She's gone...but not forgotten

[Caffeinated]

West Virginia is a beautiful state to ride; lots of great roads and scenery. This weekend was my yearly fall ride with the guys to Sugar Grove WVA. Rode all the roads around and up through SnowShoe etc...Beautiful.







This was in Virginia



Unfortunately WVA needs to quit with the constant road work and putting large patches(lane width and 4-5 feet long) of gravel in the road. About 5 miles from the Sugar Grove Navy base yesterday at about 6pm, I hit that gravel. Bike squirreled around, and then hit the second patch of gravel...pointing me at the edge of the road.  Road the edge, and unfortunately focused on the ditch. Bike hit the end strait on, and tossed me up and over landing me about 5-6 feet beyond.  I was wearing my one piece Teiz powershell, and that did it's job. I did not hit my helmet on the ground, but must have hit the side of my shin and knee on the left handle bar when the bike stopped and I did not. Neck is sore, and the helmet strap left marks, and the rest of my body is sore also.

When I finally got my wits and was able to turn around to see what happened....I saw this.








Here's my leg. May go to the doc for an x-ray, but I thinks it's just really bruised.



Tow guys were awesome! Set her on a tire to pull up the ramp so no additional damage was done from the tow. And they actually found us before I was able to get the Ins. Co. to call. They are the only place there, so they would have been called anyway.

I'll never see her again  

[MAN OF BLUES]

West Virginia is a beautiful state to ride; lots of great roads and scenery. This weekend was my yearly fall ride with the guys to Sugar Grove WVA. Rode all the roads around and up through SnowShoe etc...Beautiful.

Here's my leg. May go to the doc for an x-ray, but I thinks it's just really bruised.



Tow guys were awesome! Set her on a tire to pull up the ramp so no additional damage was done from the tow. And they actually found us before I was able to get the Ins. Co. to call. They are the only place there, so they would have been called anyway.

I'll never see her again

ouch....glad to hear you are ok, sorry about the bike, it's done for sure.....

as for those gravel strip patches in w. va., we had our run ins with them for the last 4 or 5 years or so in that very area, around Boyer station, Greenbank, Snowshoe, all the way between Marlington to Rella's in Hacker valley, and all those backroads...
It is was and still is a dangerous road repair that is not acceptable for a state that "is sooooo motorcycle oriented", I'd be shooting a letter off to the governer, Earl Ray Tomblin , and include the photos, telling him exactly what your feelings are with regards to those dangerous "road fixes".
Actually, prior to the patch being filled in, we had many stretches where they had "scarfed" out the blacktop 1-1/2 inches deep,prior to the patches, and they left them for a couple days before filling them... this was during the Dog Days rally 2009... those got the pucker factor up for sure

http://youtu.be/qNKMS1ec0TE

so much for making the roads safer.....

[VirginiaJim]

My God, Chris, glad you're ok.  Anything I can do, let me know.

[maxtog]

Thank God you are OK.  That is horrible damage to your Concours... totaled for sure.

[Broz]

Sorry to hear about that Chris. Glad you were not seriously injured.

So how did you get home, ride two up with your buddies?  I wonder about these strange things.

Once we had a guy in out group dump it in a ditch on NC Hwy 80. He wAs lucky in was one of the few forgiving spots on that road. We were able to haul it out of ditch and bungy cord the bits of plastic to the bike and he was able to ride home.  But he retired from riding after that. It was his third careless/ innatentive riding error that led to an accident.

Hope you are back on a bike soon and at 100%

Broz

[Gumby]

Yikes.  Glad your ok.

[Caffeinated]

Thanks all for the well wishes. I'm calling Kaiser to setup an appt. tomorrow. I'm supposed to go on my daughters ziplinning/ropes course field trip tomorrow. Hope the rain postpones that.

Forgot to add in these interesting details....My buddy rides a K1600GT, and was in front of me, and we were talking on the Sena's about the gravel on the road.  He then heard me go down....said it was the worst thing he's heard. He knew what happened immediately, and swung a u-turn on the narrow road. His bike got stuck on the edge, because his traction control was kicking in and not letting the back tire come out of the grass. He revved it , and was able to get out, but upon swinging another u-turn up near me, he dumped the bike. He though he just lost balance. So I turn around and see my bike destroyed, and his on it's side...crazy.  We pushed  the bike up off the side of the road so we could go to the bottom of the road to try and get some cell coverage. Made my way onto the back of the 1600, and we tried to go. We ended up coasting down to the bottom of the road into the town of Sugar Grove. We figured out his drive shaft blew up, and is rattling around. So, left it in Sugar Grove in-front of the tow company's parents house (seems they own most of the town). We both got a ride back to the base. My friend called one of his friends, who went by his house early this morning to get his pickup and ramps. We go the bike and were at his house by 12:30pm.

Add to this...one of the other guys was riding with a plug in his back tire that was leaking. Every time we stopped, he would re-air the tire with MY little slime compressor...as we were trying to diagnose the K1600, the compressor died.  Guess I'll add that to the ins. claim..

[MAN OF BLUES]

wow.... now that WAS a bad day....
kinda summed up by this...



all kidding aside, glad you ALL are ok.....

[Scaffolder]

So glad you are alright. That looked like a nasty crash. Heal quick.

[ZG]

Glad you're alright Chris, here's to quick healing and fast insurance payout bro! 

[Caffeinated]

ouch....glad to hear you are ok, sorry about the bike, it's done for sure.....

as for those gravel strip patches in w. va., we had our run ins with them for the last 4 or 5 years or so in that very area, around Boyer station, Greenbank, Snowshoe, all the way between Marlington to Rella's in Hacker valley, and all those backroads...
It is was and still is a dangerous road repair that is not acceptable for a state that "is sooooo motorcycle oriented", I'd be shooting a letter off to the governer, Earl Ray Tomblin , and include the photos, telling him exactly what your feelings are with regards to those dangerous "road fixes".
Actually, prior to the patch being filled in, we had many stretches where they had "scarfed" out the blacktop 1-1/2 inches deep,prior to the patches, and they left them for a couple days before filling them... this was during the Dog Days rally 2009... those got the pucker factor up for sure

http://youtu.be/qNKMS1ec0TE

so much for making the roads safer.....

Hmm...wonder if there is any legal recourse against the state that could be pursued? Maybe then they would get the message to properly patch their roads. 

[maxtog]

Hmm...wonder if there is any legal recourse against the state that could be pursued? Maybe then they would get the message to properly patch their roads.

Normally the state is covered under sovereign immunity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_United_States

[Caffeinated]

Found this.....

Yes, you can sue the state, but only for reasons it allows and not in the same way that you can sue an individual or private business. The general rule is that the state has immunity from being sued unless its laws specifically permit lawsuits for specif types of claims. These are generally called Tort Claims Acts, although other states may have different names. A common provision in such laws is that the state may be sued for "proprietary" actions but not "governmental" actions. Each state law will have differences of some sort or another so you have to check the applicable state law. An example would be if a state built a road that was not able to handle all its traffic and an accident happened, the state most likely would be immune from suit because the decision on the design of the road is considered a governmental decision. However, if in the act of maintaining the road, a state maintenance crew does something negligent to cause an accident, then there would be no immunity, because maintaining the road is considered proprietary.
In addition to specifically delineating the types of state actions that can be sued upon, Tort Claims Acts typically require some procedural steps that must be taken. Some laws forbid the filing of a lawsuit unless a written notice of the intention to file suit has first been given to the state. There are other procedural and substantive matters that make suing a state different than suing an individual too numerous to go into here. For more detail, the actual statutes have to be read.

[Makz58]

Glad you are OK. Bikes can always be replaced.

[Spanky]

Glad you are OK! Best of luck with the healing process.

[mvjr1904]

Glad to know you can out without any major injuries
Good luck getting back on your feet and getting what you expect on the bike repair or payout.
Do you think the Canyon Cages prevented some engine damage?

[The Pope]

Man!!!! Glad that you're ok!!! Prayers for quick healing.

[MAN OF BLUES]

Found this.....

Yes, you can sue the state, but only for reasons it allows and not in the same way that you can sue an individual or private business. ...

if you intend to pursue better do so right now.... you only have a couple days to begin the process....should you decline to do so after filing, isn't an issue, just have to inform the Gov't office of your INTENT within (10 days IIRC)...

The placement of signage along the areas (at each end of the repaired zones) stating a hazardous condition may exist, releases them from liabilities. As I noted, we have ridden those very same areas, during repair sessions on those roads, and at those times there were always some signs prior to approaching the gravel areas. If in this case, there were none at any point, nor any prior warning that a hazardous condition MAY be present by result of current/recent application of gravel/maintenance, then in fact you could pursue this legally; time would be of the essence, and the compensation would be based on the damages and losses above what may be paid for by insurance.

I'd talk to a lawyer, and your other group members from that ride, and make sure there was no signs warning of the hazards prior to the incident.


" a city has the responsibility of warning travelers of dangers that are inherent to a road. This can include sharp curves or bridges that easily ice over. Construction areas must also be properly marked so drivers can act accordingly when they enter them. All of these conditions can easily be cautioned against with the use of road signs. Unfortunately, city governments don’t always provide warnings or remedy these hazards in an appropriate time frame; which leaves them open to personal injury lawsuits.

Relinquishing your Rights
Everyone has the right to recover compensation when they are injured due to negligence caused by another entity. The Municipal Act, 2001 S.O. 2001, c.25, however, states that it is necessary for a person to notify the city of the incident and their intention to file a claim within ten days of the accident. If a person misses this deadline, then they will likely relinquish their rights to compensation for their accident, but there are some instances in which they may still file a claim.

In the case Allen v. The Corporation of the County of Prince Edward, 2012 ONSC 3870 (CanLII), it was affirmed that accident victims could retain their right to make a claim even after the ten day deadline if they had a legitimate excuse and the city wasn’t prejudiced by the delay. A person’s ‘reasonable excuse’ often relates to their injury. This can include how seriously they were injured, the nature of the medications that they were put on and how long they spent in the hospital. Whether or not the city was prejudiced usually relies on whether the city had time to investigate the accident. This did not play out well for the plaintiff in Argue v. Tay (Township).

In Argue v. Tay (Township), the plaintiff waited nearly two years to notify the city of their impending claim. She was released from the hospital the same day as her accident and returned to work within two weeks. It was also apparent in the police report that she blamed the city for her accident. Since she had no legitimate excuse for not meeting the ten day deadline, her case was dismissed. The judges also considered the fact that the city didn’t have proper notice to investigate the road where the accident occurred, and conditions could’ve changed considerably within the two years that it took for them to be notified.

Poorly maintained roads are far too often the causes of serious accidents. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that roads are safe to travel on, and when they fail in this duty, it can lead to serious injuries and even deaths. Anyone who is injured due to this type of accident can easily recover compensation for their wreck, but they will lose their rights to recover in most instances if they wait too long. This makes it necessary to start the claims process almost immediately."

[Rhino]

Great pics BTW, right up until that 7th one. Glad your ok and hope the insurance company treats you well.

[x9rider]

That sucks, sorry to hear of that. Bikes can be replaced, people can't. Get well soon!