cplager

... sometimes they aren't.

Here's a blog post I found on another bike forum that I found interesting enough to share.

Ride safe,
Charles

JonnyHK 

Linky no worky for me, but I'm going to guess the content.

I recently was witness to an accident (big group, touched wheel, half a dozen guys on the deck) where one rider was a bit stunned looking and had an unrideable bike. Only some minor visible injuries (hand, knee), but he had hit his helmet on the ground and was a bit 'silly' for a minute.

He and a team mate managed to get a hold of his wife (his phone broke in fall) so she could pick him up, but I offered to stay with him until she arrived.

He tried to get me to go on by saying he was fine, but I managed to convince him that it was no problem and that I'd feel really bad if something happened.

We chatted bikes. His wife collected him. I got a thank you email later on.

I was reasonably sure that he was fine, but is that a chance you take?

rydabent

Great point. We all need to look out for one another.

slowpedaller

I know that when I have been "not OK" I still thought that I was. Including one time, a car hit me, and I sat in the middle of the road for a while. A few cars slowed to ask me if I was ok, then drive around me, and 2 people on horseback also rode up and asked. I rode to a drug store for some first aid supplies, bandanged myself while trying not to drip blood all over the floor, and headed off for the 20 mile ride home. I made it about 19 before I sat down to take a rest, and someone just told me they called me an ambulance instead of asking. I was agreeable, but if they asked I probably would have said I was ok, just resting. Yeah, pretty bad concussion, and lost a lot of blood from the huge gash in my arm. Wow I was bloody. And in retrospect, I'm pretty sure the people on horseback in the middle of a city didn't actually happen.

Chitown_Mike

Great perspective on that article, and glad someone with some knowledge figured something else was amiss. I had a really bad inner thigh cramp happening and had to walk and stretch a bit. It was a killer hot and humid Chicago summer day and despite my best efforts, hydration was a little too lacking so I was cramping. Several (probably a dozen) cyclists past me without asking anything, or even a wave which is sorta weird. But one gentleman running with a club (assuming since they all had the same jerseys on) slowed and asked if I was alright, I said I was cramping. He asked once more and then took a minute to give me some stretching pointers.

Didn't "save my life" but definitely saved me from having to call the Sag wagon (aka the wife). I make it a point to slow and ask a couple of times for instances such as the guy in the article.

njkayaker

The problem is that, if things don't look amiss (like there's been an accident), what you see isn't going to do much to help you (riding by at 15+mph) assess whether the "I'm OK" reply is correct or not.

If things look amiss, you shouldn't take the "I'm OK" reply without confirming it. (People who have had an accident are not generally objective about it.)

Myosmith

Great post. We see this all the time in EMS, people who are seriously ill or injured (especially head injuries) who swear they are fine even when there is a good deal of evidence to the contrary. If something looks hinkey it pays to stick around and check things out further. This blog post shows some classic examples of warning signs. The injured rider knew his name but couldn't recall recent events. Repetitive questions are also a sign of short-term memory impairment. The guy may have had a cell phone but was he mentally with it enough to realize he was in trouble and to call for help? Would he have been able to give anyone useful information about what happened, his condition, or his location?

ItsJustMe

My brother is a paramedic. One of the common problems they get is convincing people to accept treatment who are badly injured but so hopped up on adrenaline that they don't realize it. He's seen people with clearly broken bones say they were fine. He's had people say they were fine drop into shock moments later.

CB HI

Do not apply for the job as town psychic.

JonnyHK 

Link still doesn't work. So was I actually wrong?

Chris516

I actually thought about training to be one. Until I saw a picture online of guy who stuck a bunch of M-80 firecrackers in his mouth. Then set them off and destroyed his airway. The question with the picture was how to intubate someone with a destroyed airway.

As to your original point about his having seen people deny medical help. When I was hit, last year, about a mile from my house, the cops told me to wait for medical personnel. I eventually signed off on the refusal for extensive medical treatment. Because I knew I didn't have any broken bones. I experienced a far more emotionally horrific crash, back in 1981. When a motorist who should have had their license taken away decades earlier, ran me over, resulting in the bike pedal digging in to my foot, through my sneaker. I was in far more pain when that happened. So much that, I thought I was going to end up needing to have my foot amputated. Thankfully, That never happened.

B. Carfree

A good friend of mine makes some interesting rideable contraptions from discarded bikes. One fine day, he was testing out his latest creation, a short wheelbase tall bike. The saddle was about a dozen feet up. He was wearing his usual flip-flops and straw hat when he made an unscheduled landing. His girlfriend, a nurse, showed up just before the ambulance. The EMT was trying to convince Mr. Wizard to accept a ride to the hospital as he clearly had a concussion. At one point, the EMT asked the girlfriend if Mr. Wizard appeared to be behaving normally. She pointed to the bike, reminded the EMT that the patient had just fallen off of it, and asked him what he thought normal behavior looked like for this guy.

No, he didn't go to the hospital, but at least he had a nurse attending to him for the next few days. Thankfully, he fully recovered in short order and lowered the height of the offending bike within the week.

CB HI

Yes.
try
https://www.mickeywitte.com/
then click on the Mar 10 story.

If it still does not work, must be those communist blocking freedom of speech.

ro-monster

When I crashed my bike 4 years ago, I told the guy who stopped and helped me out of the street that I was ok and didn't need a doctor. Well, there was no visible blood, and my helmet never touched the ground . . . so I must not be hurt, right? Granted, there was some pain, but not overwhelming pain. I noticed I was panting very fast, but didn't really think any further about that. After sitting on a handy chair outside a cafe for a while, I got up and walked home. I was considering riding home, even though I was kind of shaken up. However, I discovered that I couldn't lift my right arm at all. So I walked the bike.

Once I got home, it took my boyfriend a couple of hours to convince me to go to the ER. Turned out I had managed to shatter the ball at the top of my humerus, where it sits in the shoulder joint. My entire right side from neck to hip was one giant bruise. I ended up having two surgeries and seven months of rehab, missed over two months of work, and it was nearly a year before I could ride again. So much for being ok!

manapua_man

One thing I've kinda gotten from motocross- anyone who's seriously hit their head and says that they're fine probably doesn't really know what they're saying.

Anything that affects your brain is pretty spooky. I remember this one time I had a really high fever and was taken to the hospital. I distinctly remember seeing Mickey Mouse walk out of the bathroom and then out of the room I was in. Might have been real though, I could see them doing it for a little kid. But probably not.

JonnyHK 

Worked via your link.

Can't see how I was that wrong. Injured/crashed cyclist not necessarily knowing how bad, other cyclists need to look out for them. Am I missing some odd detail?

Going to buy a lottery ticket and see if I can guess me some numbers...

CB HI

^^
OK if you believe you were that close to nailing it. Just do not use a hammer near me please.

kookaburra1701

<-YA paramedic

Yeah, I've had people insist to me that they were "just fine" with their tibia sticking out of the bottom of their foot post motorcycle-wreck.

JonnyHK 

Not far off. When I saw the corrected link I was surprised at how close I was to the topic with a hunch - I genuinely don't see how you even thought it warranted comment. Seriously.

Slow day on the roads in paradise? Too much sun? Coconut fall on your head?

DJ Shaun

My last major crash was a couple years ago. I hit a pothole, lost control and went down hard. Some pedestrians that were nearby came to check on me and asked if I was ok. "I fine!" I said. My body was a little sore but I didn't really feel much pain. Since it happened a few blocks from home I decided to walk the rest of the way. A couple hours later after dinner I was starting to have trouble breathing and I was feeling pain all over my body. Went to the hospital. Turns out I had a fractured rib, which hurt for weeks.

gcottay

And if you find your post constructive, please think again.

CB HI

More so than yours. Are not you one of the people constantly whining about people posting without knowing ALL the so called facts.

dougmc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha...jury_and_death <- not bicycle related, but certainly relevant. She thought she was OK -- then died.