Did anyone catch Trauma last night?

[Player0]

Trauma: Life in the ER, I think it was on TLC. Anyway, its one of those real life medical shows where they go around the ER. It's kind of interesting from time to time. Well they had the most awful thing I have ever seen in my life on last night. I mean, this is worse than rotten.com because it's video.

A guy in his late 40s was riding a motorcycle about 76mph on a highway and lost control, flew 160ft and hit some sort of road sign. I dont know what the guy was wearing for protection because they brought him in nekkid.

He had no bandages when he first came in, so everything was visible. His head and torso looked pretty much okay, and most of the damage was to his limbs. His right foot was off completely. His right leg wasn't in bad shape though otherwise. His left leg was good except for his upper inner thigh, which was missing about 25% of flesh. (Just how you loose your inner thigh falling off the bike is beyond me, unless it was one of the tires). Inner thighs have some large veins and its easy to bleed to death by getting them cut up, but he was lucky.

The utterly disgusting part was his arms. His right arm had been completely shattered and ground up. The odd thing was, he could still move it around like a jello hot-dog. It was flopping around quite bloodily like a thick limp rag. I cant beleive they could show that on TV. The left arm wasnt much better, He still had most of his hand, but was missing a good 5 inches of flesh aroudn his forearm. It was quite surreal looking.

In the end, the guy lost 3 limbs (the left leg they salvaged, but the thigh wasnt looking too healthy) and had a stroke from the blood clots. But, I just have to wonder now after watching this (and seeing similar things on rotten.com).... is riding a bike worth it?? You get in to an accident with a car at 76mph and you're in trouble, but the level of mangling isn't NEARLY as bad with airbags and seatbelts. The biggest risk is fire or being crushed in the car.

I dont know about biker safety equipment. I mean, how good is leather at 80MPH? I have to assume you're gonna loose most of your clothing if your sliding around the ground long enough. But theres no protection for your body from the physical impacts, especially if you get run over.

Theres a lot of motorcycle shows on TV lately, jessie james and Paul Teutel... and I can see the appeal. But after seeing what can happen on a bike... I dont know. The road is a dangerous place for bikes. Great for cities, but not for long distances and high-speed.

[Farabomb]

It's one of the risks of riding. :(

If you ride, you will lay it down at least once. Hopefully not at speed. Yup, leathers are just an extra layer that is made to take a lot of the road rash. If you fall at speed you will still get some (the leathers will burn through) but not nearly as much as if you're in shorts. I see a lot of kids riding their crotch rockets like that, shorts, sneakers and a wifebeater and a helmet. Yea bucky, I want to see how you make out after you screw up doing that wheelie and go skidding along the pavement in shorts.

I ride sometimes, allmost every male in my family had at least one bike. All have had accidents. One of my cousins had 3 really bad ones and he still rides. They will mess you up if you don't pay attention.

[unacceptable_risk]

even though towing a cow at speed behind a ute is bad for the cow(don't ask) it seems that once cured, the hide of the cow will put up an amazing fight against friction.

I only put one bike down on the road so far, but it was a beauty. Whilst riding a friends ZZR1100, and following the friend on his new Ducati, He booted out of a nice big sweeper bend at over 180kms, I tried to follow....hmmm....anyway bit of early morning moisture on sed road and a bloody big bike under me..I lost the tail in an unrecoverable slide and put it down like a pro...lowside.

thus began a 180kmh+ slide on my arse, with cheap old leathers. Some few hundred meters later I still have an arse much to my surprise. I did more damage to the heels of my boots and the helmet was unscratched. My worst injuries came from the initial road impact and the gutter towards the end of my trip. The worst thing that happened to my behind can be compared to mild burns.

So, There is one massive leathers fan here. Frankly if your not wrapped in cow, your just askin for trouble. With the influx of scooters on our roads here, I keep seeing chicks in skirts and dress leather jackets........Just cause those bikes look cute, doesn't make them safe ladies!!!!

[notoriousformula]

i'm so sorry for that biker..:( ..BUT you mentioned that stupid site Rotten.com(never been there).....OMG!! i almost puked after i saw those Uday and Qusay Hussein Post-mortem pictures...those chopper guy pictures..i can't even express my thouughts..they should not put that kinda stuff on the net :( :( ..i feel very sad..


PS: i'm sorry..just expressing my feelings here..can't take open human flesh..thats why me, a zoology freak is into Biotechnology..

[unacceptable_risk]

on a different note, I know a couple who hit a kangaroo on a back country lane......not really the end of the world....except the explosive cabin devices went off in their faces and they crashed as a result of the smack in the face and subsequent visibility issues.

Air bags [explosive cabin devices]are not the answer either, they are useless outside of a particular speed range. Personally there is no substitute for a strong caged chassis with great seats and proper harnesses. Oh and a careful driver helps too.

[Drake]

Almost no crash will have only one driver involved... no matter how careful you are there're still a few dumbasses out there who drive stoned or stupidly. My cousin lost a mid-80's Mustang to a wreck, got hit side on by a high-schooler in his moms SUV with no insurance or anything. He bent down to change his radio, and the next thing he knows the front of his SUV has burrowed into another car.

[Player0]

See, I just wasnt sure how much you could protect yourself from a spill. I figgure leather pants and jackets are kind of inconvenient. Who wants to get dressed up to drive somewhere? With that said, I dont even put boots on in the winter time ;)

[Synthohol]

personally, i prefer dirt bikes, no "cagers" to screw up your planning.
i love woops and ramps, asphalt has some but very little appeal to me.
I suppose a long cruize down some road in new mexico through the desert would be nice to do befor i die, but given the choice a 400cc or less knobby tired no lights iron horse for me please:)

[WesM63]

That sux. Recently here in NW Ohio, a guy was doing 120+mph and hit a car turning onto the same road that he was coming on. I did'nt see it but, was told his whole left side of the body from waist up was dismembered. Head inculded. Sorry to say the least for the kid. I did see the bike and you could not even make out one part on it. This was some 2months ago and there is still a enourmous blood stain on the road where he hit the car.

I don't think i will ever ride any sort of street legal bike. Dirt Bikes maybe, crotch rockets, harleys... nope.:(

[Mad3813]

I watched my brother riding a honda 50cc scooter have a head on crash with a 125cc dirt bike and shatter both his kneecaps, that was fun, traction for 6 months, learning to walk again, wonderful.

And a collegue at work work side swiped by a car and pushed into the side of a building, broke 2 bones in her leg (tib and fib) and 3 bones in her foot, traction again, 3 weeks, 8 months off work.

I do not like bikes, but each to their own, they look awesome, but i will NEVER ride one, and i will actively discourage anyone i know from riding one, you can be the best rider in the world, but there is a LOT of idiots out there on the road!!!!

[unacceptable_risk]

I'm not going to argue with peoples concerns, as they are well placed.

However, I would like to put a good word in for bikes. I have found riding motorcycles to be one of the most awesome feelings I have ever experienced. If I never rode one again, I would consider that to be dissapointing.

Everything is dangerous. Its unavoidable. Where fun lurks, danger will not be far. I lost all feeling in my lower body some 3 1/2 years ago. No bike, No surfing incident, not a skateboard in sight. Heck the best assesment I can get out of the team of neurosurgeons that I have consulted since, is that a common virus [eg flu, etc] chose to infect my spinal cord without asking.

All I am saying is that it would be very sad to miss out on any of the fun things in life, on account of the percieved danger. Sure wear leathers and don't be stupid, but don't just rob yourself of one of the best full body feelings ever.

If life wants you #!%*ed, it will #!%* you, no matter how careful you are. Next time you cross the road could be your last. So whatever you do, enjoy yourself!!! while u can!

P.S. lol, can anyone guess why I'm into folding?

[Kabooka]

The one common theme here is that the rider was doing something a little out of the norm - true there are others on the road that you need to look out for, but lets face it - when someone buys a crotch rocket I'd bet my life savings that that person will spend the greater percentage of his riding time trying to ride that thing like he's on a closed track racing for first place. I can't tell you how many times some moron will squeeze between two cars and then take off like a bat out of hell, and then run a stop light....

I'm not picking on crotch rockets only, I've seen this behavior on all types of bikes, but it does seem to be more the rule than the exception on that type of bike.

I ride, and I do so knowing that there are two types of riders - one who has gone down, and the other who is going to go down. The difference is that I do all I can to control the circumstances.

Over 12 years the one time that my bike hit the ground is when I put the kickstand down on soft ground, I wasn't expecting it and I caught my ankle under the primary cover.

Ride Safe

[dicki]

for some reason my family and friends think i have a very cavalier attitude towards danger, injury and death...

for those of you that don't know i do a LOT of dangerous sports i go rockclimbing (indoors and out) several times a week, ride a motorbike, ski and snowboard, martial arts, rugby (till my knees packed up)

about 4 months ago i watched a friend die rockclimbing and i have seen many people ditch motorbikes and end up in a bit of a state

basically the way i look at it is if you do one of these activities you have to know and truly accept the risks but do everything you can to avoid them and protect yourself if the worse happens, so you train yourself and get the right gear and make yourself as safe as possible and live each day to the full, in my opinion doing anything less is a waste because you have such a limited time on this planet.

also if you look at a lot of the sports i do they rely wholly on me and my skill that way if the worst happens it is wholly my fault and well... the buck stops here.

to be honest motorbiking is probably the most dangerous thing i do because you know everytime you leave your driveway some blind bastard in an airconditioned, easylistening induced coma might pull out in front of you and end it. and no amount of skill will save that, you can read the road and position your self well and wear bright leathers but you never know...

anyway enough rambling...

dicki