Three days later, when I was released, I was confined to a wheelchair and, for the next three months, faced the challenges of learning to walk with crutches, navigating my way around the house on a wheelchair, avoiding stairs and taking a shower with someone else’s assistance. For the first few weeks, I couldn’t do much by myself and was unable to get involved in anything for more than 15 minutes without having to lie down and elevate my leg and rest.
I’ve been told that, because I blacked out at the accident, I likely sustained a concussion and needed to do things that were “unchallenging” to my brain. Some would argue that I’ve been doing that my whole life, but for the first few weeks after the accident, I couldn’t read for more than 15-20 minutes at a stretch, couldn’t spend any significant time on the computer, and writing became a hundred times harder than it used to be.
All this because an empty-headed young female driver was too distracted to notice a motorcyclist. She swears she didn’t see me. I’m pretty sick of hearing this pathetic excuse. She saw me, clear enough, but decided that, somehow, it would be OK to cut me off, that nothing would happen if she completely ignored me. How could you not see a bright purple and chrome, 400-kilogram motorcycle with three driving lights?
After the dust settled, the driver received a $125 ticket for “failure to yield to oncoming traffic” and was sent on her way. And just so motorcyclists know where they stand in this country, the attending constable admitted that he was reluctant to give her a ticket because she was so “distraught.”
I underwent months of pain, suffering and physiotherapy and now have a permanent limp, recurring vertigo and chronic headaches. Because of the ensuing lawsuit, I haven’t been able to talk about the accident until now.
But I’m one of the lucky ones. Many riders involved in this kind of mishap don’t live to tell the tale and, all things considered, I dodged a bullet. I also made a conscious decision during rehab to not be a victim and to get back to normal as soon as possible.
Nonetheless, I want to say, in the loudest voice and largest typeface possible: A MOTORCYCLIST IS NOT JUST AN IMAGE! That’s a real person out there, with as much right to be on the road as someone behind the wheel of an automobile. For all you motorists: motorcyclists deserve as much respect as you do, and we are vulnerable to your stupidity and carelessness.
How many more of us have to be struck down, lying on the road, like road kill, before drivers get the message? How many more motorcyclists have to die or be seriously injured before people start paying attention?
globedrive@globeandmail.com
