Official Accident Aftermat for my Fellow Gun Nuts

[Tamara]

First, for you fellow riders, this was one of those ones that was serious enough that my first thought wasn't "How's my bike?". I just kinda assumed it was at least as totalled as its rider.

However, as mentioned, I was tooling home to drop off my shiny new (for me) .44 Mag Vaquero. My Tomcat was in its usual home in the front flap pocket of my bomber jacket. My G29 was in the plastic bookbag bungee-netted behind me (along with reading materials for work that night) in its Uncle Mike's pancake rig, wrapped as usual in two brown paper pags against just such an occasion. The Vaquero, being pre-owned, had no box and was just loose in the same plastic bag.

Post accident, I deduced from my lack of broken ribs or Beretta-shaped bruises on my right side that the Tomcat was unscathed. The Atlanta Police Department officer who took the report asked me, in the trauma ward, if the guns were stolen, and I replied that they weren't, I was just on my way home from my job at a gun shop. He manfully avoided a crestfallen look and finished filling out the property form, informing me that I could send someone to pick them up from APD property. I understand his disappointment. Police work on daywatch in a nice mostly residential neighborhood no doubt can get crushingly boring at times, and I'm sure there was a small part of him who, stumbling across a sportbike wreck with a chick wearing a bomber jacket with the Flying Tigers insignia airbrushed on the back, guns and gun magazines and books strewn across the street, hoped he'd stumbled across some secret biker gun-smuggling ring. Now that would've been exciting! Maybe they'd let him help with the investigation! But, nope, it turns out to be a routine accident with a sadly injured good guy. Quelle Bummer.

I signed and had notarized a letter authorizing Sheffield to go pick up the pistoles yesterday, and he went down to property pick-up @ City Hall East fully expecting to do battle with the notoriously anti-gun City of Atlanta bureaucracy. Instead they were semi-efficient, unfailingly polite, and forked over the hardware upon his production of the notarized document and my copy of the property receipt.

The Tomcat was unscathed. The G29 suffered a teensy, tiny scuff on the right rear corner of the slide (I mean you really have to look for it). The polished stainless Vaquero, OTOH, suffered: scuffs on the right side of the barrel at the muzzle end and the ejector-rod housing immediately below that, as well as a pretty ugly scrape on the high part of the cylinder towards the front between two of the flutes. They're all too deep to buff out, so I'll leave them as honorable battle scars, and maybe mention it in the property settlement with the other guy's insurance and see what they say...

I haven't shot any of them yet, but everything seems to function fine. As my right wrist was badly busted (in the x-ray room, I noticed my radius and ulna making an odd looking bulge way up on the back of my hand where my knuckles should've been; good thing I was morphined out of my mind...), it'll be a while before I'm up to running .44 Mags through a 4 5/8" tube.

Given the out-of-commission status of my right hand, primary protection pieces right now are the G23C and Tomcat for ease of shooting one-handed weak hand only.

And that's the story.

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"..but never ever Fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and Bullets."
10mm: It's not the size of the Dawg in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog!

[This message has been edited by Tamara (edited June 23, 2000).]

[swampgator]

Truly sorry to hear of your accident. I have resigned myself to avoid "donorcycles" as a primary mode of transportation.

As for everything else, well give the bones a good, long time to heal. Nothing like rushing to get back into commission only to suffer a re-injury.

Good luck with in the upcoming battle with the insurance companies. LOL!

Again, sorry to hear this happened, but good luck and a speedy recovery.

Gator,
Survivor of too numerous bone injuries to list.
(What do you know my first smiley!)

[dinosaur]

Tamara;
Don`t really know you so when I was reading the first part of your post, my eyebrows went up a bit. I`m thinking, "What the hell", ok, it was a different word, "was she doing with all those guns and reading material on the bike?" Of course reading on, I was able to figure it out. Anyway, we had a fine young gentleman kill himself on a new Sportster and lo and behold, he had about 3 keys stuffed under his jacket! The investigation and autopsy showed he was high as a kite and doing quite the excessive speed on a curve. Darwin at its best. I can imagine your man in blue was quite interested!
I sometimes wonder what happened to the Sportster. Did it get a good home, etc. I was having an affair with 2 or 3 Harleys at the time so bringing another one home even if I could would cause no end of problems
Anyway, belated wishes for a speedy recovery and if you never crash, you never ride.
Jeez, a woman who works in a gun store and rides. Where were you when I was younger? Your father doesn`t happen to own a liquor store by chance? Oh, never mind, I don`t drink anymore anyway.

[This message has been edited by dinosaur (edited June 23, 2000).]

[foxfire]

Tamara,
Glad to read that you are on the mend.
Keep us posted on that long road back to a two-handed grip and stance.
All the best...


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...defend the 2nd., it protects us all.
No fate but what we make...

[DOCSpanky]

Tamara, don't hesitate to bring the issue of your damaged property to the table. Although I turned the feeble attempt to settle down, the insurance of the man who ran me over already has been served notice by my attorney that part of my damage claim includes "my inability to comfortably cycle the action on my MOSSY 500! Thereby bringing a loss of personal and family security." The other insurance company already offered $15,000

DOC

p.s. I checked though, it might hurt some, but I can still rack the slide. (just in case any cronny or crook keeps track of these kind of things)

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I thought I'd seen it all, until a 22WMR spun a bunny 2 1/4 times in the air!

[sumabich]

I agree with the earlier post give that wrist plenty of time to heal. But...... this would be a great time (once you don't need the pain pills) to practice with the weak hand! Practice makes perfect. Here's to a speedy recovery!

[CMOS]

Tamara, you're a real piece! Funny, after a very serious accident, you post the "aftermath" of your guns - not your own hide! .

"Gee guys, I had this horrible accident, but my guns were OK!".

Ask the Docs if we can clone you...

CMOS

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NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.

[TexasRusty]

Tamara

Good luck on your mending. I know from personal experience what a long tough road it is going to be for you.

I put my bike into the side of a car 16 years ago. I didn't have your upper body damage but I did shatter right tib/fib about 4 inches below the knee. I was in a cast for 7 months. Took year before I could walk without a cane or crutches. It still tells me when the weather is going to change as well as other problems.

Take care Tamara!
Rusty

[DorGunR]

Tamara,
You are a trip.
Take care and get well soon.

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."

[Bobbalouie]

Hey, I'm glad you survived.

My wife and I were out for a nice spin on the Honda (a big one with a fairing) one day when we came across a stopped VW Beetle in the approaching lane with a poor fellow pushing. I performed a U-turn and stopped to ask the fellow if he needed help. He said no, and I moved around him and on down the road about a hundred yards in order to make a left-hand turn into a diveway in order to reverse course and continue on. As I banked into my left-hand turn, blinker on, left arm out, a lady coming from behind decided the thing to do was pass me on the left at high speed.

The front end of her car caught the front wheel of my bike, taking it down and dragging it a short distance. As the bike began to go down, my smart wife (pregnant at the time) slipped off the back of the bike (no sissy bar) and ran to a halt. I did the automatic thing and tried to hold the bike up, thus making payment #1 by pulling back and torso muscles. Eventually, as the bike snapped down, I took a trip into a nearby (deep) ditch, nicely padded with mud. The bike's fairing exploded, the front fork turned into a pretzel, and sparks flew as the left engine casing turned into a brake pad for the bike. It was totalled.

After climbing painfully out of my nice, soft ditch, checking my wife, and stopping the flow of gas out the bike's tank, I went in search of the lady. Her car was half a block down, back in the right lane, stopped, with spectators blocking her way. As I approached her window, she stared out the windshield, repeating, "My brand new car. You've scratched my brand new car." Turned out she was high on pain-killers.

Despite the availability of multiple witnesses, it took three months to get those paragons of insurance, Geico, to pay her claim. Ask if I'll fall for the large mug. That has been my only "contact-sport" incident.

Once again, glad you survived!

[Ragin Cajun]

Glad you're feeling better! I also have a Tom Cat. And a P-32. The TC is very hard to rack, thus the tilt up barrel. Consider a P-32, it is very easy to rack, is lighter, and thinner. God bless.

[Hueco]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tamara:
I haven't shot any of them yet....[/quote]

The insurance guys or your firearms?

Glad to hear you came out as well as you did though! Here's to a quick recovery, and an inevitably ambidextrious condition!

Hueco

[DOCSpanky]

GEICO, the bane of my existance!

2 other incidents aside from most recent, both were with people "insured" by GEICO. Neither was any bit mine or my wife's fault. We were total victims. First time it took 4 weeks to resolve the damage. Second time, it took 3 weeks and finally a call to the state insurance commissioner to resolve the problem. On that note, if you ever run into a stubborn insurance company, don't hesitate to call the state office. I fought GEICO for 3 weeks to get my car fixed, one call to the commissioner, and GEICO sent a rep to my house with a rental car in tow. Appraised and had it towed, fixed and delivered back to my door in 24 hours!

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I thought I'd seen it all, until a 22WMR spun a bunny 2 1/4 times in the air!

[Gopher .45]

Get well soon! In the mean time, this is an excellent opportunity to force you to make your weak left hand not so weak. Just a thought...

[David Scott]

Tamara,

I know your pain. Back in '81 I got knocked off my Yamaha by some clown doing a drastic, no-signal lane change. They reconstructed my left wrist but I left my spleen at the hospital.

I wish you a complete and speedy recovery.

As for GEICO, I decided I'd never do business with them after I read that they donated free radar guns to PDs in jurisdictions where rates were set low by state insurance boards. More radar guns, more violations, more justification to raise rates. Bastards.

[Dennis]

Tamara,
I've perused your site and read your posts. (Whew!) Here's a respectful tip o' the Stetson from an ole rider in Texas.

[Halffast]

Tamara,

Hope you have a complete and speedy recovery. My sympathy on your Vaquero. Here's hoping it will shoot straight.

David

P.s. - I much prefer the term "Firearms Enthusiast" to "Gun Nut".

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"There are people who do not mind the fact that O.J. Simpson walks free. There are people who do not mind the fact that Lon Horiuchi is not only not punished for his atrocity at Ruby Ridge, but he continues on the public payroll. There are those who know who killed Vince Foster, but are not bothered by the fact that the subject has been dropped officially. I mind those things. Do you?" - Jeff Cooper

[Hard Ball]

Tamara:

I hope your gladius was not damaged.
All of us in Legio X wish you a speedy recovery.

Primus Pilus

[David Roberson]

Tamara, I wish you a speedy recovery and quick return to two wheels. And that Vaquero should still work fine.

I enjoyed your web site. (Hint: You should have tried the V65 instead of the V45. And you get used to that shaft thing.)

I must officially be an Old Guy now. I cringe when I read crash reports like yours, and I ride the Official Bike of Old People, a BMW (R1100R).

[This message has been edited by David Roberson (edited June 23, 2000).]

[missmanytoes]

Tamara,

Glad to see that your sense of humor didn't get broken in the accident. I hope you get back on your feet (and your bike, if you are still inclined) soon, and that you don't get stir crazy while you are laid up.

-sarah

[TMoney]

Tamara, along with the others, I wish you, and yours, a speedy recovery.

I miss my scooter.

Just read the other, earlier thread on your 'scratch'. I thought - 'tis but a scratch - came from Mercutio; I don't know much about the Monty Python guy.
Well, thank God that 'marry, 'twas NOT enough.'

[This message has been edited by TMoney (edited June 24, 2000).]

[skeeter]

Tamara-
Wishing you a fast recovery and maybe a change of mind about bike ownership. I just sold my Honda Magna after many years of bliss but I felt I was pressing my luck. In the 10 years I have been biking with various bikes I never put one down until recently. I was stopped behind two cars who were at a stop sign. I look in my rear view mirror and see a truck coming over the ridge behind me with no driver in sight. Before I can get it in gear I get hit from behind. The woman driving the truck had just bent down to get her pocket book off the floor. Lucky for me she was only going about 15 MPH and I think it helped that I took the brakes off. That was not the end of it. I had the bike repaired at our local Honda dealer ($2000 damage) and the mechanic left off the cotter pin on the brake torque tube . I had just slowed down from a very high speed test run and was going around a turn when I put on the rear brakes. I then found the bike going into a slide as the torque tube dropped to the road and the brake rod wrapped around the axle totally locking up the rear wheel. Had there been a car behind me or if this happened during my test run I would be...I was able somehow to get on top of the bike as it sled and had minor injuries.
I have had too many friends injured by other drivers in ugly ways not to think about maybe I was pushing my luck. One friend was passing a car, on the left, as the car driver put on a right turn signal. The driver then changed his mind (what mind) and tried to make a left. It was a very bad accident. This is related to guns in that it seems there are more idiots today than in days past. The good gun owners as well as drivers are being affected and catarorized(?) and penalized because of these idiots.Anyhow, wishing you well!

[C.R.Sam]

A tough gun nut to crack.

And glad we are that you are.

Sam

[DOCSpanky]

I will play a little of devils advocate. I think it is really getting too dangerous to ride these days. People's complete lack of total responsibility, be it behind the wheel or in court when slick lawyers get murderers off the handle by changing the focus of the trial (ala O.J.). I wish we could pass a law that all a cop had to do was to see you using a handheld cell phone in a car, and he could confiscate the phone, and write a big fat ticket.
I lost a friend on a bike about a year and a half ago, the 17 year old blond bomber who crossed the center line and hit him head on said this, "I had a call, and I was trying to read the caller ID, I wouldn't want to talk to just anyone!" (I'm not sure, but she was probably smacking gum, and bobbing her head from side to side as well !) Her total punishment was community service, and being forced to take a driver improvement course !

There are just too many people like that now, people historically don't look for bikes. Cell phones make people not look for anything!

I would never try to discourage anyone from the joy and beauty of riding, but, the odds are definantly stacked against you.

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I thought I'd seen it all, until a 22WMR spun a bunny 2 1/4 times in the air!

[This message has been edited by DOCSpanky (edited June 24, 2000).]

[DOCSpanky]

Post script:

I would like to write a book,

On the cover would be a cell phone, and a set of car keys. I would title it:

"UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED!"

Stolen name yes, but very true!

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I thought I'd seen it all, until a 22WMR spun a bunny 2 1/4 times in the air!