Do Motorcycle Helmets in the DR Help?

frank12

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Sep 6, 2011
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A few years ago, in front of Coastal Gas Station outside of Sosua--across from Ocean Village--a young man, Bart, driving a brand new--one week old Yamaha TW 200--was making a left hand turn--heading west--into Coastal Gas station. He was stopped, waiting for on-coming traffic--heading east--to go past. He had a large truck stopped behind him--which was blocking the view of people coming up behind the truck. He made the colossal mistake of turning left and only looking forward--like any normal person would do. He had patiently waited for the on-coming lane to clear free, and so, he had the right to turn left without fear of anyone coming in the opposite direction. What he didn't realize is that, here, in this country, people will pass any stopped traffic without realizing that they might be stopped for a reason--I.E-someone is turning left!! As he turned left a brand new Audi heading west, and flying with two kids driving--came flying past the truck--taking him on the left--at the very same time that Bart was turning left into Coastal gas station. the Audi hit Bart at such a high velocity that it broke his brand new, one week old, Yamaha TW 200 in half--sending one half north, and the other half south-west. The impact was so severe that it immediately tore into the Audi's radiator and tore into the engine--bringing the Audi to a rolling stop--and unable to move. The impact totaled the Audi, totaled the Yamaha TW 200, and totaled Bart--breaking in half his left leg--breaking the Femur in half and causing lots of other damages to his hips, legs (Femur), shoulders, arms,etc.

However, Bart had one saving grace...he was wearing his brand new, $300 helmet. The helmet saved his life. But, wait, let Bart tell the story...

As the story goes we flew down to the DR on the sunny day of august 5th. On the 6th we had ella’s birthday and visitors in steve broege and john kimmel. Ella and I went to ocean world and did the dolphin encounter which is labeled as “the once in a lifetime opportunity”. It was entertaining and ella was enthralled by getting to touch the dolphin.

Steve and john stayed a week and a we did a bit of touring and enough drinking to sate me for the rest of the summer. Fortunately, I was able to go out east with them without overly burdening jenny since we had new neighbors, Michael and Doreena with kids that immediately became seamless with our ella. Almost instantly our family of 3 had grown to a family of four adults and three children. A community which we never found in the states.

After steve and john returned home on the 13th, I set to the task of acquiring the remaining life necessities including obtaining transportation, communication, employment etc.. Tasks which take just an afternoon at home can take on a life force of there own here, while others get done exceeding quick. Of course when there is money on the table the response time here is often with god-speed.

I got the car first. No small task given the paradigm here. Cars here are almost double us prices and gas is over $5. Roads are in generally poor condition and there are always things in the road that one needs to be alert for. Moreover almost every racket imaginable as to cars sellers is common here. For instance New Orleans salvage cars are common as are late model imports with rolled back odometers and the check engine light unplugged.

After considerable searching I proudly ended up with an import straight from japan, a little Nissan cube which resembles the older scion xb. An economical box with great headroom great gas mileage little tires and an overall quirky design. Moreover I proudly paid a bit over $7k us, a seemingly great price. The car even shows low mileage . . . so far only a few quirks have developed but it has exceeded overall expectations.

While spending time at the pool with ella I secured as an elementary school gym teacher and my disappeared like an airplane on the horizon. My first class was with 16 kindergartens on a rainy day where there is no actual gym to take them to. I did everything short of standing on my head in this first class and realized all of it consumed fifteen minutes. The first grade was better because and ella and daniella (mike and doreena’s daughter) were joined by only ten kids and an excellent teacher. Ms Vesna Ella’s Serbian transplanted teacher is experienced and she knows just when to brake into singsong. Next I was my fifth grade class and since I didn’t have ideas I told them they could choose. Apparently there is a longstanding pedagogical debate over dodge ball. I suppose I understand the debate know but for me it is a question of what level of competition and inclusiveness is preferred at what age. Some believe the Montessori model is the best for a child’s development, monetessori and dodge ball represent for me the opposite sides of the spectrum. If these were the only pedagogical choices out there I would be stuck.

By end of the week with the help of the internet I had the the upper classes doing soccer drills and playing games of soccer with newly acquired skills and the lower grades using all sorts of different equipment including hula hoops, balls, mats and everything else in my storage closet. Not to say it was easy but my small athletic fifth grade class brought fulfillment to me I rarely experienced in my previous work. Fourth grade turned the corner on this past Friday and even third grade with its jumble of disparate personalities seemed to have more people getting something out of it than not. The school is categorically diverse but the challenge of diversity is not by country of origin and this class probably has ten different countries represented nor by economic strata but rather diversity of personality. It is not so much that the Nunez cousins in the class who hail from da Bronx are different categorically than the Strauss triplets who are from Sosua by way of their grandfather being a holocaust resettler but that their personality types and concomitant energy levels are at the opposite end of the spectrum. When I bring out the soccer balls, Wilson and Kevin nunez start to place them under their shirts and the odile and emil strauss wait until I am not looking and go to hide underneath a tree in the shade. This type of diversity exists in every classroom and I think it plays first fiddle to the categorical diversity which those in the academic world endlessly study.

On Wednesday of my first week of school I purchased an on/off road motorcycle as a secondary means of transport and a way to explore the countryside of goat paths and sugarcane fields. I bought the bike new and had it shipped in from santo domingo arriving late on Wednesday. I drove it to school on Thursday and Friday and on Saturday

We had decided to have our first get together Saturday and have people over before an Anthony Santos concert. For those who do not follow bachata Anthony santos is the most popular bachata musician in the world; A man who sold out Madison square garden in three hours. Here he was playing in a small town ten minutes away in a disco filled with a couple of hundred plastic chairs. Anthony santos of course is from the Dr and spends most of time touring here while he only irregularly plays in Ny with its large Dominican population. The humorous way they make money is a general admission policy without any real starting time and then people for drinks until they are almost ready to leave when finally after midnight the band comes on with a crowd of people who have been there since dusk.

Around mid-day when jenny and ella went to a birthday party for one of ellas classmates I went out on my new moto and joined a gym on the way home while pulling into the gas station I was struck by a brand new audi going around 85 miles per hour, the car did not brake at all the occupants were young wealthy Americans not paying attention..

From this moment my life has been forever changed.

I had looked before I began turning and then a second or so later I saw a red blur drive into my leg and then I was on the ground and in an instant was clutching the pant leg of juan the cabinet maker from ny who had just the day before delivered my new desk. One of the concerns in the DR at an accident scene is that people will throw you in a pickup truck and drive you to the hospital to be helpful, ambulances are generally not plentiful. Juan called an ambulance. I quickly realized that I had my cell phone still in my pocket (gotta love the Velcro on the northface shorts) and I called my friend David, and then tried to call our neighbors mike and doreena. David arrived quickly blocked off traffic with his car and took over the scene from Juan.

Once I was stopped being scared about not having the right people around I began to become concerned about myself, I remember asking david whether the bone was protruding and once I learned it wasn’t I wiggled my toes to ease my fear that I was paralyzed. From here I remember someone putting one of my shoes under my head to comfort me and just the incredible heat in my legs. I asked someone to protect my legs from the sun but don’t remember responses from anyone.

When the ambulance arrived david’s son jon Antonio pushed through the crowd said “es me tio” “that’s my uncle” and pushed into the ambulance. I was on a guerney traveling fast to the hospital in Puerto plata with people in tow. One hitch was the gurney didn’t lock properly so every bump would cause it to move and cause me a shot of blinding pain and the ambulance guys in the DR do not give painkillers or have any medical training necessarily they can get people to the hospital. I think I arrived at the hospital around 5 pm on Saturday night. Straight to x-ray. After the pictures with some painful moving around from pushcart to pushcart they showed a picture of my femur separated from itself by what looked like 3/8”. Moments afterwords some people strapped me down and the doctors just starting yanking on my leg to align it somewhat. Without painkiller I think the noises which came out of me at this time were strictly primordial. The veneer of civilization had been ripped away.

continue...
 
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frank12

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Continue...

Soon I was in intensive care with an iv and a catheter and excruciating pain, the nurse promised morphine but later I realized they would not give me anything at all for the first day and half out of fear of the internal issues including concussions from the bumps on my head which had appeared in spite of a $300 helmet which victor had bought me and jenny reminded me to wear.

I was not the easiest patient the first night I could not believe I was sitting in intensive care just sitting without seeing a doctor without pain medication. I remember them stitching my head and my friend david demanding a plastic surgeon rather than the nurse who was rotely performing the task.

Sometime after they were tired of watching me writing in bed, they strapped me down to the bed and physically locked the straps in with master locks so that I could not move my body and hurt myself. To say that this was the hardest night of my life is to mention that Rwanda is a difficult place to live. When one is locked to a bed in excruciating pain minutes go by like hours, its like time passing underwater.

This first night was the nadir. Not a minute of sleep, unbearable pain, even the toothbrush jenny gave me to bite down on was taken away from me. When I asked for a nurse to give me something to bite down and they refused I asked for someone to just hold my hand. A large Dominican lady came over, who they called mami, implying that I needed my mommy. I didn’t care what they implied I wanted someone near me as way to divert the mind from the pain, no such luck, the nurse left within a minute and pulled the curtain so I could not see the nurse stand but only hear the cackling of Dominican nurse gossip. They talked about money and their kids, one even talked about trying to work in New York.

The second day and night were incrementally better we purchased blood (blood is your own responsibility in the DR). Generally speaking when someone gets sick the family goes with them and they all give blood to make sure they have good matches.

Also during the second day I got a visit from the plastic surgeon a nice Cuban doctor with a polite affect and an air of competence. He plasticed the stitch job the nurse had done and took care of my head and took my fear level done.

At the end of the second day I got some morphine in my drip a significant Improvement in my quality of life. However, this was not to last they did not want me to have much morphine during the operation scheduled for first thing the next morning. I met the orthopedic surgeon a tasteful Dominican with the body of a major league baseball player, a full length guanabarra and the air of class and wealth and breeding. Meeting the surgeon took my fear level down, having david there and jenny to look after my interests made it livable.

The next morning when jenny arrived we soon learned that we had only purchased one pint of blood and that they recommended two. Jenny had provided the hospital with a $1500 US deposit so that I could receive treatment (no tikki no payee except at public hospitals which are not recommended generally). The blood she had paid for was about $90, so now the search for another A+ pint ensued and my surgery hung in the balance. I was worried that the bone was setting wrong and time would make it worse . . . etc. Of course they found more blood, david talked to the doctor about having a US standard procedure with internal titanium rather than then the stainless steel they typically use. And they wheeled me into the operating room late afternoon on Monday. I was greeted by the aforementioned doctor sanchez and a colleague of his wearing large brown vinyl butcher vests. A man in Yankees hat introduced himself as the anestheologist.

After them asking me how many pints of blood were available we settled into positions. After a quick one shot epidural they flopped my bad leg on top of my good leg strapped me and turned on the bachata music. Yes they turned blaring bachata music and revved up the power tools. A few minutes after I responded negatively to the anesthegolist who asked me if I felt any pain in my legs the nurse knocked my catheter bag off the table and I screamed. Somehow I could not feel my legs but this I could still feel.

Right after they asked me if I was ready to begin, I grabbed the doctors hand with tears in my eyes and said “tu mejors” (your best). He responded affirmatively and I put my head down and let the cutting hammering grinding, and screwing begin. When I noticed the anesthetologist touch me without gloves I told him to put them on, when he came out of the bathroom and didn’t put on gloves I demanded it, I am not sure how loud my demands were but I know the doctor heard them and instructed the remaining nurse and anesthesiologist to put on gloves, with this I put my head down and the covered it with a sheet (not sure they wanted to hear any more from me).

The operation reminded of being in a sleeping car when I traveled in eastern Europe in college. You would be lying down but the train would continually lurch shifting you. I was strapped in, but the grinding hammering and sawing for the embedment of the titainium rod would push my whole strapped in body around the operating table. The hammering reverberated through my body through the building and it is a out of body feeling which I will never forget.

When the doctor came around and told me they were just finishing I saw blood flecked all over his body and across his face. These surgeons need to use precision and strength almost to the point of the professional athletes (for instance professional dancer or tennis player).

I am told the operation took approximately 4 ? hours. With the operation over I got wheeled past a bevy of friends which brought tears to my eyes (to be fair my has had some tearing my first four days completely but the emotional tear is different than the purely physical one, the emotional produces more of a rain then the mist of the physical tear which seemed to be omnipresent.

Monday night back in intensive care, still no food since Saturday morning but at least some painkillers. I have always feared prison, on a day by day basis I think I know fear it less than intensive care.

Tuesday the big transfer to my new home a private suit, with a remote control and cable. A couch and chairs for friends to sit at. Got cards from the kids at school, got cookies and brownies from teachers at school had several other friends come by. Starting eating again, learned how to use a bedpan. Watched the breadth of the republican national convention, more than once, including the analysis as CNN was one of the few English channels on. For the record sarah palin has an incredible dearth of experience but I think a fairly wise choice for mccain since he has needed to mobilize the traditional base of the republican party, not mobilize them to vote per se but to throw their money at him so he can compete in advertising in the battleground states. Mccain is losing the funding race and sarah pallin is the republic answer to this. What makes me said about the convention and the politics is that its too much like a homecoming bonfire rally. I did not learn anything about the republican platform as to policy. Don’t vote for the democrats they will raise your taxes and put you out of business. I actually support Ron Paul, and I of course will vote for Obama.

The cookies and brownies were a godsend because I had something to offer the nurses who were universally thankful and somewhat better disposed later on. Several of the nurses came to me looking for nurse jobs when I was to be removed from the hospital. Of course I told them I had someone already because I never want to see any of the nurses from that hospital again in my life. A few had bad temperaments almost all did not want to break routine in any way.

My time in the suite was where I tried to read or watch tv to make time pass to get away the discomfort and pain. The sponge baths when you cant move your leg are painful. They come in and scrub you like a car until your shivering and then you get mostly dried but I always seemed to have moisture and sweat sitting between my back and the vinyl hospital bed, festering.

Hospital bed looks like a high quality early eighties model. Just like the gyms down here which are opened with the latest equipment from a gym going out of business in Miami. Once they are opened they almost never get updated. The Puerto plata hospital was built in the 80s in partial response to the growing tourism in the area particularly the large playa dorado complex. One of the large families (likely Brugal) made a strategic investment. Brugal the rum company was recently purchased for some obscene amount of money by a European company.

Wednesday there was talk of me going home the next day, until the fever. Body getting used to all the new blood, I guess its sort of meet and great which heats up for awhile as the varying personalities resolve their differences. Some shot took the fever away as quickly as it came, the fever ebbed and flowed out.

Thursday more xrays and shots and blood testing, changing of bandages, CNN, CNN. CNN.

By the way they do a lot of repeat programming on cnn, apparently breaking stories can break repeatedly. They use the hurricane stories with the satellite and radar views as filler. Grist for the worldwide news mill.

Friday we are scheduled to go home. David has ordered an ambulance for the return trip. I am scared that they will drop me while carrying me up the stairs. Friday morning, jenny and Michael and david and cinzia arrive. David and jenny go to the deal with bill and cinzia takes the full list she got from the doctor to the pharmacy. At the hospital they give you a card that you have to show the nursing station that you are paid in full otherwise they do not leave the hospital.

Medics arrive we are ready to go jenny has her fully paid card ready. We got stopped at the nursing station I have hospital sheet under and over me and has not been authorized to be removed from the premises. Problem is I am naked otherwise. David who has dealt with all of the problems and people explains to them the medics will take responsibility for bringing the sheets back. We offer to pay, the sheets are not for sale, we get a manager, there is an initial refusal I have the energy and ability I would taken the sheets off and thrown them at the rule Nazis but alas I can only lay feebly and tear.

David convinces the manager explains to them all of the money we have spent and personally guarantees the safe return of the sheets as this is being considered he waves out the corridor to the elevator.

The sun is brighter and hotter than I remembered possible. When you don’t see sunlight for near a week, its intensity is flabbergasting.

Trip home was good, trip upstairs was ok, only because of david who figured out a way to get the gurney into the back room as it was having trouble making the turn, once again I would be lost without him.
 

frank12

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Continued...

Since I have been home Michael loaded up my computer jenny has been doing everything cinzia and doreena do my shots, jenny and cinzia change my bandages, I get to see my beautiful daughter ella.

Saturday the physical therapist came. We continued our routine from the hospital and this time we added the bend the knee bit. We moved my body so legs dangled off the bed and therapist moved my bad leg. No sharp pain but a heavy dull pain which increased with each bend and at the end I was dizzy with pain. My leg throbbed and twitched for two hours afterwords. Late into the evening I got weird muscle / nerve twitching all over the body.

Saturday night I turned the corner, the pain went down I was able to get more than a hour of sleep at one sitting the first time since the accident. The body is returning to its normal functions.

Sunday high spirits, lots of well-wishers, feeling good, repeating the physical therapy on our own the giant foreboding pain a fraction of Saturdays variety. Jen says Im back my sense of humor is here and I feel human.

Today is Monday morning and I got six hours of sleep last night. Amazing, jenny just brought ella to school. She will come back soon and then after cinzia comes to give me my shot they will go and rent me a walker, and something which is going to allow me to use the bathroom by myself.

I will have visitors today including the local police so I can fill out a deposition to get reimbursed by the people who hit me. Apparently here as it is at home when people hit you from behind they are responsible. Here the system is still less convoluted if they don’t pay the police will take their cars. Generally people who have the ability pay for the out of pocket costs only.

I am looking forward to Being able to get out of bed and go look at the ocean from the front room, being able to sit in a chair . . I have great things in my future, great things.

My friend david says that I will probably live forever. I have had my near death experience. Mack the former EMT guy from Miami who now teaches at the ISS school with jenny said he visited on Tuesday that my recovery is remarkable most never make away from accident like this one.

My new bike was found in four pieces some large pieces several hundred feet away. The helmet was never found but it did its job in spades. I am told my leg and bike physically crushed the front of the brand new audi.


I have been told the following things saved my life,
1. the size of the muscles in my leg (a less muscular leg would have allowed a compound fracture and caused me to bleed to death.
2. the helmet!!


my friends here, david and cinzia and mike and doreena, Andres and elana and those from school have a special place in my heart. Jenny has been the wife and care-provider which has made it possible for me to get through and already of course occupies that special place.

I don’t have internet in the room that I am in (they couldn’t get me to the fourth floor). I do have a local cell phone which jenny uses to keep in touch, in the next day or so when I can move around I will be able to get into the front room with the skype and make some calls, if you have a skype camera setup you will even be able to see my gruesome face when I call.

The $300 helmet split and broke upon impact, but performed its assigned job perfectly!

The End
 
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cobraboy

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He owes his life to that helmet. He's not the only one. I've known many who have been saved by riding gear...and especially a helmet.

This year we had a guy who missed that nasty downhill reverse camber right hairpin turn just up from Rancho La Cumbre on the road coming from Jimao. He crashed not going fast, and came out with bruised pride as his main injury. But look at his helmet:

IMG_0903Small_zps9f732b82.jpg


That would have been his face. It would have scraped along the ground.

Wear a helmet.

BTW: how is that guy doing a year later? How's the leg?
 

dv8

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am i an evil person? because i laughed out loud. dominican hospital stories are always hilarious. i don't know, however, if it was intentional in this case...

more on the subject: from my experience i can tell you that helmets are a nuisance. i hit a helmet once and i had to repaint my bumper. fyi, the helmet was not attached to anyone's head. i general, i would not recommend hitting a helmet with the head inside. or the head without helmet, come to think of it.

best wishes to bart. his story was a good one. i was operated only once here and it went down well, apart from the fact that my surgeon took upon himself to show me my dysfunctional internal organ after yanking it out from my guts. maybe he was proud of the fruit of his labour, because he also placed it in a neat kidney shaped dish and went outside to show it to miesposo.
 

arrugala

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The road in the DR is the most dangerous place to be at .Its the highest risk for driving tourists especially , as this passing on the wrong side of the road is common .THX for the article and i hope he is presently in good shape agin !!
 

Criss Colon

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I have a "FOOL" proof idea that's 100% better than using a helmet here in the DR!
Don't ride a motorcycle!
Every person driving a, car,truck,van, or other "Bike, in the DR is a TOTAL IDIOT!
In the USA, I learned the "Look Left, Look Right, then Look Left Again, BEFORE you make a left turn,"Mantra in "Drivers ED"!
I told other "Gringos" it's Different here!
You must always, ALSO, look in front, look behind, and THEN, Look UP, Then Down!
I want a "BIKE" here, so bad I can taste it!
But I will never own one.
I also told my wife, that the day I see one of our kids on a bike, Is the day I leave her for Boston.
The risk is just TOO Great!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 
Ya that is what I have been told over and over again! I also see a high number of people missing arms and legs. I don't know if that is from motorcycles, machetes or both but I like my legs and arms!
So i guess i will just stick to driving motorcycles in Canada when i go back and visit?!
 

ctrob

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Nov 9, 2006
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I made that EXACT type left turn once (only not at Ocean Village). But luckily I had a chica on the back who knew to look behind us for passing vehicles. She swiftly smacked me upside the head and yelled Stop. And a truck roared past. She probably saved our lifes.

(and we weren't wearing helmets)
 

cobraboy

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I have a "FOOL" proof idea that's 100% better than using a helmet here in the DR!
Don't ride a motorcycle!
Every person driving a, car,truck,van, or other "Bike, in the DR is a TOTAL IDIOT!
In the USA, I learned the "Look Left, Look Right, then Look Left Again, BEFORE you make a left turn,"Mantra in "Drivers ED"!
I told other "Gringos" it's Different here!
You must always, ALSO, look in front, look behind, and THEN, Look UP, Then Down!
I want a "BIKE" here, so bad I can taste it!
But I will never own one.
I also told my wife, that the day I see one of our kids on a bike, Is the day I leave her for Boston.
The risk is just TOO Great!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
I can tell you as a rider that I feel MUCH safer riding here in the DR than I ever did in the states.

However, I'd never ride in an urban area if I can help it, and never after dark unless there is no alternative.

Riding a motorcycle is all about skill and risk mitigation, and the FIRST rule of skill is knowing how to mitigate risk.
 

frank12

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Sep 6, 2011
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He owes his life to that helmet. He's not the only one. I've known many who have been saved by riding gear...and especially a helmet.

This year we had a guy who missed that nasty downhill reverse camber right hairpin turn just up from Rancho La Cumbre on the road coming from Jimao. He crashed not going fast, and came out with bruised pride as his main injury. But look at his helmet:

IMG_0903Small_zps9f732b82.jpg


That would have been his face. It would have scraped along the ground.

Wear a helmet.

BTW: how is that guy doing a year later? How's the leg?

Bart is doing good. It took a while before he could walk again, but if i remember correctly, he was back playing rugby a couple of years later. He has a place here and comes back every year with his family. He's a really strong guy---built low to the ground and really, really strong--rugby player type strong. He's a also a lawyer and very good one at that. I haven't seen him this year, but i hope to, and then i can better update his story.

I do remember, however, him telling me that he went to court twice over the accident in order to get compensated for his medical bills. The Audi insurance lost two times in a row, but three years later, he still hadn't been paid!!

Only in the DR!

Frank
 

dv8

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not to be grim here but the payment is faster when the moto driver kinda, you know, does not make it.

as far as what CB said: i can only speak as a driver, car driver, that is. i know that i look at the street differently. i had visitors here, long time drivers form europe and they did not see motos i was aware of and got spooked all the time. i think maybe drivers here learn how to drive with the constant presence of motos. i know i did.

still, many deaths happen. i saw once a dude that just has a moto accident. first his shoe, then nothing for several meters and then the guy. no legs even bent the way his legs did... he was dead. you could tell by the way he was lying on the street and a part of his head was a bit further away on the sidewalk. i'm not saying he'd live if he had a helmet. he could have broken his back, i don't know. but if he had a helmet his brain would stay inside the head and would not have to be shoved back in with a spoon.
 

frank12

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The only thing I wonder why the truck was stopped behind the bike. There was not enough room to maneuver around the bike???

That's an excellent question. I will ask Bart this next time i see him. Now you got me wondering...is it possible that the truck wasn't quite stopped yet, but only slowing down a bit, and perhaps it was this slow pace of the truck that made the Audi want to pass him as quickly as possible on the left? Of course, Bart was obscured from the Audi's view until it was too late.

Frank
 

frank12

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not to be grim here but the payment is faster when the moto driver kinda, you know, does not make it.

as far as what CB said: i can only speak as a driver, car driver, that is. i know that i look at the street differently. i had visitors here, long time drivers form europe and they did not see motos i was aware of and got spooked all the time. i think maybe drivers here learn how to drive with the constant presence of motos. i know i did.

still, many deaths happen. i saw once a dude that just has a moto accident. first his shoe, then nothing for several meters and then the guy. no legs even bent the way his legs did... he was dead. you could tell by the way he was lying on the street and a part of his head was a bit further away on the sidewalk. i'm not saying he'd live if he had a helmet. he could have broken his back, i don't know. but if he had a helmet his brain would stay inside the head and would not have to be shoved back in with a spoon.


HAHA...yeah, maybe if he was wearing his helmet, they could have re-attached his head to his body, and who knows...maybe he would be walking around today like a zombie?

Frank
 

cobraboy

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as far as what CB said: i can only speak as a driver, car driver, that is. i know that i look at the street differently. i had visitors here, long time drivers form europe and they did not see motos i was aware of and got spooked all the time. i think maybe drivers here learn how to drive with the constant presence of motos. i know i did.
The #1 "thing" for motorcycle safety is being seen.

In the states most don't see motorcycles because there are comparatively so few. We have no soccer moms driving minivans texting, tossing burgers at the kids and applying make-up, all at the same time.

Might be the same for many parts of Europe. I know Italians I know tell me they are visible there, but there are many scooters and motorcycles in Italy. Maybe other parts, too.

But in the DR you ARE seen...this is a motorcycle culture. Folks grow up with motos buzzing all around.

Some drivers don't care but you are seen.

I had a meeting some time ago with an insurance mucky muck and we talked about motorcycle safety and stats. Interesting too note that 2 major data point encompass well over 65% of all moto accidents: they happen at night, and alcohol is involved.

And a helmet is no guarantee of surviving, but the stats are stacked in your favor, i.e. a risk is mitigated.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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HAHA...yeah, maybe if he was wearing his helmet, they could have re-attached his head to his body, and who knows...maybe he would be walking around today like a zombie?
Frank

if he had his helmet on they could have had an open casket to keep everyone happy. you should know how crucial that is in DR! :)
 
May 5, 2007
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I don't quite understand this part:

The helmet was never found but it did its job in spades.

The $300 helmet split and broke upon impact, but performed its assigned job perfectly!
 

frank12

Gold
Sep 6, 2011
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I don't quite understand this part:

The helmet was never found but it did its job in spades.

The $300 helmet split and broke upon impact, but performed its assigned job perfectly!

Haha...yeah, that is a little deceiving What he meant by that is this: after he landed--after being projected up and over the car--and landing on the ground--the helmet absorbed the impact to his head--expensive helmets are meant to break/give in to a certain extent to absorb the impact better. After his helmet was taken off him--while he lay on the ground--someone either ran off with it, or threw it aside, never to be seen again. More then likely, someone took it home with them. So, although the helmet was never seen again, it did its job and performed exactly the way expensive helmets are meant to perform.

Let's face it, he wouldn't have survived the accident without the helmet. That's why the helmet got cracked open...it could have just as easily been his head that was split open on the ground.

Frank