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A cautionary tale of tropical riding

2K views 9 replies 10 participants last post by  Turbo DV8 
#1 ·
I live on the tropical paradise of Bali, and use my CBR for driving to clients every day. Two wheel are the only way to go here, as the traffic is horrendous and two wheels are normally twice as fast as four.

I come from a biking environment of northern Europe, where I used all the safety gear: boots, gloves, leathers, back protector, helmet -- the works.

Once I started biking here, these things sort of fell by the wayside with the usual lame excuses of "it's too hot", "the traffic doesn't move that fast", "the drivers are all carefull" and all the other BS we invent for ourselves.

For my case, my normal riding gear was helmet, gloves, shorts, and flip flops -- and I paid the price last tuesday.

I was doing a right hand turn into a side street from a busy main road (we drive on the left here, so the equivalent would be a left turn in Europe and North America). The road was clear, and off I went. Then to my complete surprise there was a taxi in ramming position on my left hand side. Seems that he had been standing still on the main road, had started up and was concentrated on looking at the traffic behind him and did not see me at all.

Everything started going in slow motion, I remember thinking "he's got to stop", "He's not slowing down", "He's going to hit me", which he proceeded to do -- a full broadside to my left leg, with my leg between the taxi and the my bike.

I knew straight away that it was really bad, but thank heavens for shock - I was able to call my wife, people from my office which was 20 meters from there, call my friend who was chief of emergency medicine at a western hospital to organise an ambulance. It was only then that I dared look down at my leg and saw a bone sticking out, a huge lateral gash and my foot hanging off in a completely wrong direction.
But then the ambulance crew arrived together with my doctor friend. 5 shots of morphine were administered and the repair process began. At the end of it all, I found out that I had been extremely lucky - if the taxi had hit my foot 1 cm lower it would have severed a major blood vessel, and the chances of bleeding out at the site would have been very real. Any more force, and my foot would have been taken completely off. As it was, there was no nerve damage, no vascular damage and tendons were frayed, bur none ripped over. This means recovery time to normal walking will be 3 months, and sports activities in 6 months.
Lessons to take away? Wear proper boots. Wear pants. Look a third, fourth and fifth time -- cars do not see us! And for the not so squeamish, here is my leg after repair: Skin Human leg Joint Leg Ankle
 
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#3 ·
wow

I live in Townsville north Queensland Australia , I to have used that excuse for not wearing correct riding gear , thanks for sharing your story , you really ha've put things back into perspective .

cheers and hope you recover quick n well

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Motorcycle.com Free App
 
#6 · (Edited)
Sorry that you seem to have had a bad experience. The moral is KNOW who your renting the bike from.

We winter here in Thailand each year, and here in Phuket, there are probably thousands of people, me included on rented bikes. It's a common practice. While there are undoubtedly some unscrupulous bike hire agencies (it's the jetski guys you really need to avoid), the vast majority are good solid people, and if you don't wreck the bike you should have no problems. We hire a bike each year, and have never had a problem (beyond the initial learning curve of learning to deal with Asian driving practices and traffic, but that's a whole different subject). The biggest problem comes from random tourists who don't ride a bike back home but think that if they come to Asia, that they're somehow qualified to ride here. Also many of them are from Europe or the States and are uncomfortable riding on the left hand side of the road. These people are a danger to everyone. There are LOTS of motorbike accidents here (a friend was killed in one about a week ago) so you'd better have your wits about you (He had been drinking heavily, lost control, and was killed, but would have been killed just as dead back in Sweden doing the same thing).

There are lots of reputable bike hire agencies here, so if you chose your rental agent carefully, the bike should be the LEAST of your worries.

Seriously, Ride safe, and please don't drink and get on a motorbike. If you're headed this way, I'd be happy to point you towards a good rental bike.

EDIT: Also I must note that I too struggle with the issue of protective gear here. At least we always wear our helmets... almost NOBODY here wears any protective gear with the exception of a helmet which probably 1/2 of the riders wear. It's the heat, and also the culture. back home, even in the summer, I'm in ventilated leathers, over here, not at all. I know it's not a good idea, and I even thought about bringing a mesh jacket, but I knew I'd never wear it, especially around town. I do try to remain extra vigilant as a result.

Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery Peter.
 
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