Another rider run over by a deer

[dannyjo]

Friday evening, my friend/co-worker/Daughter-in-Laws' Dad was run into by a deer while he was riding his Adventure style motorcycle.
He saw a few deer along the road ahead and began to slow down and prepare to maneuver, when one he didn't see plowed into his rib cage
area at a dead run.
He was knocked from the bike about 30 foot and luckily was in full gear. He was able to crawl to his bike to retrieve his phone, and call for help,
and was then found by another biker who stopped and helped him until ambulance arrived.
Bill had surgery last evening to install a plate and screws in his lower leg that was badly broken in two places and a few other smaller fractures were found in the one lower leg. He has badly bruised hands and elbow/forearms , but would probably have been killed, had he not been dressed in good jacket, pants, boots, gloves and helmet.
He did find that although good motorcycle riding boots protected the ankle area from worse injury, it sure hurts when they are removed from below a broken leg. Then, he was transported to a larger area hospital and had to wait over 24 hours for an operating room and surgeon to be available.
This kinda took the fun out of my planned weekend ride, since Saturday was an off day and had warmed up considerably in the morning. I decided to stay off the bike for the weekend, as the family didn't need another accident to happen in one weekend.
We seem to have had our share of deer collisions here in Southeastern Illinois, the last few years, involving people I knew. Luckily, this one did not end in a fatality.
Oh yeah, we both work for a DEERE dealership!

 

[vacanefan]

Sorry to hear about the accident. I'm glad it wasn't worse. Deer always freak me out when riding as they are so unpredictable.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Wow! What a mixed bag of luck: bad to get run over by the deer; good to come out of it alive. Sounds like he's got a long and painful recuperation ahead of him. Dadgum forest rats -- they're taking over in places where there aren't enough hunters. We probably have fewer of them out here in the wild west than any of the eastern states.

It's hardly of the same importance as his injuries, but how did his bike come out of it?

 

[dannyjo]

The bike was apparently totaled. I haven't gotten to see it, as we kept the Grandkids while his Daughter and our Son, who are married to each other, visited him
in the hospital today after Church. The hospital is 60 miles away.

 

[Husker]

Glad he got help and surgery. Our prayers are with him and his family.

 

[tawilke46]

Deer can be scary and unpredictable. If you see one, there are others you don't see. Often when riding on back roads in Louisiana and Mississippi I see dead deer on the side of the road.....a constant reminder that they are around, even if I don't see them. They scare me.
A good friend of mine was put in the hospital by a deer he did not see. Ran right in front of him. He never saw the deer and the deer did not see him coming. If I had been riding lead that day it may have been me hitting that deer! I did thank him for that, that he would take the hit for me.

Good to hear the father-in-law will recover.

 

[Chucksklrst]

Glad he is able to talk about it and hope there is no lasting issues. Deer seem to be everywhere at all times of the day (I don't ride at night anymore for that reason). Seems to be more deer now than a few years ago. I wonder why?

 

[banjoboy]

I can't remember which MC magazine I read it in last year or two, but an article about 'deer hits' by cars. I was a little surprised to see that by far the most deer hits were in the mid-west area--not the west coast. In Port Townsend, WA, deer are very much around in our little city, almost like dogs, but fewer out in the mountains. Your story is a little scary as sometimes there is nothing we can do to be safer, except AGATT.

Terry

 

[bicyclist]

luckily was in full gear

That's not luck; it's good sense. Glad to see it paid off.

 

[bicyclist]

I don't do ATGAT and never have.

I'm surprised to read that about a former racer and long time rider. Why is that, Sam?

 

[dannyjo]

Update:, Bill is planning on coming home today. He is still having pain, but is healing, and if I know him, he will ride again.
His KLR was taken home by a friend, and he and Bill's 2 Brothers think they can rebuild the bike for him to ride again. It will give Bill something to occupy his recuperation time, overseeing the rebuild. (Unless his Daughter takes bike to the junk yard to keep him off of it.)
Or at least be able to sell it for something else to ride. He always liked my NT700, and he may not be able to do much off road riding for a while, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him on an NT or NC700.
It is funny that Bill and I love to ride, but our wives and our kids, have no use for motorcycles. Except my 25 year old Downs Syndrome boy, loves to ride 4 wheelers and Utility Buggys and motorcycles (when Mom isn't looking) with me.

 

[savantelite]

We had a great discusion on this last summer.

http://www.nt-owners.org/forums/showthread.php?4802-What-should-you-do-the-moment-you-hit-a-deer&highlight=

 

[elizilla]

Sam, I don't worry too much about whether my gear matches my bike or even matches itself. I'm like you, hard to fit, so I don't have the vast choice in colors and styles that the average-sized riders have. I buy what I can get, and I just wear whatever I've got that works for the weather and seems comfortable that day. Fortunately protectiveness has nothing to do with fashion sense, because I generally look terrible.

The white helmet in my userpic, I stopped wearing because it fogs so badly. In its place I have been wearing a yellow helmet I already had, which doesn't fog so much. Not hi-vis. Just yellow. It clashes terribly with the hi-vis, and the neutral grey NT has been replaced by a brilliant blue Super10 or a red Ural. People's eyes are probably bleeding.

 

[Bear]

I am one of those easy to fit people. In the summer when it gets hot and humid I wear a mesh jacket and mesh pants with shorts underneath. I like lower boots like the Rocket Meteors, Rocket summer gloves, and my Bell Revolver Helmet. The rest of the time I wear Slider Kevlar Jeans and a leather jacket. I also have a Tourmaster jacket that handles moderate to cold weather.

On the motorcycle, I wear all the gear. Unfortunately the only safety gear available to us bicyclists are good helmets and gloves. I am on my fourth helmet--crashed twice, and hit by a pickup mirror once and a car once. I have lots of experience with road rash.

 

[Bear]

I think that the safest thing for all motorists would be to allow Deer hunting Spring, Summer, and Fall for about three years. That would cut the population down better than hitting them with cars and motorcycles.

 

[elizilla]

For a while I had a grey 'stich with purple ballistics, a yellow helmet, and pink hair. I almost bought some green and orange gloves to go with that ensemble. It would have been awesome! But they didn't have my size.

And I agree, we need a lot longer deer season. There are way too many out there, and no predators.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I'm guessing that you've still got the Black and Yellow leathers that were absolutely awesome looking and the nifty yellow leather hair sock that you were wearing when we rode together in Michigan in 2010. You don't have to worry about what color helmet you wear -- you looked great!

 

[bicyclist]

George, I have had so many DIFFERENT classes of bikes that I just don't know what to wear

Hah! Yeah, it's funny how riders decide on their "uniform" depending on what bike type they're riding. My old riding partner rode UJMs and wore a full face, gloves, jacket and boots. He had a motorcycling hiatus and when he returned to riding, it was on a Harley. He didn't go full pirate, but close enough. The crotch rocket guys seem to be of two types. They're either in full race leathers with matching boots and fancy-painted helmets or riding in shorts and flip flops. BMW guys go for the fancy BMW lifestyle textile suits, gloves, boots and Schuberth helmets. I go for the Power Ranger look; stich and day-glo helmet or dayglo mesh and helmet with elkskin gloves. :smile:

I'm a 4X type of guy at 6ft-5in and 300++ lbs of solid, corn fed table muscle and finding ATGATT stuff to fit me is impossible

So, yer sayin they'd have to kill a herd to make a set of leathers?:wink: