(The helmet that saved Ruckuschick’s pretty little head)
Lately there’s been a lot of comments on The Scooter Scoop dealing with helmets. You probably know my stance on them by now, but if not… WEAR A HELMET!
Anyway, what’s the big deal with helmets? Maybe you are a safe rider with lots of experience… Perhaps you have a scooter that doesn’t go faster than 45MPH… Helmets make it hard to pick up chicks/guys and you don’t wanna mess up your game. These are all GREAT excuses! Fortunately, these were not good enough excuses for a couple of scooter riders we know…
Ruckuschick in Gilbert, AZ and “Soundoftheday” Steve in Austin, TX both survived wrecks this Summer because they wore their helmets.
The first wreck reported in to us at The Scooter Scoop was from Ruckuschick. It was her first. She wrote in herself. How did she have the mental capacity to compose her own email on the event? SHE WORE HER HELMET! Ruckuschick, an experienced, MSF Certified motorcycle rider of 5 years, got into scooters about a year ago. She owned a Honda Ruckus(where the name comes from) and she owned a Honda Reflex. The Honda Reflex went down and was totaled in May… with Ruckuschick ON it.
Let’s have her describe it:
Hey Steve, Ruckuschick here. I crashed my Flex a couple of weeks ago and got a nice ride to the hospital via helicopter. Thank god I was wearing my full face helmet or I’d be a lower form of broccoli or worse. Think you could mention a reminder to folks to wear their helmets and other protective gear when riding on your blog?
If I’d not been a dumbass and worn my armored jacket that day I’d be in even better shape too. The worst injuries were to my knees and ankles and I broke my big toe (wearing tennis shoes ain’t very protective either). And I didn’t even impact another car! A couple trucks stopped short in front of me and even though I had room I locked up the brakes and the rear end went squirly and part of the lower fairing scraped asphalt and I was off to the races, my body tumbling about 4 times (impacted my head about 3 times) and landed in a concrete ditch. The insurance company totalled my Flex, too expensive to fix the plastics. And I sold my lil Ruckus. So now I am scooterless.
Ouch! Right? I didn’t post the other photos here because I wasn’t sure that she wanted the world to see them, but they consisted of images of a scratched up helmet, a scratched up Reflex and lots and LOTS of bacon (road rash)! Poor thing neglected to wear her other riding gear and had to endure some long, painful days in recovery. Here’s how the interview went:
TSS: Do you remember how fast you were going?
RC: About 30 mph
(that’s not fast at all, eh?)TSS: How many 2-wheeled miles do you have under your belt?
RC: About 5 years – most of that on a biggger motorcycle – just got scooters last year about this time. Really was enjoying the nimbleness and auto transmissions of the things.
(So, she’s got some experience here…)TSS: Have you taken a safety riding course?
RC: Yep took MSF course right off the bat
(and she’s got some training… I highly recommend a motorcycle safety course.)TSS: Why didn’t you have on your jacket, probably hot?
RC: I felt too confident on the bike so I figured I could get away with one day without it. Rode every other day with it, just happened I didn’t that day. Ironic huh? Yeah it was hot, but not too hot for the mesh jacket. I’ve heard a saying since the crash, “never ride anything you aren’t a little afraid of”. I think I was too unafraid of this scoot.TSS: Was it also one of those things where it was just a short jaunt so you figured you were safe w/o a jacket?
RC: Yeah it was just a short ride home, a route I’d travelled many times. Funny my worst injuries were to my feet and knees so, I will be adding that protection to my gear from now on too.
Is this your first crash? Yep.
I remember every single detail on this crash including how each road rash scrape was achieved and how each bounce on my head was prtoected by a good fiitng helmet. Losing it happened in about 2 seconds. Not very much time to decide to lock up or try and swerve into possible traffic on the left or hit gravel on the right and who knows.
It was one of those scenarios where the EMT tells her, “You’re lucky that you were wearing your helmet or it would have been game over”. Experienced rider, slow speed… but still GAME OVER! All the experience in the world is not going to pad your cranium. Well, you get the idea. Pam, we’re glad you are all right and hope to see you back on the road soon (let us know what scooter you end up getting to replace the Flex).
We’ll be following up with our interview of “Sound of the day” Steve after a battery recharge.
17. June 2006 at 4:43 pm
I am glad Pam is going to be O.K.. One thing you didn’t talk about is important. People disregard their instructions to give enough space between vehicles so they will have time to stop. I saw someone on a harley the other day riding about 3 feet behing a car. If that car had stopped suddenly the harley wouldn’t have had a chance, helmet or not. They were also doing about 30, This is something I see all the time.
18. June 2006 at 4:07 pm
I would agree with not following too close as well. I usu. leave at least 200 ft. and did when I crashed too, but I think the adrenaline kicked in and the hands did a death grip on the brakes even though I “may” have had plenty of room to stop before impacting the truck in front of me.
19. June 2006 at 4:14 am
I’ve never found myself able to leave 200 feet between myself and any vehicle I’m following when riding in the city. And it’s not like I live in New York, LA, or anything like that. I’m in Kansas City.
As far as helmets go, full face is how I roll. Every time. I am pretty good about wearing my other gear too, but not as consistently as with the helmet.
19. June 2006 at 6:31 am
A very clear reminder for us all. I wear a helmet and gloves but have, at times, been more casual about some of the other gear. Time to get back into the correct mind set now that I am back riding again.
19. June 2006 at 8:37 am
rc – Would ABS have helped prevent the fall?
19. June 2006 at 11:22 am
I had a very similar experience to Pam’s a few months ago. Luckily, I was wearing my Knox-filled jacket and my Schuberth C1 flip-up at the time. The C1 and jacket took the brunt of the impact. Both survived, but the C1 now has some very interesting scars.
I was doing fine until the adrenaline caused me to grap the right brake a little too quickly while turning away. I do think that ABS would have prevented my “get off,” and I’m going to make sure my next bike has ABS.
Brad
19. June 2006 at 12:05 pm
yes I think ABS might have been helpful. Might have stopped the adrenaline death grab problem for sure. But I am not clear if I hit a bit of gravel or oil (possible) and lost front traction if it would have been helpful. I too would like a scoot with ABS next time as well.