Casey Jones, Watch Your Speed! (Serious Ebike Accident)

LI-ghtcycle

10 MW
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
3,818
Location
Oregon City Oregon
On Monday 8/14/17 at about 7:30 in the morning, my father, riding his 36V 500Watt Ebike hit the side of an SUV that was parked with the rear side slightly into the street in a residential area near our house.

He went through this rear side window face-first, and is very lucky to be alive. He is currently recovering at OHSU hospital from nearly every bone in his face broken, a ruined right hip, and left arm.

His surgeries have gone very well, he is off the breathing tube and able to talk now, he had a hip replacement, left arm rebuild, and has had many plates and screws as part of these surgeries, as well as re-building his facial bones.

Be very careful out there, even a "slow" 20 MPH capable Ebike is capable of sending you to the hospital, I feared another accident like this would happen (he started riding Ebikes in the first place in 2007 because of being unable to ride a bicycle again unassisted) as he had some difficulty with reaction times and decision making skills since his first accident and brain injury.

The responding EMS said they had never seen someone have so horrific an accident on a bicycle and live, he is very lucky to be alive! :oops:

Here is the car that he hit:

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOyHUTp_m33SINGmm9lwT9xfO1BwZ7RGZIILYvG/photo/AF1QipOx54UpF_80MvdHrvG6LK-XrQaTVuihPivgS4VX

Here is what is left of the Ebike:

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOyHUTp_m33SINGmm9lwT9xfO1BwZ7RGZIILYvG/photo/AF1QipM5IHTEimaE1fDytmMHpW2kTj6aGC9lxpBP3CXo

(Strangely enough, the front wheel is in good shape, just a little truing needed, same for the rear wheel with DD motor, but he hit with such speed that it tore the forks apart from the inside, it's hard to see, but it actually ovaled the head tube! :shock: :shock: :shock: )

Anyway, I wanted to reinforce the use of common sense and good gear as we are all Ebiking, my dad had a helmet on both major accidents, but on both occasions, he managed to hit places where a traditional bicycle helmet offers little to no protection, be safe everyone!
 
hit the side of an SUV that was parked with the rear side window slightly into the street in a residential area near our house.

Oh thats horrible, hope he recovers 288%

Was he going around a corner or something?
Like to know more details on the incident. I never have had a hit, I stay a doors length away from ALL parked cars and I dont give a frocking rats ass what the vehicles behind me are doing. I've had incidences where the drivers got out and wanted to play, no fighting just words. I've had items thrown at me.

I think its time to buy a couple cheap camera's.
 
I wish your father gets well.

This is the kind of accident that you'd expect from a kid, not a mature rider with street experience.

Hitting a parked vehicle is a sign that one is not in adequate state of mind to ride or drive. If it was only a distraction or a bad move to avoid another crash, AND it is the first time that he does hit a stationary object, he can consider it a lesson learned and continue to ride. Or else, I hope for him that he quits riding.

This has nothing to do with speed or equipment. When you are not focused on what you are doing, you can get killed anywhere, anyhow, anytime...
 
When that's a 20mph hit, it shows that there is no safe speed to be clipping parked cars.
 
Thanks guys, he really has been on the fringe for years, I tried to convince other family members that we needed to get him off the road, but I wasn't able to convince them. This time around, no Ebike from me, I will take him to bicycle paths (assuming he will want to ride again any time soon) supervised with a non-motorized bicycle, most likely it will be a trike (his hip is likely not going to be the same after this).

I won't know the real story until I am able to visit the scene of the accident, but I believe he was just going too fast, and not ready for the possibility for a parked car to be where he road around that van, and that plus his reduced reaction speed, and that is how we got here.

Unfortunately this wasn't his first time, just his worst time for this to happen.

I really appreciate all the kind words, and I just wanted to bring home the point that "slow" for an ebike can still be deadly.

Not long ago I saw a story about a pedal bike hitting a pedestrian in the UK at 15 - 18 MPH and the head injury was fatal for her.

Just be careful out there, I ride a pretty fast Ebike, but I don't ride too fast for the conditions, most of the time I find myself enjoying the ride closer to bicycle speeds, (18 mph average on a 2 mile commute to work) but I love the ability to easily keep up with traffic when I need to on roads with no bicycle lane.
 
I hope he gets better quick. :(

When i was a kid I skidded out at only a few MPH on a gravel road on a singlespeed bike, and hit a steel barbed-wire-type fencepost head on. If i hadn't been wearing a helmet I probably would've been killed either instantly or from bloodloss waiting for someone to see me in the ditch. As it was it hurt a lot (it crushed in the helmet pretty completely, split open the plastic, etc). For many years I wore helmets regardless of weather, etc., because I had been shown quite directly how one might save my life. I don't wear one now because I'm much less likely to have a crash where one would be helpful, on the SB Cruiser trike or CrazyBike2. (unless it's really cold or wet and I need to ride far enough where my MC FF helmet would keep my head and face warm /dry, very rare around here).


BTW, I can't see the pics, gets
404. That’s an error.

The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

Perhaps you can attach them to the post instead?
 
Sorry about the pics, I haven't found a good way to post on msg boards with google yet, any suggestions? I had to stop using Photobucket, and since have been trying to use google pics with poor success, seems everything is geared to using a smartphone anymore, and I know there has to be a way to do this with the PC just haven't figured it out yet.
 
Hope he has a full recovery.

This truly brings home the point that even if you abide by the 750 watt power limit, severe injury or death can happen...whether its 20 mph or 10 mph....It all depends on the circumstances . Heck, people die from just falling when walking . Its important to remember, that a responsible person who rides a 1000 watt ebike, which is deemed to be " illegal" , is less likely to be injured or be involved in a accident, then a reckless rider who rides a LEGAL 500 watt ebike OR a normal un-motorized ebike. It isn't the power of the motor that decides who gets injured or killed.
 
Yep. Just like a nervous horse can save a good rider from the horns of a bull, or buck off a sunday rider and let him be killed by the bull. The casual rider is better on a quiet horse and follow a path like a train wagon. Then, some just can't deal with horses, and better walking.

Bikes are built different for different riders, but none of them can bring you back home by themselves.
 
LI-ghtcycle said:
Sorry about the pics, I haven't found a good way to post on msg boards with google yet, any suggestions? I had to stop using Photobucket, and since have been trying to use google pics with poor success, seems everything is geared to using a smartphone anymore, and I know there has to be a way to do this with the PC just haven't figured it out yet.
You could just use the attach function in each post.

Every post has below the text box a set of checkboxes for various things, and then below that a Browse button to locate the pic on your computer so it will upload directly to the post itself.

there is a thread Adding Pictures at the top of the sticky list in every forum, that has info on various means of doing this, including resizing images, etc., as well as other photo sites.
 
Think its more so of know when to stop riding. Having to stop sucks especially because everyone has to stop at different times. Someone can be 80 years old and still riding a a pretty sporty motorcycle someone can be in their 70s and have to stop driving completely everyone's different. I avoided more crashes then I can count simply due to my reflexes. Hell I did some somewhat dangerous filters to the front of traffic today simply because I know I can flick my bike around and maneuver it in the fraction of a second. Aging can be a bitch.
 
That's just awful, my deepest sympathies for your dad.

I did the same thing on a motorcycle, sans helmet once. 50 feet from my house, I took the same line as usual on the last corner, not noticing the neighbors car was parked different that day. Fortunately, I flew over the trunk, not into a window like your dad.

Anyway, I just want to say shit like that can happen to anybody at any time. You just may not notice in time, when cars are parked funny. At speed, at a distance, you see it sure, but your brain interprets it as normal. Then Whammo! This may not entirely be because your dad is not what he used to be.

If he want to keep riding, limit his speed maybe? Jasons liberty trike is speed limited to 11 mph, for many reasons. But one of them is that a lot of people that buy them are unable to drive anymore for medical reasons.
 
I like the idea of the liberty trike, but I have been told no more Ebikes by family, and you're right, it might not be that he had this problem because of his injury, but I had been riding with him enough times to see him do some scary things that I am sure that if he realized, he would not be doing.

I am thinking a delta trike of some sort and once he has been able to ride that safely perhaps mom will feel better, but mainly, no more riding on public roads, just too dangerous, fortunately we live near some REALLY nice bike paths, so it will be no problem to load up the car on a regular basis, and then let him ride, another good reason for it to not be electric so that he will be much slower, and I will be able to get ahead of him and warn him of problems ahead.

Previous to this accident, it just wanted to be able to be more independent, and that is understandable, but it's just too dangerous for him and those he is sharing the road with. If he had hit that car another 2 feet to the left, he might have seriously injured the 4yr old boy in the back.
 
LI-ghtcycle said:
Sorry about the pics, I haven't found a good way to post on msg boards with google yet, any suggestions? I had to stop using Photobucket, and since have been trying to use google pics with poor success, seems everything is geared to using a smartphone anymore, and I know there has to be a way to do this with the PC just haven't figured it out yet.

I post pics from Google Photos. It is a bit difficult, you have to get a link that doesn't require login to use. If you just grab a link to one, it will look ok to you but others not. Use a separate browser to test with that is not logged in and you'll see what others see, and know when it is visible to everyone.

Here is my Linking to Google Photos Procedure:

make shared album (this album must be designated for other people to view)
put photos you want to link to into the shared album (you can have multiple of these to keep things organized)
go to the individual photo view in the shared album
get url from this individual view
paste it into the forum
test with non-logged in browser to see what others see and make sure it is working
 
Please pass on my well wishes to your father. I hope he makes a full recovery.
 
That sucks to hear. I dumped at 20mph myself and know the pain.. particularly sucks when the vehicle you built was part of it..

Pro tip.. do physical therapy as soon as you're able, not a year and a half later..
 
Pricy, but tandem trike? Getting him out and some wind in his hair still pretty important.
 
Crashed on my regular roadbike yesterday. Was riding on the side traffic was at almost a standstill. I was going about 15-20mph which was much faster then traffic there musta been space in the traffic I did not notice because a car pulling into a driveway was completely blind sided by me and completely blind sided me. No time to stop for either of us. I hit the cars side and due to hitting my brakes so hard went over the handle bars wrecking the cars rear view mirror. Driver gets out to check on me I am fine landed on my feet. I inspect my bike since thats what I care about more then me good old fuji is fine aside from the front wheel being just a tad bit outa true from crashing. I was expecting wrecked bike. I was in a hurry and fine as well as the bike so just tell the lady driving her car to go her way as I am ok and it was simply a unavoidable accident. Well aside from the fact I should slow down when traffic is that slow on my e bike I slow down to filter no clue why the same habit didn't carry over to my roadbike.
 
Good idea on the tandem, we actually have one, could just transfer his kit to it, thanks again for everyone kind words. I will be visiting him again this afternoon, he being moved to a nursing home to recover now that he no longer needs the attention of a hospital.

Sorry to hear about your crash Neptronix, and yeah, the PT is very needed for sure, that is part of what dad will do while he is in the nursing home, I expect I will be helping him recover once he is home again, we have a stationary bike he can use also, but I suspect he will need more like the ones that allow you to be seated on a chair and the pedals are on the floor, too hard to balance on a exercise bike, and not sure what his new hip will allow.

You are very fortunate indeed boytitan!

Many years ago when we were in highschool my brother went over the bars of his Bridgestone road bike after going too fast down a hill and grabbing too much front brake, he also landed on his feet.
 
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