U turn causes motorcycle accident
Jack was on his way home from work on his Kawasaki ZX9R motorcycle, his pride and joy. The bike at the time was renowned as the fastest bike on the road.
He had been riding up hill on a dual carriageway and was just about to overtake a car which U-turned across him. Jack did his best but hit the car.
What happened next, Jack can only guess. He woke up in hospital on a spinal board. He was told that he had suffered serious fractures and would have to undergo an emergency operation. He spent the following 3 days in Intensive Care. Jack had in fact suffered numerous injuries including post-traumatic amnesia due to a severe head injury, a hangman’s fracture of the upper spine, a fractured elbow, a heavily bruised abdominal wall and a ruptured aorta.
Despite all his injuries Jack made a good and quick recovery, returning to work a few months later. However he was not the same person after the accident.
One of the hardest things for Jack was the fact the crash affected his voice. One of his vocal chords had been paralysed which meant his voice was very weak and quiet. Adding to this his head injury which caused him to pronounce words incorrectly and left him with debilitating migraines for life. Th e eventual recovery was close to normal, but sometimes the less obvious aspects of an injury have the greatest long term effect.
To make things worse the driver of the car was not insured which meant the case had to be pursued against the Motor Insurers Bureau. They argued Jack should have been able to stop in time and that he was travelling too fast. These arguments are always levelled at motorcyclists. The truth is that when a motorcycle is not seen, the driver claims the bike must have been ridden too fast. “I did not see you because you were going too fast” does not really make sense make sense. It is more likely the driver did not look, looked too quickly, or was only looking for cars.
Mark Thompson has acted for many motorcyclists over the years. A bike is a great way to travel, but do look out for them, as the consequences of a collision can be awful.
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