Bike riders be careful...

[Mamushka]

I know all you bike riders know to be careful all ready, but a reminder never hurts.

A lady pulled out in front of my nephew last night. He is in Tampa General ICU now with a Grade V ruptured spleen (most severe level), broken arm that needs screws/plates and a messed up knee (not sure how bad, waiting for MRI). Looks like he is stable now but will be in for at least a week due to the spleen. He was initially awake at the scene but arrived at the hospital unconscious needing blood. He was wearing a helmet and has no head injury.

They don't immediately pull out your spleen like they did a few years ago. His is in real bad shape but they are trying to save it, good chance it will need to be removed still. Going to be tough walking for some time as he will not be able to use crutches with a broken arm.

He's obviously beat up pretty good but in many ways extremely lucky. He could be missing limbs, have brain damage or my sister could have easily been planning a funeral on Mothers day.

Once again, be careful out there, I used to ride so I am aware of bikers, many people are not.

[0geist0]

My Prayers are with you

[Mamushka]

My Prayers are with you

Thanks, looks like he is out of the woods. I guess I better give it a couple of weeks before I call him "Crash". Don't want my sister to kick my ass 

[PinPup]

Glad to hear he is on the mend, very good news. 

[VanManDan]

Hope he does ok, I ride every day and have seen my share of close calls.

[PunkicCyborg]

I love motorcycles but I stopped riding after I started a family of my own. I'd love to start again one day maybe if I lived outside of the city.
I hope your nephew is able to recover and live a normal life again 

[RussG]

It's nice to hear he's doing better.
Will say prayers for him.
Reason why I don't ride.

[k7]

family best wishes/prayers for him.

city riding is the worst. there's a lot more danger at 30 around town than at 130+ on the highway, sadly.

[TheBatman]

I hope he recovers quickly and healthy.  Florida drivers are some of the worst I've ever seen, doesn't matter if you're in a car on a motorcycle on a bike or walking, I've seen drivers that are either totally stupid or just downright negligible.  I had a lady pull out in front of me last week without even looking as I was driving down a busy road, fortunately I saw her heading toward the road from the parking lot and almost expected for her to not even stop, and she didn't let me down.  She didn't even bother to look for oncoming traffic either (me, who obviously had the right of way) or even slow down before barreling into the roadway, so it's no wonder there's so many accidents. Had I not anticipated it, it would have been a nasty wreck, mostly for her, and even more amazingly I think she was totally oblivious to how close she just was to dieing as she drove off oblivious.  I've learned to be a defensive driver, and expect people to do the unexpected, and they usually do.    Also why I quit riding motorcycles years ago when someone almost plowed into me and my dad while out riding.  I've also become extremely careful when just walking down the sidewalk or side of the street, and usually just opt to be safe and stay home and jog or walk on the treadmill instead of of worrying about who's driving drunk or careless.

[beepnutz]

I don't think it's the drunks you have to worry about, it's all the _ people texting. 4-5 times more likely to cause an accident than drunks, I read somewhere recently.
Best wishes with recovery.

[Mr. Fuzzy]

I gave up my bike for family reasons, but I will never forget the words my dad told me the day I got my motorcycle.

"Son, every single driving person is a Homicidal Maniac with the sole purpose of running you over and killing you...now ride like it."

I was fortunate, because even people who take all the safety precautions, and truly do know how to ride safely (Bruce Rossmeyer...R.I.P.) still get killed on the bikes.

I love to ride, but other people make it dangerous. In a world of all bikes, there would be MUCH fewer fatalities. However we live in America, and the car still reigns supreme. The motorcycle is an awesome way to get around, but you are not protected, so it's a heavy gamble.

My prayers with your family, I hope your nephew recovers completely.
-Dan

[Mamushka]

Thanks for all the well wishes/prayers. He is still in ICU. Needed to be transfused again when they put the plate in his arm on Monday and was still losing blood somewhere. They were going to take his spleen today but it looks like his blood count stabilized this morning so they are holding off. Knee has a bunch of stretched/torn stuff but the tears are minor so they hope it will recover without surgery.

[bit_slicer]

Sorry to hear about this.  We're keeping him in our thoughts and prayers.  Hope he has a speedy recovery.

[Mamushka]

Sorry to hear about this.  We're keeping him in our thoughts and prayers.  Hope he has a speedy recovery.

He is doing better but little chance of a speedy recovery. Dr indicated that it it was going to be 6 - 18 months before he could return to work. He is in physical therapy now and is sleeping 12 - 16 hours a day as his body is healing. They also predict he will lose around 50 pounds over the next 6 months, good news is he can afford to lose it

[Mamushka]

Well I just got back from the hospital and had to tell my kids that their Uncle Larry was dead. He was in a motorcycle accident about a month ago, broken ribs, broken leg, dislocated ankle. Was healing fine but still had a couple of surgerys to go. The best guess is he threw a blood clot from his injures that went to his lungs, he died in front of his wife (my sister) even though paramedics arrived quickly.

He was the father of my nephew who I originally started this post about.

Motorcycles suck. If you are on the fence about getting one, or getting rid of one, I figure this is a little more info that might help you make your decision.