Linda's Bikers for Babies ride, 2003
The accident on the way to Toad Suck Dam.
Sunday Sept 7, was a beautiful day. I arrived at the Kroger Store on Hwy 10, late as usual, for the Bikers for Babies ride. I got there as the 11:00 group was pulling out. About 11:10 a group of about 40 bikes, from Memphis, both sport bikes and cruisers arrived. I walked around talking to various people and decided to wait for the 11:30 ride. At about 11:20, I was lined up at the back of the group. I sat there and sat there. Then I noticed a group ahead of them moving out.” Should I go up ahead?” I asked. No, I was told to stay there. I preferred to be behind the sport’s bike anyway being they generally ride faster than cruisers. About 11:40 we pulled out. Everything was fine going down Hwy 10. Behind me I had 1 bike, 2 or 3 chase cars, one which was pulling a flat bed trailer, and an ambulance .
The first sign of trouble came when we turned onto Hwy 310. Suddenly, I had 4 bikes stopped in the middle of the road, straight ahead of me! I applied my brakes, slowing down to a near stop. Where is the bike that was behind me? I checked first one mirror then the other. I looked behind me. The vehicles had all stopped several feet back. No danger from them. But where was the bike? Finally I located him way over to my left on the other side of the “y” intersection. By this time, the bikes had started moving in front of me. I slowly started back up watching them more closely. One bike in front of me on the left side was continually crossing over into the other lane on the curves. Another one on the right was running off the road onto the gravel/grass in the curves. I slowed down more, putting more space between me and them.
After a few miles we rounded a curve and topped a hill. There in front of me was chaos. Bikes every where! One bike lying on its side off the road near the middle of the curve in gravel! It looked like it was lying on top of someone! People were running from every direction toward it... Bikes were parked along the edge of the road and in the road angled every which way. As I got closer, I pulled off the road carefully because I knew the people behind me were looking at the wreck and not at me. People were already picking up the bike and pulling the person out from beneath it. I pulled off the road about 30 feet from the accident trying to stay far enough back that the ambulance could pull in. I realized as the bike behind me pulled beside and in front of me and the cars pulled up behind me, that there was not going to be enough space for the ambulance. So I then carefully maneuvered through the maze of bikes, watching out for on coming traffic and running people. I parked on the other side of the road, past the accident about 25 feet. The person on the lead bike and a person from one of the vehicles were already on the road on each side, up from the curve trying to stop traffic. People around the injured person were motioning the ambulance to come on down, but no one moved their bikes. No one made a place for the ambulance to come down and park. They had to park in the curve on the opposite side of the road. There were so many people around the injured woman that the medics had a hard time getting to her. I walked down after a bit and looked between people from about 10 feet away. The injured woman was setting up, talking and had a trickle of blood running down her leg but other wise looked OK. I walked back up to my bike to get out of the way.
With the ambulance blocking one lane, bikes and people blocking half of the other lane, and short visibility both ways, traffic was getting tricky going through there. Plus, people in cars were rubbernecking, trying to see what had happened. When everyone decided the woman was OK, a man got on the wrecked sports bike, which now had white scratch marks down its side, and rode it up the road a little ways, past the traffic director and myself. While turning the bike around, he ran off into a little bit of gravel that was at the edge of the road but managed to stop. He shook his head, took a deep breath and pulled back on the road slowly with several people shouting at him, “Stop!” “You don’t want to go there”, “Don’t go there!” He rode the bike back toward the vehicle pulling the trailer, which had parked partially off the road. Wondering why everyone had yelled at him, I walked across the road and looked down. There was a deep ravine of about 12 feet with a running creek and rocks at the bottom. A very dangerous situation.
At that moment, with the ambulance sitting in the curve on the wrong side of the road, the vehicle and trailer blocking the other side of the road, traffic down to one lane, one person hurt, another one nearly riding off into the ravine, and people wandering in the road, I decided I wanted out of there immediately! I flagged down a group of guys riding by and asked if I could ride with them on to Toad Suck. They said sure. I was relieved because otherwise, I would have been lost on my own. However, one way or the other, I was getting out of there.
About 15 minutes after getting to the Toad Suck Dam and Park picnic area, I noticed the group coming in. I asked about the woman and was told that she was OK. She was riding on the back of another bike, and her bike was on the trailer.
I am glad that she was OK and nobody else was hurt. But this reminded me of some prime examples of what NOT to do when there is a wreck. Remember first stop safely off the road, not in the road. Then hit the kill switch on the bike and get the bike off the person. Don’t take their helmet off. The person may be hurt badly enough that you moving them, or removing their helmet, may injure them more. Give the medic and emergency crew room to get to the person and space to work on them. They know better than you what to do and how to do it. Parking in the road or standing in the road only gives the cars or on lookers something to hit or run over while they are gawking at the accident. When something happens in front of you such as a wreck or sudden traffic stop, the people behind you or around you are not going to see you. They are going to be straining to see the incident. You are going to become invisible. Get out of the way! If you aren’t needed at the scene, then leave it, you are only contributing to the congestion. And remember, (Stay Alert) it could and probably will save your life or at least your hide someday.
Ride Safe,
Linda