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Old 04-19-07, 12:13 PM
  #25  
Niles H.
eternalvoyage
 
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Condolences.

I had an almost identical accident last summer. It was also an SUV (and also happened to be driven by a young woman). The contact point was a little farther forward -- near the front edge of the right rear wheel.

It happened so quickly that I had no time to evade. (It takes maybe a second for the sensory and afferent nerves, the brain, and then the efferent nerves to conduct and process impulses, and initiate muscle movement; and the following actions also take some amount of time -- it all seems so quick, but it can be measured -- and it all allows for plenty of things to be happening in the meantime, especially when fast-moving vehicles are involved....)

In fact, the timing was so fast and perfect, I thought she had done it on purpose. It really seemed that way. She couldn't have timed it better, or done it more skillfully. She took me out like she knew what she was doing.

I too had sore spots along my left side -- wrist (which had a very sharp pain; I kept shaking it after the accident), elbow, side of knee, shoulder, hip. The worst was the hip. The paramedics checked for neck and spine injuries; the police asked if I wanted to file a report. I thought I was just bruised. But the hip injury kept causing problems. A lot of pain at times. Looking back, I think there was probably some kind of minor hairline fracture. It got better after a few weeks.

I felt extremely lucky that it was not worse.

***
There may be something at work here -- a factor in these accidents that is rarely discussed.

I am not a sexist, but I do believe that there is sufficient scientific evidence that there are some differences between male and female brains. Some of the differences are visible to the naked eye. Others can be tested and measured. Each gender has some strengths and weaknesses going.

Women do not have the same spaciotemporal projection processing. It can be tested. I've observed it with friends. I know women who have also observed it, and who are aware of it.

In these kinds of accident situations, men tend to take for granted that everyone is aware of and processing physical events (relational movements of objects, etc.) in the same way. It may be that some people -- probably some men as well as some women -- are not processing the movements and the situation in the same way the rider is.

It seems that this awareness (of individual differences) may enhance safety by giving riders a more accurate account of what is going on around them. Assuming that other people are on the same page, or have the same sort of awareness of what is happening, or the same sort of processing in the brain, is itself a hazard.
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