Glass Powder, Fog Lines and an epic high side

[Irish John]

Well I guess it was bound to happen after 47 years of riding...so I'll add my self confession.

Hello my name is Steve and I had an accident on my motorcycle. 4 November 2012, I was out for a little scoot in afternoon. Decided to head back to town via the old highway which has a couple curves in road (not a common thing here in Kansas). Turning off of the new highway onto the old, I high sided at about 30 mph. Seems KDOT had just painted the fog lines, in doing so they put down glass powder while the paint is wet to make the lines reflective. Unfortunately these fine State employee's did not clean up after themselves and left a rather large amount of the glass powder on the road surface. Last thing I remember was feeling the back end start to swap places with the front.

According the sheriff's accident report, two different witnesses called the accident in at 1:58pm. The first deputy arrived on scene at 2:14pm. I don't remember anything from feeling the initial slide to next talking to a deputy and paramedic. On scene was a fire truck, EMS paramedics and 3 Douglas County Sheriff deputies. I really don't remember much of the conversation. I do know they said "Your bike looks ok so go ahead and ride it home."

I remember that my ankle hurt, I felt like I had stingers to both lower arms and my left wrist was sore. Rode home, put the bike away and went in the house to clean up. Noticed in the bathroom mirror that my right pupil (apparently landed on the right side) was about the size of a quarter. My left pupil on the other hand was about the size of a pencil eraser. "Hmmm, I don't think that's right."

Called my daughter who is a trauma nurse in Iowa and asked her what that meant, "Dad, you need to go to the hospital ASAP. Oh, by the way how did you get home?", she said. "I rode." I won't repeat what she said.

Needless to say, I went to the ER. Several hours later, I was released. Sum total of injuries, a concussion, broken left wrist, broken left heel and big toe, sprained right wrist, and broke both elbows. Apparently I had been knocked unconscious for at least 20 minutes.

As always, I had all my AGATT gear on, the helmet, gloves, boots, riding jacket did their job. Should be back in shape by March to ride again, despite "concerns" of my daughter and the rest of the family.

Cheers and watch those fog lines!.

[PostIt]

Glad you are safe! Cannot believe you rode home with those injuries. A knock on the head can really eff with you..

[sparkymcgee]

I hate to be that guy, but talk to an attorney. It sounds like some people made some mistakes that either lead to your accident or exacerbated your injuries. It sounds negligent to let someone ride home in your condition. Although you may have insisted and don't remember. Either way, cover your bases and at least talk to someone. You don't want to have medical bills down the road due to someone else's actions or lack thereof.

Glad to hear you're relatively OK and I hope to be riding as long as you have.

[hardwaregrrl]

Holy shite!!! I hope to god you plan on ripping the EMS and Fire dept a new one....that is a big no no to allow you to walk away from a possible concusion. Bad training or lazy??? I dunno but they need to be informed. I'm glad your daughter got you to the ER!!! Take care of yourself!

[Irish John]

Your advice is exactly the same as my daughter and son in law, who is a cop. SOP in any accident like that is transport the person. Can't say I was thinking to clearly. Actually I spoke to my an attorney, who told me to file a complaint to get a record of the event and follow started. However, he also advised me that as both KDOT and the EMS/Sheriff departments are state govt. agencies, 90+% chance the case would get thrown out because it is extremely difficult to sue the State.

Still pursuing this as in trying to find out if the painting had been done by a contractor rather than KDOT, no data yet on that one. My attorney is looking at other possible steps. I will say that 5 days after the event, I had a friend drive me out to the scene and you could still see where the rear tires skidded in all the excess glass powder.

[Chuffa]

You've got to pursue this.

No way should you have been allowed to ride home - even if you told them you could (in a state of delirium). Those cops & paramedics need some basic training, you were not only in danger yourself but possibly a danger to others on the road as well.

I'm glad you made it through with a story to tell. That could have ended far worse.

[Irish John]

Too right Chuffa!! So sorry about the fires in Oz. Spent some time there while in the Army. Sending good thoughts your way.

[doxiedog]

I almost droped a bike,at a fresh crosswalk.
Foot zipped out,on those glass beads!

[GlennR]

Glad you're still around to tell the story.

Good luck trying to sue the government...They pay the judges "over the table".

[O.C.F.RIDER]

Originally Posted by bunghole

I hate to be that guy, but talk to an attorney. It sounds like some people made some mistakes that either lead to your accident or exacerbated your injuries. It sounds negligent to let someone ride home in your condition. Although you may have insisted and don't remember. Either way, cover your bases and at least talk to someone. You don't want to have medical bills down the road due to someone else's actions or lack thereof.

Glad to hear you're relatively OK and I hope to be riding as long as you have.

Ah yes, the good 'ol American way, SUE SOMEBODY!
Shit, I mean, after all, it's ALWAYS someone else's fault! Right?
There must ALWAYS be someone to point the finger at.
I should talk to an attorney about my broken wrist. Maybe he can sue...........
KTM......... because they made the bike, which allowed me to buy it, which allowed me to crash it.
Enduro Engineering..........they made the bark-busters that my wrist got tangled up in. They must be held accountable for making such an obviously dangerous product. I'm sure I'm not the first person this has happened to...............................CLASS ACTION SUIT against Enduro Engineering!!!
State of NJ....... because they didn't put armed guards at every possible entryway into the woods, which gave me the opportunity to gain access to said woods, which then gave me the chance to crash.
Bridgestone......... well, they made the tires so they must be held accountable.
The entire Judicial system...............for not having incarcerated me years ago for prior bad acts against Mother Earth.

I crashed a beautiful '74 Ducati 750 Sport that I only had for 2 weeks, many years ago, on sand that the State Road Dept. put down on a Safety Kleen spill on a (are you ready) CIRCLE on the old Rt.23 here in NJ!!!!!!!! Could I have tried to sue "the state"(which we all know is just sueing our fellow residents of our state, since the state has no money of it's own), sure I could.
Did I? Nope. Even at the ripe old age of 18, I knew there were things that I could have done differently for a different outcome. I was just happy I didn't get run over! Believe it or not, 2 weeks later I got the bike back together, and going home from the shop I was rounding a blind turn on a 2 lane road and to my surprise there's a fucking DUMP TRUCK coming at me in my lane. Flip the bike from full lean right to full lean left to escape into the dirt on the other side, get into the dirt and promptly crash the poor thing AGAIN. At least the guy in the truck got out to see if he could help, I said, "I'm fine, just leave me alone". If I was a good American, I would have gotten the name of the company, plate number, drivers name, and sued everybody including the town for allowing a road to have such an inherently dangerous turn.


Chris "Sue 'em all" W.

[acejones]

Let me guess; you drove yourself to the ER. Right ?

[FixxiT]

Originally Posted by Irish John

Seems KDOT had just painted the fog lines, in doing so they put down glass powder while the paint is wet to make the lines reflective. Unfortunately these fine State employee's did not clean up after themselves

Dood..I DO linestriping, its not "glass powder" that gets applied over the paint, its Reflective Glass Spheres, 80% rounds.
Spheres so each is, in effect, a "mini reflector" that reflects the light back.



The stuff is worse than slime on ice.
If you ever spill it on smooth concrete you cant even walk on it..seriously! Billions of mini-marbles they are

Ironically they're referred to as "Highway Safety Spheres"



My group is routinely cautioned about over application & spillage of glass spheres & liability for accidents and slip & falls. (I dont work for the State )
The application equipment, if working properly, is designed to either drop it or blow it into paint or thermo as its applied.
Your supposed to remove any overapplication from the roadway surface

If PD documented that line striping activity was a factor in your getoff, you should have no problem enlisting an attorney to take civil action against the state, should you so desire.

[O.C.F.RIDER]

Originally Posted by acejones

Let me guess; you drove yourself to the ER. Right ?

Which time?
But,for the last crash where I broke my wrist, I hiked about a mile & a half out of the woods where my buddy met me with my van, I drove home and got out of my riding gear and took a quick shower ( I never smell too good after riding) and then drove myself to the local Hospital.
So yes, yes I did. It didn't really hurt all that bad, just bad enough that I knew it was broken.

Chris

[tundra61]

Originally Posted by O.C.F.RIDER

Which time?
But,for the last crash where I broke my wrist, I hiked about a mile & a half out of the woods where my buddy met me with my van, I drove home and got out of my riding gear and took a quick shower ( I never smell too good after riding) and then drove myself to the local Hospital.
So yes, yes I did. It didn't really hurt all that bad, just bad enough that I knew it was broken.

Chris

Broken wrist can't be mistaken - stiff throbbing feeling immediately - at least in my experience!

[Josephvman]

That's crazy! Six broken bones and a serious concussion, and EMS missed it all and told you to ride home?