Images of My Auto Accident

I have a friend, Scott Savitt, in town staying with me, and he's an early riser. So, I'm also waking up early. Today, I decided I should go to the Sierra Nevada, since I haven't been to the mountains in a couple years. So, I hit the road just after 4AM (just after Scott left for his morning's activities.)

The trip there was fine, I did feel a little tired as I was on 99, and debated turning around and working on my new computer, but I decided instead to forge ahead. I went to Grant's Grove in King's Canyon National Park, where I emjoyed an early morning walk, and touched some Sequoiadendron giganteum. These are magnificent trees.

Since I had dinner plans, I also knew it would be a short visit. So, I set off for home after a couple hours, at 10AM. It was the intersection of King's Canyon Highway and Frankwood, about 20 miles east of Fresno, that disaster struck.

http://tinyurl.com/2sthwo

Frankwood has stop signs both northbound and southbound. Kings' Canyon Highway does not, the speed limit is 55MPH. Just coming out of the mountains, I had set the cruise control to 55MPH, so I was approaching at something between about 53-57 MPH. Coming northbound was a group of motorcyclists.

On the image above, you will see a white roof on the northeast quadrant, and between that roof and the road are two small green dots. Those are small olive trees. It was when I was immediately south of those two trees that one of the motorcyclists stopped decided to try to beat me through the intersection. I'm 100 feet away, driving close to two tons of metal at 55 MPH. I immediately slammed on the breaks and tried to swerve, but I was unsuccessful. The motorcycle hit the door of my Explorer, shattering the window and smashing the door. Apparently, the driver's head must have hit my window, and the back of his BMW R 1200 RT hit the back of my truck.

There was enough force in the impact to slide me off the road and into the third tree from the right next to the road in the northwest quadrant of the map. I clipped the street sign as well, which probably is what took off my side mirror.

I believed I was uninjured, but was trapped, with my door jammed, and exited my truck on the passenger side. I went to the driver the bike, who was down. One of his fellow riders had medical training and took over the medical situation. I grabbed some flares from my truck to help direct traffic while waiting for the police.

The driver of the motorcycle was eventually evacuated on a backboard by helicopter; his legs were moving and he was concious, which is a good thing. The CHP quickly ascertained what happened, and confirmed that there was nothing I could have done to avoid the collision (apart from not being there at the time) and that "fault" in the accident would not be mine. I was informed that this motorcycle rally was a "law enforcement" rally. Nearest thing I can conclude is that the driver of the motorcycle, a retired local chief of police, must have thought it was a four-way stop. I hope he is OK.

We rescued my truck from the tree, and determined the frame was OK, so I drove it home. The left side is smashed, and there is glass all over the car. My elbow started hurting when I was heading home, when I got home, I couldn't lift anything with my left arm. It must have been resting on the window frame and taken some of the impact.

It's a bad day for me, but a really bad day for the other guy.

	Initial Impact l The initial impact was probably on the door, here.
	Window Damage The main impact came from the motorcyclist's head against my window
	Window Damage Since the door bore the brunt of the collision, the damage here is worst.
	Broken Glass There was glass in my driver's seat.
	Footwell Broken Glass There was glass in the footwell.
	Broken Glass There was glass on the console. There was glass in my socks, in my clothes, in my hair, in the back...
File not found: /home/james/images/mine/2007-US-CA-bumper00001.jpg	Bumber I slid into a tree.
	The Tree's Impact There's a dent, obviously, but not like the others.
	Fender Damage There are scratches and paint damage.
	Fender Damage More of the same.
	Door Damage Dents on the door, too.
	The brunt of the impact The rest of the motorcycle must have hit here.
	Rear Damage Several large dents.
	Rear Damage Another angle.
	The Side Mirror The side mirror ("wing mirror" in the UK) was sheared off when I just missed the street sign.
	The Side Mirror I found a piece of the mirror in the passenger's side footwell.
	Passenger Side Damage Passenger side damage from sliding past olive trees.
	Passenger Side Damage Passenger side damage from sliding past olive trees.
	Passenger Side Damage Passenger side damage from sliding past olive trees.
	Antenna Damage The radio antenna was wiped out.
	More Broken Glass Passenger side broken glass.
	Window Jam Damage Note how the window frame was jammed back.
	Window Jam Damage And how the door jam blocks opening.
	More Rear Damage Last bit of rear damage.