Grandma's letter

  • Thread starter Thread starter ARCHIVE_gehang
  • Start date Start date
A

ARCHIVE_gehang

Guest
Went down kind of hard last week..

Hello all...

On monday some old lady decided that she didn't have to stop at the stop sign and instead went in to the back right side of my bike at around 20 mph just barly missing my leg.
She said she dind't see me, which is crap becuse I was almost though and out of the intersection by the time she hit me. She started to stop then floord it at the last minute, I think she thoght I was going to cross quicker, and she was going to cutt off the other car who stopped at the same time as her.. Anyways...

My bike and me were very quickly thrown to the ground, we both spun around a few times but thankfully the bike spun away from me, so I didn't get bunrned under the bike, I got some good scabs on my elbow, shoulder, wrist, and my foot got crushed for a second under the engine and I have a real nice purple/blood red imprent of an engine on my ankle..

My baby is not looking so well....

Torn off right side: front and rear turn signals, front and back foot pegs, tachometer
Bent: right rear shock, almost touching rim due to impact with her bumper
also bent: break peddle and handle bars
scrached to hell: Rear Tail pipe, gas tank, RH mirror, RH grip
Cracked: RH radiator shrowd

There are some more but I can't think of them right now. Her insurance is going to cover it. I just hope they don't total it. It's probably going to cost more in parts and labor then if they just paid me the book value for my bike. That's soo not fair. I put good money in to keeping this bike in good condition. To have to buy a new used bike, or spend my own money fixing my bike becuse this ***** didn't know how to drive is BS...

Anways.. ride safe and keep an eye out for old ppl...

-G
 
Gehang,

I for one am thankful that you walked away, or so I would suppose, or at least from what I gathered you did. Not to say that it certainly wasn’t bad enough, or painful enough, and then on top of it all, possibly losing your bike. It really bites the big one when having eyes behind your head would not have even made a difference. There is something very different about losing your bike, especially when you put a little of yourself into it. Hope your injuries, visible and otherwise, heal quickly, and that you are fairly and adequately compensated, for all you’re loses, physical and emotional.

Sincerely,

Brian
 
Thanks for the wishes...

Other then my ankle i'm pretty ok, for sliding 20 ft on pavement with a tshirt and jeans I'd say I was lucky.

My road rash will eventually heal and somehow my ankle exray came back not broken. My foot was swollen so bad they had to pry my shoe off. Right now I limp becuse my foot is still pretty swollen and sore but that too shall come to pass eventually. I hope that by spring me and my bike will be ready to hit the road...

I plan on asking for a leather jacket for christmas.. lol

Keep em upright!

-G
 
Sometimes...

...peace of mind can be found in things like, a good helmet, a leather jacket, boots, gloves and pants. It has been said that, “some days the bear gets you, and some days you get the bear, but always remember to dress for the kill, because you never know which kind of day it’s going to be”.

Brian
 
Gehang,

I am with the others in wishing you best in recovery.

As for the bike, I am hoping she has decent insurance!?!?! Try to work with the estimator, as being as nice as possible to them, may benifit you in keeping the bike, and getting repaired (if you choose to do so). Talk to them, and if it is over the total borderline, see if there is a way to keep the bike, have them total it, buy it back from the insurance company (usually dirt cheap), and immediatly collect your "total loss" check and use for repairs. I did this with a car of mine years ago. The damage was only sheetmetal damage from 3 deer (YES 3!!!). Bought the car back for $200 from the insurance company, collected a $2500 check, ended up selling the car for another $800, and then moved on.

If this is not an option, and you want to keep the bike, have them add it all up as parts (no labor), and get as much as you can, before the total borderline, and repair yourself.

Either way, I know it sucks, and it feels like you can get shafted, but remember, SHE HIT YOU!! You have the ball in your court right now!!

Hope all ends in your favor, and good luck!
 
Wreck

Sorry to hear Gehang and good luck. Me, I would sue the witch (or replace the w with a b) and then go from there. If all else fails go with what Shlim1 says. Did a total on a friends bike back in 77 and now the broken parts (me) have come back to haunt me.

Get well soon,
 
I gotta agree with snakedoctor, sue the *****! You never know what kind of injuries will creep up months or even years later from that kind of trauma. Good luck on healin up!
 
Hey Gehang, Sorry about Your Mishap,I have a Set of Stock Mufflers I can let go For Cheap, Compared to one New One, on the Shocks You Might want to Change to Progressive , Unless You want to Keep the Complete Stock Look, Drop me a Mail if You Need the Mufflers, Later Rocky :twisted:
 
Being hit

Gehang, be very careful what you sign when you take the settlement if you do not sue because that could release the insurence company from any other claims you might have. I know you might think I walked or (limped) away alive but you gotta be true to yourself first. I would sue anyway because it might wake her up and she'll tell her friends and it might make them more aware. Pisses me off that people say they didn't see me when I'm on something this big. Where are they looking, into the sky or putting on makeup? :x
 
Usually talking on the cell phone arent they? Get well soon buddy.
Joker
 
Depending on what the check says I may chip in some and upgrade to progressive shocks. I was looking at those this summer anyway. I guess this makes a convenient time to upgrade..

Thanks for the muffler suggestion. I'll defentlly keep you in mind. I hope to hear more by friday then I can make some decision about parts and repairs. I'm actually considering changing tail pipes/ exaust to maybe a louder setup. Then if it ever happens again they can say they didn't see me but they damn well better have heard me...

:)
 
I feel your pain, literally. 11 years ago I was rear-end by a little RV that hit a jeep cheeroke that hit a honda civic that hit me and partially push my 86 Eliminator under the van in front of me. I escaped by crawling across the hood of the Honda and it ended up on top of back of the bike. I walked away with brusies and a bad back. The worse thing was the insurance company the guy had was Allstate. They didn't want to pay for anything. In fact the guy at the dealership that did the estimate on my bike, which ended up being totalled out, wanted the engine. The Allstate rep wanted to give me bottom book value, like $1800 at the time and was going to see the motor to the service guy for $750. I caught wind of it and ripped them a new one but still only got $2200 for the bike and I ended up selling it to the service manager and getting that money too. If my wife, no-ex, wasn't so against me ever riding again, I would have kept the bike and fixed it up. In fact I didn't ride again for 10 years after that accident.

The kicker to Allstate is they didn't want to pay my medical bills either, most of the bills were covered by my employer plan and they wanted my employer plan to eat the bills and only give me my out of pocket. I did get an attorney involved to get them to open their wallet. So my advice is don't play around with her insurance company, you get full value for the bike and because of its age you shouldn't go by book value unless it ends up higher than listings on ebay or bike trader. Also, you get all of the medical taken care of along with missed worked pay and pain and suffering.
 
"She said she didn’t see (you)", I'll bet she didn't say that too loud. That's grounds for loosing her licence (at least in my book). Pricks who "don't see" won't tell the authorities that when they get their eyes tested for their license.

**** heads have done that twice to me, once while I was on a pushy traversing a ‘T’ intersection on the way home from work, as I passed I shoved my left foot through his plastic grille to remind him how close he came to putting me in hospital. When I stopped to go back and get my shoe he said he didn’t see me, well that was partly true, I was eyeballing him as I approached and while his gaze crossed my path he was focusing 50meters behind me for larger vehicles (you know, the ones that could do damage to his precious car, well more than a bicycle would, did).

The second time was when I was travelling approx 25meters behind a truck on my ’83 Honda VF400 in heavy traffic and the idiot parked on my left decided he’d do a smokin’ inside wheel U turn right across my bow (and across double lines). Well I loved the front brakes and anti-dive forks on that little machine but when the back wheel is several inches off the ground she aint gunna pull up regardless. Anyway there was no damage to me, just AU$800.00 to the bikes radiator, front left indicator and fuel tank scratches. The good thing out of this incident was me seeing the lady approaching at 20k/hr in a 4x4 from the other direction. Her eyes were like tennis balls and her chin was on her chest, apparently it was surprising to her to see me suddenly appearing between her headlights like a confused Kangaroo with 15 meters to spare. Well before I had time to push the bike back off the road, she’d parked her beast, grabbed pen and paper, wrote down her phone number and quickly waltzed on over to help. She asked: “are you alright love? Here I think you might need a witness, give me a call if this knob head (yes, her words) tries to wriggle out of this, I saw what he did and if you had not impeded his progress as you did, I would have copped it.”

Now they’re definitely out there hey, both types, the stupid and the good. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt it’s that it doesn’t matter if you’re in the right, if your six foot under the jury won’t hear about it. Same if you’re fit, healthy and exercise regularly, if you get hit by a Mack truck, you’re gunna get squashed. Plan is to take up motorcycling, enjoy the experience and look out for Mack trucks…

Rocket

Note: Kangaroos are stupid animals, they sit motionless on the side of the road and when your about to pass them they do everything they can to make passionate contact with the front of your vehicle. Now I’m not implying that I’m stupid, only that, like Kangaroos, I suddenly appeared out of nowhere and ended up in the only place a driver doesn’t want to see one, and this is where they inevitably turn up, smack bang in between the headlights.
 
I'm sorry to hear about the accident... that sh*t sucks bad! My bike has been off of the road for 1 1/2 years due to my get off. I do have to agree with KKD with the gear though. I wear a leather jacket, riding gloves, jeans (which I should replace with something more abrasion resistant) and a pain of heavy work boots every time I ride, even in the 100+ deg heat of GA. The jacket saved me from some serious pain on my last get-off. I walked away with only a bruised elbow, and that was because it, my elbow, went through the speedometer on the way over the handlebars.

Tossing in my opinion, get an attorney! There are so many out there that will take on your case with no cash up front, they are kind of snake oil salesmen but they know how to manipulate the insurance companies. Pain and suffering, damage to the bike... that can add up real quick but dealing with an insurance company one on one is usually not a good thing. They have people trained to trick you into saying things that would hurt you in court so be careful when talking to them on the phone.

If the insurance company calls you, and starts talking about the call being recorded (lots of times they will have the pre-emptive message about the call being recorded for customer service as a front to record anything you may say that would hurt your case). If they want to talk all you have to say is that they need to speak to your attorney. Do not say anything else!

At least talk to a lawyer and see what they have to say. A lot of your case will bear on how the police report was filled out too. It doesn't hurt to talk to the lawyer, but it damn sure hurts to come off of the bike.
 
Got a letter from Grandma the other day. She writes:

The other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper. I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is and I didn't notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed! I found that LOTS of people love Jesus! Why, while I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, "For the love of GOD! GO! GO! Jesus Christ, GO!"

What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus! Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love! There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a "sunny beach." I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. Then I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant, he said that it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. My grandson burst out laughing...why, even he was enjoying this religious experience!

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, I waved to all my sisters and brothers grinning, and drove on through the intersection. I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Love, Grandma
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top