How many accidents have you had?

[sundial]

I was thinking about some of the TE'ers who have had some pretty bad accidents lately. I've also thought about the mishaps I've encountered. Let's see, when I was in grade school, my bedroom got blown to smithereens by lightning. In high school I played basketball and came down wrong on a jump shot and blew the ACL. I also backed into a cool 70's camaro that belonged to a police officer, and rear-ended a lawyer whose car almost ended up in a fountain in front of a university. Then of course my latest--a dumb endo on the pavement.

I was wondering.....how many accidents have you had?

[Tuckervill]

All my worst car accidents have been in red Beetles.

When I was 7 my mom was driving me to school in our '67 red Beetle, and she clipped someone's fender at a stop sign while making a left. I cracked the windshield with my head because I wasn't sitting back like she always told me. I'm glad it was the side of my head, because if I had been sitting back it could have been my face. :O

When I was 20 I was driving my '72 red Beetle and I spun around on a curved bridge on black ice. Both bumpers of the car hit time and again as I banked down the bridge. Nothing was damaged except the bumpers and the tail pipe.

When I was 44 (last year ), a street sweeper ran a red light going down hill, and totaled my 2001 red New Beetle, and gave me whiplash.

I don't drive a red Beetle anymore.

Bike accidents: When I was 9, I rode my Schwinn Flying Star down a side trail which I took to avoid going down a steep hill. I let my front wheel go off into a washout while looking back over my shoulder, and I endo'd after I hit a large boulder head-on. My nose struck the bolt holding the handlebars on. My nose broke. I passed out and had a concussion.

I was rushed to the hospital in a red Beetle. :O

Karen

[Flybye]

It all happened when I decided to play fireman as a kid.

My father was a fireman and so as a child, we of course, had a dalmation.

I had the brilliant idea to take the metal ladder from the swingset and put my arms through it and slide it around my waist. I then hooked the dalmation dog (Sissy) up to a red metal wagon by her collar with a jump rope and sat in the wagon.

Well, Sissy was a runner. You couldn't let her out of the gate in the yard without her taking off, which, I of course was counting on to get me to the imaginary fire. Off we went at lightning speed down the street. Here we come to save the day!

Enter squirrel -

She saw the squirrel in someones yard, and like any dog would do, took off after it, me in tow. This might have all gone over without mishap if there wasn't the curb. Not the nice, rolling curb that you can ride a bike up and down, but the kind of curb that is STRAIGHT up and down. The 90 degree kind.

The front wheel of the wagon hit the curb, I flew out of the wagon and landed face down, ladder implanted in the grass, hovering above the lawn with only my feet touching the grass.

Don't recall ever putting the fire out that day!

Never did that again!!!

Oh, and now that I think about it, there was a red Beetle that was always parked a few houses away. I wonder if it was there that day?!

[bmccasland]

I haven't had much major -

• as a child I fell out of a tree and broke my nose on the way down
  
• hit a bump or something in the road and flew through the handlebars of a friend's banana bike, needed stitches in my chin
  
• in college stumbled and fell while hiking, split open my forehead. When they rolled me over I remember someone asking if anyone knew first aid. I said "I do"
  Concussion, stitches in my forehead, and some lost feeling in my forehead to this day.
  
• more fun in college - hit in head with an elbow while playing volleyball. Concussion, skull fracture, some hearing loss, and vertigo. Still have issues with the vertigo
  
• learning to use clipless pedals - fell over at a complete stop, and did a face plant on concrete steps at the office. Broke nose, again.
  
• And most recently, that did actually get me an ambulance ride to the hospital - found out the hard way I have a food allergy. Full blown anaphalytic shock in a restaurant. Fortunately I had an epi-pen, and figured I'd better use it, before I passed out. The suspect food was squid, but when my blood was tested (at the Mayo Clinic), I didn't show an allergy. So my doc is confused and is trying to figure out what to test me for, or see if there's a skin test available. We do know I had a severe reaction to something. and the only new food I ate was the squid.

(all required trips to the ER in one way or another except nose break #2)

[OakLeaf]

Oh, geez, we're listing ALL our accidents, cycling, other sports, car, motorcycle, kitchen, slip and fall, everything?

Y'all don't have enough room for mine

[sundial]

I was rushed to the hospital in a red Beetle. :O Karen

I'm sorry........I can't stop laughing!!

Flybye--HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Your stories are the best medicine!

[sundial]

Oh, geez, we're listing ALL our accidents, cycling, other sports, car, motorcycle, kitchen, slip and fall, everything?

Y'all don't have enough room for mine

Ya gotta share at least ONE memorable moment in the natural world. C'mon, pretty please?

[margo49]

Last time there was a thread on this topic I got a PM "you always seem to win these" so I'll sit this one out !
(Actually I am in my Terrible Tractor Nearly Squished to Deff Accident Anniversary period with accompanying post-traumatix. No sudden noises or movements, please.)

[Trek420]

So this is bike, car, squirrel meets ladder meets dog? Everything counts?

about 4, fell on a chicken feeder. 7 stitches across the nose.

took up whittling. Cut my thumb.

car crash, VW rolled on I5, compression fracture of vertebrae.

At aikido a guy falls on my knee, torn ACL and all the stuff around it.

In the kitchen; cooking at Cafe Valerian someone puts the mats upside down, hot soup stock all up the front of my body. Emergency first aid, quick thinking and EMTs at Kaiser you can't see the scars now.

In kitchen at home carrying block of cheddar cheese, slip and broke my ankle.

3 bike crashes to date, no damage to Trek;

rode about 15 feet off a creek bed, tucked and perfect forward roll with the bike, I'm ok. (wheels taco'd though). I meant to do that, been meaning to upgrade the wheels.

hit bay car on Broadway near College Ave, again took a roll and I'm ok. Bike totaled, scavenged the parts onto the next bike.

near miss also on College. Emergency right hand turn and saved the crash.

Don't know if I could do any of that again so hope that' s all folks.

[Tuckervill]

Gosh, Flybye! I can really picture that ladder wreck! lol.

Karen

[singletrackmind]

Right now I'm sporting a broken toe from a chair that stepped into my path.

let's see...
Broken hand, various broken toes at various times

80 stitches and minus one peach-sized chunk of me from bike wreck.

Spading fork through hand and nicked two fingers besides when digging for worms with sister to go fishing.

Broken collarbone from commuting bike wreck

Broken same collarbone in two more places from bike wreck during mountain bike race a couple of years later, also knocked out and had concussion

Rebroke same collarbone a week later in another mountain bike race.

Broken rib during fun ride

5 stitches in arm and 1 in artery when large mirror broke over my back during house cleaning.

Cut pinky tendon working with exacto knife, to this day I look prissy drinking with the darn thing sticking up (it doesn't bend on the end anymore)

Broken said pinky finger a number of times because it does stick straight out and gets jammed into stuff

That's about the worst of it, nothing too bad really. Been lucky in being healthy for the most part.

[lph]

We do know I had a severe reaction to something. and the only new food I ate was the squid.

Hey Beth, maybe you reacted to the spices or oil or something it was cooked in - I know peanuts are one of the things people get really nasty allergic reactions too, and I think you can cook in peanut oil. Just a thought.

[LBTC]

Beth, I agree with lph, the squid could have been cooked in something you react to. At least until you find out what, I hope you always have that epi pen with you!

I'll play the injury game a bit later - when I'm at work, they actually want me to work!

H&B
~T~

[smilingcat]

I guess I can't feel too bad

So soo many Yeoores around. Well I shouldn't talk cause I'm one too.

smilingcat

[7rider]

I was wondering.....how many accidents have you had?

Of note: 3 bike and 2 car.
For the car....Nothing novel or entertaining...just stupid accidents. I rear-ended a car once, and in a spat of karma, got rear-ended myself. But...those were about 15 years apart. The rear-endee resulted in my herniated disc issues.

For the bike...
1. Playing "chicken" with my neighbor, Scott, on the bikes when I was very young (10ish??). Old bolt-on front wheels. Neither of us chickened out. Head on crash. Bolt from his front wheel sliced into my knee. I still have the scar.
2. Chasing an ex-BF ("A$$-hole" to my family) down a bike trail on my mtb. Launched myself off a waterbar and into a tree. No idea how. Torn LCL and medial meniscus. Got a nice scar for that one.
3. Doing the sunday ride with the LBS...Beach Drive...a pack of about 8 of us, cruising along at about 20 mph. Dumb guy in front of me grabs a fist full of brakes and zigs around a pothole, rather than bunnyhopping it and calling out. He takes out 2 of us. One falls to the right and into the dirt. I fall to the left and onto the pavement. Major road rash on my hip and I tore my favorite pair of shorts. No scars for that one, but it was a painful flight home (was living in MA at the time).

Oh...and I suppose I can add skiing.
Was skiing down a bunny slope at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire when I caught an edge in a slush puddle and went flying. Pulled muscles. Major ego bruise. I hate spring skiing. I love the weather....hate the snow.