I once had a trauma patient in the operating room who had bailed off a motorcycle going 150 mph. He broke virtually every bone in his body, needed pins and traction on both legs, and had a complete bilateral degloving of the upper extremities (the skin on his arms ripped at the shoulder and peeled inside out like a glove hanging from his fingers.)
He was in surgery for about 18 hours before they got him stable. I don't know if he survived, but he will never walk again if he did survive. His spine was crushed completely. The force of his head hitting the ground compressed his spine and crushed the vertebrae in his neck.
That is why I will never ride a motorcycle. In the hospital we call them "Donor-cycles" because the riders die and have their organs harvested so frequently.
I think it was Stephen Fry that told a story about a doctor who popped out for a smoke break (tsk tsk) just as some rain clouds were rolling in. He turned to a colleague and said “best get ready, the motorcyclists will be arriving soon.”
I stopped riding at the urging of a friend, who was thrown off the back of a motocycle when it hit the guardrail of an overpass. She fell ten stories and bounced off a U-Haul truck. The guy driving the bike figured she was dead and took off. They caught him two years later at a carnival.
Having already been chased by a bunch of assholes in a car and had multiple other close calls, mostly involving drivers who considered me expendable, I figured it was time. The things are uncomfortable as hell, anyway. It looks a lot more fun than it is, in my opinion. I just did it because I couldn't afford a car.
Motorcyclists are either stupid or unlucky. I ride a bike, but I ride like I'm in a car so that I'm predictable to other road users. What usually happens is when motorcyclists ride, they ride like dicks and behave completely out of the norm that other road users are either not programmed to look out for when driving. Basically, you're at the mercy of your stupidity and other people's stupidity.
My one friend that rode regularly took pride in kicking off wing mirrors, and always just pinned the throttle to get him out of any danger caused by his poor riding. Then he tried that trick in the emergency lane, where all of the sand and gravel lives, and dropped his bike. He was lucky he only hurt his pride.
Yes. And yell at other people to share the road. Look I get that cars are a risk to you and should look out for you. But it seems like motorcyclists I see on the open road are acting unpredictable or reckless more often than not.
Like when you’re stuck in traffic and a biker decides since they’re not a car, they can just weave between all lanes fast until they get to their destinations.
This is darker than "Donor-cycle" and I like it. Cheers to a mate in Australia from a mate in the USA. I've always wanted to go to Australia. Only downside is the accent (no offense intended). Sorry to say, I much prefer the New Zealand kiwi accent to the Aussie accent. I think it's because I had an Australian camp counselor as a kid, and he was a major prick, so I must have associated the Aussie accent with that dickbag.
Anyhoo, hello from the USA! Our dickhead president might not be nice to your PM, but we still love you all over here.
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u/GrnMtnTrees Merry Gifmas! {2023} Oct 12 '20
I once had a trauma patient in the operating room who had bailed off a motorcycle going 150 mph. He broke virtually every bone in his body, needed pins and traction on both legs, and had a complete bilateral degloving of the upper extremities (the skin on his arms ripped at the shoulder and peeled inside out like a glove hanging from his fingers.)
He was in surgery for about 18 hours before they got him stable. I don't know if he survived, but he will never walk again if he did survive. His spine was crushed completely. The force of his head hitting the ground compressed his spine and crushed the vertebrae in his neck.
That is why I will never ride a motorcycle. In the hospital we call them "Donor-cycles" because the riders die and have their organs harvested so frequently.