Dean's Story
I wrote this 8 months ago ago with my local TSN group, I will update, but until then, I’ll leave my story exactly as written, here goes:
My Story
by Dean on Jul 11, 2010, 11:45AM
My wife and I were involved in a horrendous motorcycle accident on March 8th, 2009.. An older woman failed to negotiate an S turn on Tufton Rd in Baltimore County and had blacked out, came to and then hit her gas, all in a nanosecond and an unfortunate perfect storm of events. Five riders, with myself as the lead and my wife bike #2 were heading in the oncoming direction on a beautiful clear March day at 11:30 AM. We were on our way for a leisurly 2w hour backroads ride to Codorus State Park for a picnic lunch. All of us very experienced group riders on cruisers. I practiced and preached safety on a daily basis. I held accident avoidance clinics on a regular basis. I personally rode 17,000 miles a year and am very familiar with all the uh oh situations, and crazy drivers on cell phones or not paying attention that are out there on a daily basis. In a nanosecond she crossed the double yellow line never even attempted to follow the curve and took out the first three riders at full speed, never touching her brakes. Bike #2 was my wife, who sustained a broken pelvis, tailbone and broken shoulder, she tried to get up to come over to me and fell back down because of her injuries..bike #3 , a good friend also went down and shattered her tibia and numerous other bones in her leg, she was to start her first day as a nurse that Monday. I took full impact as I did everything I could to avoid direct center impact…she still got me, every air bag went off in her car, which was totalled (an 09 Toyota Corrola)along with her tire and axle coming off from hitting me on my HD Road King. Shock Trauma for 3 1/2 weeks…broken femur, now with a rod, broken arm, with screws and pins, crushed left foot, now gone with half my leg and major trauma all on my left side, which has mostly healed. I was Flown in, and had 8 surgeries to try to save my foot over a 5 week period. Then a left leg below the knee amputation. My saving grace was a split second earlier of later and it would have cost me or my wife our lives. I am very glad I took the major impact(I don’t think I would have been able to deal with my wife losing a leg), and I remember everything except when I flew 60 feet into a poll before dropping to the ground. The last 2 bikes didn’t get hit but have been greatly affected by the carnage they witnessed. One of my friends just knew I was dead, and stayed where his bike stopped and crying as the area filled with sirens, paramedics and medivacs. I do remember my exact thought process as they struggled to keep me alive…and that was " was my family going to be OK, as we have 3 boys", “did I do everything right throughtout my life of 52 years to give them the tools and strength to go on, once I realized that I did and as sad as it would be to lose their father, I knew that they’de be OK”..then and only then did I start fighting for my life…as the medivacs told me to close my eyes while being put in the helicopter from all the dirt swirling from the blades.I’ll fill in my healing details later. Eight months later I got back on a bike as soon as I got my prosthetic and was healed enough to safely ride . First thing I did was ride by the accident site and kept on going. I look forward to riding again on a regular basis. The woman who hit us was found guilty for Reckless Driving, negligent driving and crossing the double yellow line…received 6 points , a $500 fine and is back on the road after the Medical Advisory Board from the MVA deemed her a safe driver. She never even showed to court as her lawyer was able to represent her per Maryland law, and never showed one bit of remorse. The witness who was driving behind her testified in court that for the mile and a half before she hit us, she had crossed the double yellow line over 2 dozen times. He was a drug and alcohol counselor and pulled up close to her to see if she was drinking or on a cell phone, of which she was not on both counts, which makes it even scarier. He knew she was going to cause an accident or run off the road. He was about to call 911 to report this car…this all happened within 2 minutes, and then he saw 2 “S” turns approaching, she ran partly off the road on the first curve, and then the witness saw the 5 bikers about to enter the 2nd turn (first turn for us) and he knew what was about to unfold, he screamed out loud "nooo…) as her saw the old lady take us out like bowling pins. Not once did she hit her brake, no skid marks, it seems she fixated on me when she came to and even hit the gas. The witness saw me turn hard right to get away from her, but even with all my miles of riding and practice in accident avoidance, there was nothing else I could have done Many of my riding friends have stopped riding, they all knew how safe and smart I was “on the road”…and figured if this can happen to Dean then it can happen to us.
I hope to regain the motivation and zest for life that was exploded out of me as I piece my lifes passions back together. That is my main issue, it is difficult for me to enjoy things now, laugh or have fun. I do have a wonderful support group with family and good friends and I know I am lucky. My docs told me it was a 95% fatality rate from the accident and my injuries…but I am living it now and sometimes if not most times I find things very difficult. That’s my story. Dean
