I Finally See The Crash Report
This sketch of the crash was in the LPD report. That red car you see three times represents the guy who hit me and his trajectory.
Who knew it takes months before the police report of a crash is available to be seen? Following the incident on June 29 when I was hit head-on by a drunk driver while on my old Honda CB750 I quickly filed to receive notice when the report became available. I received that notification today, four months later.
My primary interest in seeing the report was because I have almost no recollection of the event and I wanted some detail. Now, after all this time, I really only got two details that I didn’t already have. I was unsure as to where the guy was coming from. Was he heading east on Belleview and just drifted over into the oncoming lane (where I was) or had he just gotten off Santa Fe and was turning east onto Belleview and turned a bit too sharply? It turns out he was heading east on Belleview. Also, the police estimate he was going 35 mph.
The DA had told me he moved into my lane because he thought, in his drunkenness, that it was a lane open to him. To hit me he had to first take out a sign telling him to stay to the right and then his right wheels had to bounce over a concrete median that rises about 18 inches above the road. That impediment was probably responsible for slowing him down enough that his impact with me was considerably lessened from what it might have been if he had struck me unimpeded. Thank you very much median.
What I had hoped the report would tell me, but didn’t, was what happened to me. Did I go flying off the bike? How far? How did I hit the ground? What was my state immediately after? Was I unconscious? Was I alert? Did I immediately sit up and try to get up?
None of that information is included in the report. Dang. I wonder if the ambulance crew filed a report that might have that sort of information. I do know there was a witness who told the police what he or she saw. That’s the person I’d really like to talk to. And if there had been a trial I’m sure that witness would have been called. But there was no trial, just a plea bargain.
I’ll probably never get answers. Oh well. At this point I’m just focused on the future. One week from today it will be 12 weeks since surgery and presumably I’ll get my life back and be able to drive and to ride my one remaining motorcycle. That meeting with the neurosurgeon will be in the morning and unless the weather is terrible I’m going to be out riding that afternoon. Yahoo!
Biker Quote for Today
You might be a Yuppie biker if you think fringe is a mandatory accessory on your leathers.
