My Dad had a really nasty crash on Friday (19th) after hitting a diesel spill near Horton-in-Ribblesdale at about 1.30pm. He was with me and Hans brother and riding at the back – doing about 60mph, I just saw him skidding along the road and bounce along the wall in my rear view mirror and managed to stop an get back to him quickly to find him trying to stand up and then collapsing in the middle of the road.
We got him to the side of the road and moved his bike out of the way. The shaft had smashed in two and the sub-frame bent.
He was looking really bad but in one piece, but complaining of a lot of pain.
Anyway the long at the short of it was he was carted off to Lancaster hospital in the Air ambulance with a suspected broken shoulder or collar bone.
I road over there while Mum sorted herself out to come over with my Uncle and Auntie.
When I got there about 3.30pm he was really pale and faint but after two x-rays they could confirm that he had not broken anything. He has torn and strained muscles, joints etcc and a lot of internal bruising, and is in a lot of pain to the shoulders and neck and they said he’s taken a bash to the head (his helmet was badly scrapped on the top just above the visor)but thankfully a CT scan revealed all is well upstairs.
Anyway – he's home now in one piece, feeling worse for wear and very sore, its a miracle he's not broken any bones, so once the bruising dies down he should start to feel better.
He's a self employed window cleaner so hopefully he'll be well enough to work in few weeks.
Here's what we think happened (Dad can't remember a thing):
He hit the diesel spill and the bike slid away from him - maybe he was braking before the corner. When I saw him in the mirror the bike was already halfway down. He then hit the verge and wall twice with the plastic refelctors next to the wall quite possibly saving him from hitting the wall full on.
The shaft had split at some point. Initailly I though this may have happened prior to the accident and therefore causing the accident - however the diesel spill would suggest otherwise. Also there was a small patch of oil where the bike came to rest that I think came from the final drive as I picked the bike up.
Here's a few pics...
The last two pics show the diesel spill.
