Trike crash, helicopter, and hospital...long night so far

[Cottonwood]

Its a long story but here it goes. I have 2 running trikes, my neighbor (Tim) has 2, and guy down the road has 1. We took them all out tonight with a couple other neighbors to go riding in the desert area behind our community (started about 9:30pm or so). Its real dusty and pretty dark and 2 of the trikes have no headlights, I was on one and Milo on another (Izel, Tim, and Mike are the other riders). I headed in early because I was sick of not being able to see, and my trike wasn't running great (questions on that in another thread). About a half hour later another guy comes up (he was with us on his dirt bike) and Tims wife was telling him Tim called and said "they are taking me to Jail, they say I've been drinking" and hung up. So she asked me to go out and see what was gong on (about 11:00pm) I'm the "responsible" one of the group and she trusts me most. I go out to try to save the trikes from being impounded if they are taking him to jail, and see an ambulance, fire truck, and a helicopter landing. Sheriff says they are flying him to the hospital (nearest one by car or ambulance is 1hr from here) any time there is head trauma they do it since we are so far out. I was thinking he was getting DUI!! Here is what happened. Izel, Tim, and Mike were riding down a farm road, it ended abruptly making a 90 degree turn. Mike was just ahead of Tim and Izel was right behind Tim and Milo was putting behind with no head light. Mike stopped and Tim didnt, the dusty conditions and not knowing the road is what we think led to it, hit Mikes rear tire at an angle and rolled about 3 times before stopping. He was out for about 15 mins before he slowly came to. Mike called and met the cops and ambulance at his house and took them to the crash, then the fire truck showed up, and finally the helicopter. Tim came to but couldn't walk on his own, he just kept falling over they finally got him to settle down some, he thought it was 1985, was being a real punk to everyone, and not totally coheriant (sp) but was talking. They sedated him some and put him in the copter and flew him to the hospital. I showed up as the helicopter landed on the farm road, and got all the info. I talked to my wife was at Tims house (right next door) with his wife and relayed all the info. Well the hospital they took him to is about 1hr 40mins away by car. His baby has bronchitis and his wife was about to leave to take the baby to the hospital too. So both wife's are on the way to a nearer hospital with the baby, and Tims wifes sister is at the hospital waiting for info on Tim. Milo (the other responsible one of the group) took charge after the crash, kept Tim as calm as he could once he woke up. Said he was bleeding pretty bad from his left ear (he landed on the left side of his head, no helmet). But wasn't sure what else might have been wrong. Ill let you all know when I find out. Stupid riding with no helmet at night on some roads we weren't sure about, but sure sucks it had to happen. He is a real trike lover just thought I'd share my night so far. The trike looks ok, bent handlebars and destroyed lights, but other than that ok. Its a 185s.

[firefirefire90]

shoot dude i'm sorry to hear that. It doesn't matter right now with the no-helmets because what happened happened and you cannot change that. Hopefully he will be in alright shape and won't be too(if at all) messed up. My prayers go out to the family. Certainly not the excitement you were all looking for!

[factoryX]

lol no head lights???? Don't get me wrong I feel sorry for your friend....

[Cottonwood]

Yeah my 200M has headlights, my 185s doesn't yet. His 185s does his 200S doesn't. So I didn't have them and Milo didn't. Tim did though. Me and Milo just putted around and followed the guys that did. We weren't going very fast just cruising around the trails. Were pretty redneck, you would laugh your head off at our set up and riding crew if you saw it, heck I do! He's a wirey tough little guy, I think he'll be ok. Guess they are still waiting for the results from him cat scan.

[y2kane]

Keep us posted. Helmet or no he is still a Trike brother and prayers are with you and your friends!

Make sure next time you guys go riding to wear HELMETS!!! I do unless I am puttering around the yard. I don't have enough yard to get up any speed...

[The Goat]

I'm sure he'll be fine. Prolly have some shortterm memory loss.

Looking back later it'll be kinda funny...

I was punch drunk for a few days when I smacked a tree. luckily he was airlifted to the hospital immediately though.

[aaron7]

I bet they'll blame the "dangerous" ATC on the crash too.

Let us know how he is when he gets out!

[glass]

I wish your friend a speedy recovery but you are all idiots. When will you learn? No headlights? No helmets? Unknown road? I have to say you were asking for it. It was this wxact behavior that cause me to not be able to purchase modern atc's because they were banned!

[Orangecnty250r]

I'm sure he'll be fine. Prolly have some shortterm memory loss.

Looking back later it'll be kinda funny...

I was punch drunk for a few days when I smacked a tree. luckily he was airlifted to the hospital immediately though.



I have worked with brain injury for 15 years and its not always that simple. Some people can have even the mildest concussion and have lifelong problems.


I hope the best for your friend.

Locally we had a recent three wheeler severe injury and guess what....No helmet. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I am not going to preach the helmet speech but come on....if you dont wear one your likehood of an injury that will haunt you forever, or kill you is significantly increased.

One of the biggest things I have learned with brain injury, people who have no experience in knowing someone with one have NO idea of its impact.

Someone can look fine, walk and talk after they heal but are tortured with lifelong cognitive problems.

[Hair Bear Bunch]

Please wish him all the best and a speedy recovery from across the pond.

Maybe time for a 'Top Tier' thread on how to fix a torch to a helmet???

[88 Turbo Coupe]

I hope for a speedy recovery for him. No helmet-IMO no excuse. Rewind the clock just before the "turn". What do you think would have happend to him if he wore his helmet??? I have a couple of wounds on my helmets. I know where each one happend at too. Somthing to look back on and joke about. Watch the local news channels. See if they blame the BAD ATC or the combination therof.

[whipit]

nice to know that there are still people who are man enough to uphold the no helmet, drunken ATC rider stereotype. Tell your buddies thanks a lot. bonus points for riding at night with no headlights too!!! awesome!!!

another manly rider was just killed here in NC- he had no headlight, no helmet, and was hauling ass down the road after dark when a car turned into a driveway in front of him. brilliant!!!

[hinddee29]

I bet they'll blame the "dangerous" ATC on the crash too.

Let us know how he is when he gets out!

Think they will be able to see it was a case for being a dumb ass.
Hate to see anyone get hurt and hope he comes out alright.
No light, helmet, not knowing where your at, and drinking. What did
think was going to end up happening??

I know someone that was just as dumb and ended up with a head injury.
I haven't seen him in awhile, but the last time I seen him his mental state
was like a 4 or 5 year old.

I can't feel sorry for people that at least try to be a responsible rider and wear
at least a helmet.

[i58829]

I read this post a couple hours ago when i woke up and was thinking how many times i've ridden at night and didn't wear a helmet, this was kind of a wake up call. I wish him the best and hope that we can learn a little from this as we just can't afford to have our kids end up without a parent because we didn't take the 30 seconds to slide a helmet on...

[riverrat]

Its real dusty and pretty dark and 2 of the trikes have no headlights,

As soon as I read that, I was like on no.......

Come on man, just because you are redneck isn't an excuse. Now a real redneck would have rigged a headlight from a car or something. Don't be your own worst enemy.

I hope your friend gets better.

[fabiodriven]

I think you and your friends are stupid and got what you had coming. I'm sorry to be so blunt but like somebody else already said, "No helmets, drinking, no headlights". WTF, man?

[Cottonwood]

We have gone out a few times at night and its usually just putting around out there on the section of trails we know pretty good. Milo's bike did have a flash light taped up and all the others had head lights (but mine), that's why me and Milo always stayed in back. I guess after I left they went over to the farm roads we haven't ridden before and that's when it all happened. Me and Milo hadn't been drinking at all, and as far as I saw the other guys only had 2 beers each, it was all that fit in the trunks of the bikes. Turns out he was over the legal limit though, so they must have stopped a couple times and had more while I was riding around. He had a cat scan and they released him from the hospital about 1am after it saying he would be fine. He actually just came and talked to me as I was typing this up for a min asking about the crash, he remembers just crashing then nothing after that until this morning. But he seems alright, some scrapes on his face and stuff but that's it. He's worried they will give him a DUI. He has never even had a speeding ticket before, and he usually wont ride if he has had more than a few. He loves coaching youth football so he stays away from things like that. It was just a whole bad night of bad judgment.

[i58829]

Bad judgment is a good way to put it, i know a guy who hit a beaver of all things on his banshee one night and needless to say he got a dui and it cost him his job plus whatever else. So thats a lot of problems stemming from one little atv ride, hopefully it doesn't end up that way for him...

[glass]

I am speechless, cottonwood your last reply was filled with you trying to justify you and your friends actions. What you guys were doing was WRONG! Today it seems everone wants to take away our right to ride. You and your buddies are making that task easier for them! Read most of the accidents leading to the demise of the three wheeler and they mirror your stupidity.

[fabiodriven]

Not to mention, if I ever did something so irresponsible and ignorant and it turned out the way your situation did, the last thing I would do is start a fricken thread telling eveybody how dumb my friends and I are. The whole "redneck" thing is no excuse, either. My necks about as red as they come around here, and I don't go out drinking and riding at night with no helmet. Are saying most rednecks do?

[dcreel]

Last October 4th it was my daughters 4th birthday. We were putting around the yard while waiting for friends and family to arrive. We usually don't wear helmets around the 2 acres with quite a few trees. My buddy Mike got on my friends yz125 we call death rattle, because it hurts people. My wife told him to put on his helmet. He made a few trips around the trees out to the field. We were welcoming guests when we heard a 2 stroke rev and a boom.
Mike lost control in our yard and slammed a tree head first. He was airlifted to a bigger hospital because of his brain bleeding.
The helmet saved his life. We still don't know what happened, and he doesn't remember what happened. The only thing wrong with the yz was a thoroughly pancaked exhaust pipe. The tree has a dent where the front axle, pipe, handlebar, and mike's head hit the tree. His helmet pretty much exploded on impact, but took the brunt of the impact.
He had just turned 21.
Please wear your helmet.
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w182/dcreel/mikeycrash.jpg

[Cottonwood]

I'm not trying to justify anything just telling how it is. Yeah its stupid, but we weren't out racing and and we weren't doing anything crazy at all. Something just went bad there at the end, and they did do some thing stupid.
Glass:
Are you saying you have never had a beer and rode? You have never rode with out a helmet? You have never crashed before? You have never rode at night before? He didn't hurt any one but himself, and the people trying to take away your right to ride care less if you have a helmet on, any accident they use to point out how dangerous it is, they look at the bike not the people as causing an accident.

fabiodriven:
I'm not saying anything about Rednecks, and it wasn't meant about drinking and driving. I don't ever drink period, but I'd still call myself a redneck. I wasn't starting a thread to be cool or show off or sound funny. Simply to share an experience we had last night. Maybe people will learn from it, or maybe they will call me stupid, I don't really care what you think. Just that my friend is ok, that's the important thing.

Whats with the whole Hollier than you attitude on here? A guy got hurt, yeah it was stupid, I wasn't trying to justify anything just say what happened. Yeah helmets are smart, how many of you wear yours 100% of the time? Drinking shouldn't happen when you ride, like I said he usually doesn't and I never do. There is nothing wrong with riding at night. I was trying to point out, we aren't generally that stupid as what happened last night. It all came together no helmets, he did drink, they started riding fast and that happened. Good thing he got what was coming to him right?! What a bunch of @$$ holes, good thing you have never made a mistake before!

p.s. we wear our helmets 100% of the time there are kids around, and if we are going to do any serious riding. If were going to putt around its hit or miss. That will probably change in light of last night.

[y2kane]

Come on guys he is admitting it was a very bad decision. We have all made bad choices in life and I have made plenty. If people learn a lesson from this then it's a good thing it was posted. I still hope everything irons out for you and your friends cottonwood. I live in town and have one and half lots with about that much in the back of my property that is overgrown. I can't get any speed on this property but makes it fun for the kids to ride. If we leave our property we always wear helmets...well ok except on time pulling the kids behind the trikes not going very fast at all. I couldn't turn my head around wearing my winter gear to see the kids making sure they didn't slam into the back of the trike or a tree or something. As soon as we left my mom and dad's 2.75 acres, or quit pulling the kids around, we put the helmet on. That was the only other time I didn't wear a helmet.

[AutoXer]

I read this post a couple hours ago when i woke up and was thinking how many times i've ridden at night and didn't wear a helmet, this was kind of a wake up call. I wish him the best and hope that we can learn a little from this as we just can't afford to have our kids end up without a parent because we didn't take the 30 seconds to slide a helmet on...
I know the group i ride with doesn't allways wear helmets and we do like to ride at night and we do ride trikes so some times lights don't work ....... lets not be so quick to preach its really not the time for it ...... would he have been better off if he had a helmet ? We will never know that ... more than likely he would so instead lets take some thing from this and try to wear our helmets more often.....

[fabiodriven]

so instead lets take some thing from this and try to wear our helmets more often.....

It's a good thing that was said 'cause I never would've known that otherwise...:crazy:

[braunz200x]

Fact is you have to live with the decisions you make in life and the opinions of others shouldn't be what determines things like whether you wear a helmet or not, IMO if you understand the consequences make your own decisions and its nobody's business to tell you otherwise

[88 Turbo Coupe]

Fact is you have to live with the decisions you make in life and the opinions of others shouldn't be what determines things like whether you wear a helmet or not, IMO if you understand the consequences make your own decisions and its nobody's business to tell you otherwise

Wearing a helmet is just my opinion. Take it for what its worth. It might save your life one day.

[riverrat]

I'm not trying to justify anything just telling how it is. Yeah its stupid, but we weren't out racing and and we weren't doing anything crazy at all. Something just went bad there at the end, and they did do some thing stupid.



It was just a whole bad night of bad judgment.

I think you gave yourself some guidelines to follow, if you just read what you wrote. You see, when you post stories like this on the internet, you are telling the whole world about your bad judgment call. Then you become a statistic, one that threatens our love and joy of riding. The more people that get hurt and show up in hospitals, the more the rest of the world hates us.

So the natural response is for people to post how stupid it was, to show the rest of the world that there are people who are responsible. We all make stupid mistakes, and we need to keep reminding ourselves what is at stake here. It happens with everything, people get careless, I get careless. I don't want to be careless, or get hurt. I don't want to see other riders get hurt. We need people like your friend around so he can coach youth football. :beer

[Russell 350X]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, its good to now he's up and around again.

I understand crap happens, belive me I've gone out riding at night, no helmet, with a crappy ass headlight on logging/fire roads. I did that for years, all until I rolled by buds quad over in the middle of the road, no helmet on. I got lucky cuz I walked away from that one and I probably shouldnt have. After that I always wear my helmet unless I'm just buzzin around the yard.

I hope this opens your eyes and you and your buddys start wearing helmets and get your damn headlights fixed.

[Cottonwood]

Se we finally had a chance to talk today about everything. Yesterday was busy for us and he was sleeping mostly. He is feeling fine now, but he said he is giving up drinking. He wasn't a big drinker just liked having some beers after dinner. But he said even those will lead to more that lead to doing stupid stuff like friday night, so he's done. Maybe a beer at dinner but not drinking more than that. He doesn't want anything to happen like that again it was a real eye opener. No more night riding other than if were going out to shoot and back, and definitely helmets if we head out to go riding... Lessons learned.

[oscarmayer]

Hope your friend heals ok. head trama is not like normal injuries. i had a head injury myself in 97 and still live with issues. everythign from sudden agression to sorrow and major migranes. i live off advil which is also not good but they don't see anything wrong on cat scans or eegs. Just because he seems fine doesn't mean he's not goign to end up with no issues. most likley he will have some side affects. so jsut be pacient and helpful even if he seems to be a dick. it's not always his fault and he doesn't realize it.

guys, attacking another member for our own beleives and feelings over a situtation he has NO control over is not right. he can't force the guy to wear a helmet. He guy's a grown man anc can make up is own mind. before you get on your perchs again rememebr it's not HIM it's a friend. lets stop attacking and understand that being this way doesn't do anything but split our community up. We are small enough as it is, why make it any smaller?

[smvorndran]

Helmets are a choice. I ride my Goldwing about 8 months out of the year, everyday to and from work, and obviously recreational riding. I ride with a helmet 99% of the time. I laid a Honda 450 street bike down at 40mph a couple of years ago, and never saw it coming. The front brake system was dragging, and I didn't realize it. I was going down a fairly new chip-and-sealed road, and the front brake locked up. I landed on my left shoulder and helmet, and skidded to a stop in about 1 second. That chip-and-seal isn't as smooth as asphalt! My leather jacket and helmet took the abuse, and I walked away with a bruised hip.

On the other hand, I ride my 3-wheelers 99% of the time without a helmet. I ride fairly slow, and mostly on trails. I love wheelies too, but those are on flat ground, so I'm pretty safe. I've never had an incident where a helmet came into play while off-roading. I've drank beer and rode, and rode at night on unfamiliar land. Most of us have done it. I fully understand what can happen if I whack my head on the ground in some stupid move. We all live with the choices we make. My neighbor chooses to be a worthless piece of trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro, and not work, but that's another thread.

Cut the guy some slack, and take it as a life lesson.

Cottonwood, thanks for the story, and the reminder to wear my helmet when I ride my 3-wheeler, which I choose not to. I don't drink and ride anymore though. Thanks for posting.

smvorndran