. A family friend's got her in his garage until insurance can take a look. Speaking of which, it's been two months. Their delay's driving me nuts. It also, or so I've been told, appears that the engine smacked into the frame at the time of the impact, leaving a noticeable mark and bending it a bit. My guess is, she's totaled, and if so, I'll miss the hell out of her. If that is the case, on the bright side, my last memory of that bike will be riding it. In the meantime, I've got my eye on the new Low Rider. I'll need something with a low center of gravity once I can get back into it- assuming I can at some point, of course.

EDIT:

 

Glad to hear you're going to make it back. How can that insurance be taking so long?!?! Is everything covered? Time off? Medical?

Dang.

 

Being a 20-year-old student with a part-time job, I didn't buy very extensive coverage with the bike. I went with Geico, and paid for coverage more than enough to cover the bike itself, and to cover my *** if I did something stupid and was liable, but that's about it. They just seem to be dragging their feet to inspect it. It'll be a while before I'm off the pain meds that are currently preventing me from legally driving anyways, so it's not critical just yet. But it's still driving me nuts. If they don't total it, they'd better pay for the additional repair costs resulting from letting it sit with half a tank of E10 gas for so long.

Medical insurance I have separately, and they're covering the hospital bills and the ongoing medical costs, which so far expensive enough that I probably would be in debt for the rest of my life if I didn't have insurance.

 

Sorry for your accident,sounds like you went through hell . Glad you are healing and getting better . If I were you I would get a real good lawyer .Sounds like insurance company jerking your chain.The accident does not sound like it was your fault .

 

I'm sorry to hear about your injuries and hope you heal soon. I don't get the deal with your insurance. I was hit from behind in traffic last Saturday (thankfully only my pride and a rear fender was crushed), but the other driver's insurance adjuster has already seen the bike and approved the repairs. Two months to have an adjuster look at your bike is just crazy.

 

I had a bad accident back in Feb, a pickup ran a stop sign in the dark at 50 mph, ( I've included the link below.) Interesting that though we both were not at fault, and we both have Geico, and we know that the medical insurance will take years to sort, the bike itself was handled the week after I got out of the Hospital in my case. As a matter of fact, you'll see its back on the road now. I filed with Geico, and they settled with me (including my deductible,) because they "subrogated" (got paid back,) by the other guys insurance company. So I'm surprised too that they haven't taken care of you in a similar fashion.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/screa...the-ashes.html

 

Glad to hear that you have no permanent injuries and are determined to be back on 2 wheels. Are you thinking about suing that car lady? Think about it. One of my friends went down pretty bad in the exact similar circumstances where a bi*ch texting and driving, decided to merge into his lane when driving right next to him. He was also bed-ridden for several months with severe injuries and is suing the car driver for negligent driving and several other things.

 

The insurance of the left turner should be buying you another bike along with pain, suffering, college tuition lost and medical bills. You have an attorney yet?

 

Glad you made it through the key hole good on you. All you need to do is heal and hair over.

 

Get that bike out of the garage and into someplace that's going to repair it. That's part of your delay problem. An adjuster can not assess the damage like a dealer can. Do you really believe a insurance adjuster is going to know what needs fixed, replaced, and what those repairs are going to cost? On a bike they sure as heck don't know. I've had 2 insurance claims, neither my fault, and both times they depended on the assessment of the dealer to determine what needed repaired.