1/29/16 Motorcycle Accident

Shortly after the accident, Dad and Earl Peterson

Accident as Dad remembers it:

That dent is where Andy's head hit

We were going up Industrial Road past Kenworth and we were at about Burton Lumber where I could see a line of cars in the area of the gas station.  One car concerned me.  It was a white buick in the left turn lane.  It appeared that he was starting to turn.  So I slowed down.  He then stopped. I proceeded forward at a reduced speed, approx 25 mph when the driver of the white buick apparently changed his mind and continued his turn.

At that point we were so close I had no choice but to slam on my brakes and lay down the bike.  We tumbled to the right side of the bike and slid forward into the front passenger door of the buick.  I struck the buick first with my head and right shoulder when almost instantaneously the bike front tire also struck the car. Within a second or two I said get the bike off of me because it was on my leg.  My wife attempted to pick it up.  She then asked some bystanders to help and a couple of guys helped her pick the bike up and put the kickstand up. 

I rolled onto my back assessing my own injuries.  A couple people asked me if I was ok including my wife.  I asked for help getting up and was assisted getting up.  I felt pain along my right side including my knee, shoulder, arm & hip.  None of it felt serious.

A couple of people wanted me to sit back down worried that I might have a concussion but I never lost consciousness or cognizance.  

One gentleman called 911.  My wife offered our phone to him for use. 

They told us to move the vehicles out of the roadway.  My wife decided we should take a couple of pictures first and then we moved the vehicles.  The driver of the buick, Earl Petersen, apologized several times stating that he never saw us and that he was looking at the gas pumps trying to find a spot. 

Within a few minutes the police arrived and took our statements. 

Mr. Petersen was cited for failure to yield on a left turn. 

Upon inspection of my motorcycle I noted the front fender was dented in a couple of places and bent into the tire. I also noticed a few scrapes on the safety bars and a dent on the gas tank. There is also scrape on the right saddle bag.  

This is what the accident scene looked like except
the bike was down on Andy

Accident as Mom remembers it: 

On 1/29 about 1:30 p.m. we left home for a quick run to the Deseret Book to pickup our garments and then had planned a fun dinner with Gma and Gpa at Chili's followed by a pickleball game with the McCallisters. 

Plans were cut short just 1 short mile from home.  We were traveling on Industrial drive toward St. George when a white car made a left turn (he was traveling the opposite direction) in front of us and  into our lane of travel.  We had nowhere to go.  He was just there.  

The odd thing is that he seemed to hesitate just a moment like he saw us and was going to stop and then he just kept going.  Our motorcycle laid down on it's right side and Andy and the bike continued to slide right into the car (which was STILL proceeding forward!)  It was like he just didn't get it that he needed to STOP!

Andy skidded head first into the front passenger side door followed by his entire body and the motorcycle.  

I am unclear what exactly happened to me.  I know I caught myself on my right hand as my wrist is sore.  I also know my right leg went down because there was some soreness and swelling there.  The thing that is weird is I also had a little goose egg on my left knee. So did I roll? What hit my left knee? It would have been on the other side of the bike and should have been clear of everything. 

I was able to immediately jump up.  Andy and the bike were a little way ahead of me and I could see the bike laying on top of him.  So my first thing was to run over and grab the bike and try with all my might to lift that thing.  I was able to take some pressure off but I couldn't get the bike righted.  Fortunately several people (maybe 3 guys) came running to assist.  I said, Can someone please help me with this bike?!  And two of them came and picked it up the rest of the way and put it on it's kickstand. 

Earl Kent Petersen is the name of the man that hit us.  He is an older gentleman.  He got out of his car and came around and asked if we were ok and apologized.  Said he never even saw us. 

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Which makes all the rest of everything make a little more sense.  Like how he kept moving even as Andy was coming into his car. 

He apologized several times and was very polite. 

He did mention that he had messed up his shoulders in an accident and had been in 4 prior accidents.  Hmmm.  Little problem driver waiting to happen.

Several of the guys that came over helped Andy to sit up and then stand up and shake off the accident.  

On the surface we seemed to come out of this accident pretty well.  I had a couple little goose eggs and a sore wrist.  Andy had road rash on his right knee and elbow.  However he had pain in his hip where he landed and as the night went on his knee felt like he tore a ligament or something.  

Sleeping was pretty rough. For me I fell asleep right away and slept for several hours but when I woke up everything hurt.  I felt like a rag doll that had been thrown around.  All through the remainder of the night as I would turn over everything just ached.  From my neck to my shoulder to my wrist to my legs. 

I can't speak for Andy but he was moaning every time he moved during the night too.  So I think he would report the same only worse as his injuries are worse than mine. 

We will see how we feel today and decide if we are going to the dr. or if we just have to heal from our little spill. 

Insurance trading information sheet

I feel so lucky and blessed.  We laid down our motorcycle and slid into a car and our clothes didn't even rip.  I was wearing my protective jacket and boots but my jeans didn't even get a tiny hole in them.  Andy was wearing a long sleeved jacket and jeans and while he got road rash under the clothing, nothing ripped. 

We feel like we were being protected and feel very lucky and blessed to have been in an accident and for it to end so well. 

Just hope that there aren't any hidden injuries lurking.  Hope that we just need a couple of days to get over the impact of it. 

Heavenly Father loves us and took care of us yesterday I am sure and I am so grateful.