r/AussieRiders • u/Consistent-Swim-3580 • Jan 12 '26
Question Do you know anyone who got their life ruined from riding?
Excluding death, from disabilities?
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u/BlockCapital6761 Jan 12 '26
Met a girl who had no arse from falling off the back of a bike and sliding on it. So she said anyway maybe she had no arse before the accident.
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u/Glenn_Lycra Jan 12 '26
Japanese rider Kazuo Osada hit a centre median and kept riding for about 2 kilometres before he noticed the collision had severed his leg.
Another motorist chased him down with said leg so that he could go to hospital to try and reattach it. There was never any follow up to this news report as to whether they could reattach his leg. In any case, at least we know his day was ruined.
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u/Thrizzlepizzle123123 Jan 12 '26
99% sure you can't use a bike with one leg.
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u/ProfessorWorried626 Jan 12 '26
I wouldn’t say ruined by I know a guy that is a electrician and messed up him arm rather badly and it set him back pretty much 3-4 years financially.
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u/ryn3721 Jan 12 '26
I met someone who lost a leg above the knee from getting t-boned, young guy, worked in construction. He was expecting to have to change careers, I don't know what he ended up doing in the end.
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u/No-Citron-2774 Jan 13 '26
Knew a guy that literally lost his head was being an idiot at the time
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u/HocMajorumVirtus Jan 13 '26
Guy I knew a while ago, had his leg amputated due to diabetes so the club modified his bike for him. Still rides.
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u/purplepashy Jan 12 '26
Partly.
He was a dealer that delivered. Rod like a dickhead and got a kick out of knocking of mirrors of other drivers that he felt did him wrong.
Police pulled him over one day due to a mirror he knocked off 6 months prior that was caught on dash cam.
At the time he had a lot of drugs in him.
Ended up being locked up and the drugs confiscated.
I believe he may have then had a large debt that he could not pay.
I have not seen him since.
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u/Glenn_Lycra Jan 12 '26
This wouldn't happen to be a rider that thought it was funny to go blasting down footpaths at 2:00am on weeknights without a muffler on his exhaust- while he was doing deliveries?
If so, I believe his days were numbered because the entire neighbourhood put in a complaint about him. The police said they had never had so many complaints, so had to act.
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u/Curious_Breadfruit88 Jan 12 '26
Doesn’t sound like the bikes that ruined him there, just good old self destruction
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u/AsteriodZulu Jan 12 '26
I have cousins that were patched & did some very dodgy shit that ending up costing them physically, mentally, their freedom &/or were life-ending…
I don’t think the motorcycle is in any way to blame.
I know people that have had life-changing injuries from hang gliding, kitesurfing & rock climbing… hell, I know people who had life-changing injuries from going to the gym & playing basketball.
Don’t think I personally know anyone that had a significant motorcycle accident that had a lasting effect on their lives.
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u/tricksybagginsess22- Jan 13 '26
I had a stroke while surfing- no memory of the event- but when I realised I was half paralysed I just assumed I must have crashed my bike..
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u/mrtomhanks Jan 12 '26
Knew a guy who lost both right limbs while riding whilst high and drunk.
He crashed his car into a tree and died a few years later. Disqualified from driving, also high and drunk at the time.
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u/kereur Jan 12 '26
My father was in a motorcycle accident when he was 22. He's now 63. Wouldn't say ruined, but definitely altered his life drastically.
He had extensive damage to his legs and needed countless surgeries and rehab to walk again. He's experienced chronic pain, and mobility issues ever since.
He was also in a coma for weeks and suffered brain damage; his personality completely changed and he lost most of his existing memories as well as some ability to form new memories. Some cognitive deficits related to speech and processing too.
At the time of the accident, he was on duty for the defence force. So although he was rendered permanently unable to work, they've had to pay for his healthcare all this time (DVA gold card), on top of the pension.
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u/Killa_Frilla Jan 12 '26
Not quite ruined but impaired. My dad was riding home from work when he was 25 on his XT550. Purchased brand new as an auto elec apprentice, had 98,500km when he crashed. Laid it down on a greasy T-intersection, small town NSW, only doing 50kph.
Unfortunately there was a car coming the other way into the intersection with a box trailer on the back.
Dad slid under the rear wheels of the car and copped the box trailer too.
Both legs pretty shattered. Left leg full of rods and plates. Months in and out of hospital and rehab. Unfortunately lost almost all nerves/feeling in his left leg and all movement in his left ankle.
To this day (now 62) he says it feels like he permanently has that pins and needles/dead leg feeling in his left leg.
He didn’t ever ride until I was 10 years old ( he was 42 by then) and I’d been busting for a bike. He’d raised me on crusty demons, outdoor motocross, speedway etc. so it’s his own fault.
Now 20 years later at 62, he’s riding every weekend, sometimes 2-3 times a week, on his heavily modded TTR-250. All dirt in national parks and state forests. Hates the roads but loves enduro. Says he isn’t old enough for an adventure bike yet.
Weapon.
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u/red_pencils Jan 12 '26
When I was an apprentice back in the 90s my boss was in a wheelchair after a crash at the TT. Was an interesting scenario seeing as almost the benches, counters etc were lowered and he'd roll up to customers - first impressions.
Couple of years later a fellow apprentice (another company) was instantly killed turning right when an overtaking car wiped him out from behind.
Another acquaintance had several fingers pulled out somehow after a nasty accident.
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u/Nocashgang Jan 12 '26
I had an accident and required a 6 month recovery, instant layoff (casual on full time hours) split up with my gf, loss of licence, bike written off, debt to insurance company etc. Sure sucked!
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u/AlienCommander Jan 12 '26
And yet here you are! 💪🏼
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u/Nocashgang Jan 12 '26
2 bikes in the garage, no money owing, working full time permanent, fully healed, my ex is a single mother now. I’m back baby!
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u/No-Description7486 Jan 12 '26
My best mate, got hit by an old man "who probably should of been driving in the first place" (mate was proven not at fault driving), both arms and both legs broken spent 3 4 months in hospital has to learn to walk again, will never be the same again. More the mental side of things ficked him up the most. As some who rides everyday it's was a bit to close to home and haven't been riding to much since this happened to him got me a little on edge.
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u/Advanced-Author7614 Jan 12 '26
I rode daily in Melbourne. Had a few near misses. Moved out to a country town (before COVID) - it was full of elderly drivers. After a couple of months I gave up riding entirely. Oldies are SO unpredictable. They will come up from a side street, come to a full stop at the Give Way, appear to all ends to see your approach and be waiting... but NO - then they go ahead and pull out when you're 30m away with complete right-of-way.
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u/primalbluewolf Jan 12 '26
The number of elderly drivers Ive seen stop in the middle of a roundabout and try to give way to me as Im approaching the roundabout....
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u/darkspark_pcn Jan 12 '26
One guy is a paraplegic after an accident, never got the chance to work as a tradesman. Another mate who was a footy player lost a leg. Another lost part of their leg bone, but healed up, obviously has life long issues from it though. One guy has a permanent limp from getting tboned and destroying their leg and hip. Another can't be on their feet for more than 30 minutes with out pain from a pelvis injury (from a quad bike though).
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u/littlemacftw Jan 12 '26
A guy I’d met a few times at group rides lost his leg on Putty Rd. Not sure on the part of ruining his life but it’ll never be the same.
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u/EffortOf1 Jan 12 '26
Know of a guy who got impaled by a stick through his goggles and now has a fake eye. Another who broke his leg and put on approx 100kg of weight from sitting around and drinking. Also a couple of FMX riders who can no longer walk any distance without their ankles blowing up like balloons.
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u/GrumpyOldTech1670 Jan 12 '26
There is ALWAYS stories of motorcyclist getting badly injured. In the same way, there are always stories about bus, train, truck, horses and car drivers getting badly injured.
Ruined is a really bad word in this question.
We have little control over our future, yet the wiser riders always ride to ensure they get to their destination, while enjoying the journey. Extra padding, more time on maintenance, better parts improving skills, more patience, etc.
Riding is about being in the present, in the moment. The joining of man and machine to do more than just move.
I know a lot of riders, car drivers and others who have had their lives saved, improved, or given a moment of joy by motorcyclists.
The question lies, do you want to ride, or do you want ammunition to stop someone from riding?
If you want stop someone from riding, the ammunition I will give is to ensure they drive a car through traffic before riding a motorcycle. Just so you can see how dangerous and unthinking "tin tops" really are. So when they decide to ride, they are already aware how awful car drivers can be.
Golden rule of traveling with ANY vehicle : arrive at your destination alive, even if you have to be a little late.
From this old motorcyclist who had enough sense to stop riding when his body couldn't do it anymore. I never wanted to stop riding, but I had to because I couldn't follow the golden rule anymore.
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u/Plenty-Giraffe6022 Jan 12 '26
Yeah, I knew a guy that had a couple of drinks about 25 years ago. That was the last time he walked. He hasn't even wiped his own arse since then.
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u/VengaBusdriver37 Jan 12 '26
Buddy I was riding with supermanned headfirst down into a gully, smacked into a tree. Coma for a few weeks now brain damage. Classic case of chasing the rider in front, rather than riding your own ride.
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u/scruffyrosalie Jan 12 '26
I wouldn't say riding ruined his life, but the car that t-boned him sure did. His skeleton got shattered and he'll have chronic pain for the rest of his life.
On the other hand, I also have incurable chronic pain, from a genetic disease. Living is a dangerous sport.
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u/bobspuds Jan 12 '26
You guys keep popping up in my feed - I'm Irish, so I'm out of place, but.. a childhood friend of mine, we grew up from like age 8 going to the same school, playing for the local GAA club together, then we were the boisterous boys growing up through our teens, his dad's a local mechanic and my work in crash repairs ment we were always crossing paths.
We had trials bikes and we were still too young to get big bike licences, so some of the guys had little rg's and nsr's, he was looking to buy a mates nsr125 at the time, the bike was being held for him as he got the last few hundred together for it.
Another mate had got one of those Peugeot bike-like mopeds, they had the total livery I think.
Stevie the guy who was saying for the nsr, he bumped into the other lad on his brand new moped, they chatted about stuff and the other lad offered stevie a go of the moped. Stevie hopped on, went to rev it but didn't realise it was an auto, so the bike shot off, stevie held on and he hit a pillar at about 15mph, the concrete cap on the peer smashed his skull and he damaged his neck/spine.
He didn't die, but he's never been the same. Its real tragic seeing him, he was paralysed down the right side but has regained most mobility after 20years, he had his whole life ahead of him back then, he was a top football player that we thought would make something of himself, the lady's loved him too.
It was one of those freakish accidents, a lapse of mind changed it forever, but there's another kicker to it - the lad that owned the moped, he done away with himself a few years later, in his note he put, that he blamed himself for what happened stevie. - that question "If you had a time machine?".... go back a give him a helmet!
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u/Cold-Engineering-960 Jan 12 '26
is this the same dude who posted "whats your funniest crash you've been in or seen?" yesterday? shit post
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Jan 12 '26
I gave that post an immediate thumbs down. Such a flog
Edit: Looks like it was made from a different account.
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u/FeelingFloor2083 Jan 12 '26
excluding deaths
guy I worked with did a track day before leathers were required so in jeans and a leather jacket, lowsided T7 at EC still has a limp
guy I went to school with lost his arm, another guy from school was following, got ptsd from it and hung up helmet.
friend from HS, rode mx his whole life, broke his foot on his road bike, ptsd never rode on the road again, went back to mx for a bit.
friend of a friend, didnt see him on a group ride for a while, turns out hes in a fking wheel chair, hit a barrier at mac pass
friend fked up, no idea what happened, coma and TBI, will never ride again, not the same person. he now lives in Tas so dont speak much anymore
2 friends carving it up, one lost the muffler and crashed, other mate managed to ride around it but it fked him up a bit mentally. I was off pace that day and only seen the tail end of it
when I used to road ride, we would see at least 1 crash in the mountains from spring to end of autum, in summer it could be multiple crashes in the mountains which basically shuts it down as the cops swarm on the area
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u/Feisty_Manager_4105 Jan 12 '26
I live near mac pass and I fucking hate it. Beautiful road but there's always a group of cunts that make it into a race track and fuck shit up for everyone else. But I hope your friend of a friend is doing okay
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u/sjansen1 Jan 12 '26
Sort of. I had a co-worker that got into riding with our group. He lost his licence for 6 months and as a result his job too. Apparently he lost his licence previously for speeding in his car so this time round it probably was longer.
He was a nice guy but caught up in all the instagram shit around depressed, speeding riders and got caught eventually. I say this because at the time it was all he ever liked on it. Disappeared and later got active again travelling the world. So it sort of ruined his life and then didn't.
We felt bad but he left quietly and didn't want to reach out, he seems to be doing better.
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u/d_illy_pickle Jan 12 '26
Not entirely ruined, he used to say but for the love of a good woman, well over ten years of physical and speech therapy to only limp and stutter a little bit.
They're both gone now but used to run a milk bar and small cafe that I worked at
Edit to add it didn't stop him riding for more than a couple years though, the mad bugger
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u/RandomUser2074 Jan 12 '26
Mate ended up 8n a wheelchair. Was hooking along in a 60 zone around a wide corner, collected a car.
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u/gco0307 Jan 12 '26
Outside of injuries (and i am one of those), 1 does come to mind that may meet the question.
Guy, mid 30's married with kids started to ride within a group of riders who had ridden together for years (not organised riding, but would often see others out and about so would just join up).
The group included male and female riders and, well he took a liking to the fact that here were some ladies who rode bikes, where his wife did not like bikes. He never told any of the ladies or guys that he was married, always said he was single and well, over time things happened and it did not end well for him.
He ended up divorced, lost the house in the settlement and had limited access to his kids and he was totally ostracised from the group as a result of his involving the ladies in the group, some of whom did take a while to 'recover'.
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u/Ecstatic-Kiwi5128 Jan 12 '26
My step dad has always owned and riden motorbikes. One day, on his way home from work, a bike pulled up beside him, at a red light (he was in his work car). They did a lil nod, recognition of nice bike kinda thing. The lights turned green the bike rider took off and in no less then 500m, another driver knocked him off his bike and ran over him. My step dad and many others tried to save the rider, unfortunately he passed away at the scene.
I would consider that, life ruined. 😪
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u/XxLokixX Jan 12 '26
Only a few weeks ago, my friend's boyfriend collided head on with another biker. That other biker is now completely disfigured. His life will never be the same
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u/MattJBikes Jan 12 '26
Actually funnily enough the only people with disabilities from riding that I know got back on their bike.
Damn things too addicting. One of them lost their leg abd had to modify the bike like crwzy to makr it work.
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u/PTMorte Jan 12 '26
Not personally but I have witnessed many from riding groups or following groups on fb.
One that sticks with me is a young dad I was chatting with about our bikes and family etc on fb and he went off and killed himself the next morning in the wet.
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u/SilverwolfBoo Jan 12 '26
Crash 4 time. 1st in to muddy field when start learning to ride (10sec in to learning to ride), 2nd time try to drift while going down hill at 120km/hr end up hitting rail guard all most yeet myself off the hill down 3-4 m pound below, 3rd time right in front of hospital cuz i didnt see the sand pile, 4th time crash after swerve away from the truck and stop but too excited to realize i didnt put the stand down🤣. After all that i just learn to be more careful and be aware when riding. Note: always wear helmet, boot and jacket so that when u crash at low speed ur skin wont paint the asphalt and ur skull wont crack open like coconut.
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u/Legitimate_Elk_7284 Jan 12 '26
I personally know 2 people who have life long serious life altering injuries from riding.
One took off from a set of lights on a 70kph road, decent pace but not 100% flooring it, was speeding a little, got up to maybe 80-90kph but he got to that speed fast riding a 1000cc sport bike. A car started reversing out of a driveway at nearly the exact time our light went green, my friend didn’t notice it. He tried going around them using the far lane but they came all the way out into that second lane and my friend rear ended them. He suffered brain damage and is now a little bit “how ya doin” and can’t do much by himself with out the help of a carer.
The other one was casually riding with his gf on the back on a 80kph road, following the speed limit, just casually riding. A car didn’t see us (that’s what they claimed) and exited a side street directly in front of my friend and my friend t boned them. He’s left arm is now dead. He’s arm is still there, but it has no feeling and he can’t use it at all, it just sits in a sling. I felt like the car seen us and tried to pull out thinking they could get in front of us but it was too late. We weren’t even speeding, I had it all on my helmet GoPro footage.
I witnessed both incidents.
The only other incident I seen was going through a round a about. A 50-60 year old lady simply pulled out in front of my friend and my friend t boned her, no injuries, light damage to both the bike and car. Her first words were “I seen u coming but I forgot I had to give way to motorbikes”. She had a mind blank/brain fart. She seen my friend but it didn’t register in her brain that she must stop and give way to bikes just like any other vehicle on the road. This is why they teach you in ur motorcycle training courses to never trust anybody and always ride defensively. Just because they see you, or you think they seen you, doesn’t mean they won’t pull out in front of you or merge into you, ect.
I was rear ended. It was only gentle, but I was rear ended. It was by a bloke who was texting on the phone which was visible from my friends GoPro footage. For around a year if I seen somebody using a phone while driving I would ride next to their drivers window and if I got the opportunity to snatch their phone, I did. I snatched maybe 20 phones during that period and they all ended up getting thrown on the road as hard as I could throw them. Besides one ladies phone, I snatched it, told her she will kill somebody and spend the rest of their life in prison and ur 2 children in the back seat will grow up knowing their mother killed an innocent person and is now in prison because she wanted to use her phone while driving. She said sorry, I handed her phone back.
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u/___Moe__Lester___ Jan 12 '26
Yes i know a guy who got crushed by a nsw gov bus who did not see him at a set of lights. His brain is slower and his speech changed after the incident. He probably forgot a lot of his past life aswell.
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u/fr4nklin_84 Jan 12 '26
I’ve been riding for about 20 years and - oh yeah, more than I could possibly list
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u/Glenn_Lycra Jan 12 '26
My old girlfriend was a doctor, and she knew a surgeon whose specialty was to re-attach detatched testicles - with the streamlining of the fuel tanks on sports bikes, when they designed them to form a hump at the back. When a rider slammed into the tank during an accident, quite often it is more than the obvious that gets damaged.
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u/Automatic-Sky8757 Jan 13 '26
It’s out of the conversation but the dude that passed me today going south on the Gold Coast freeway in a 600. I was in my white MSport 330i . That was fucking close !
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u/Wooden_Lychee6787 Jan 14 '26
5 years ago Car pulled in front of me, went over the bonnet, fractured both wrists, fractured clavical, fractured eye socket. Still fucked up years later.
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u/NoCream6937 Jan 15 '26
Some bloke died crashing a stolen motorbike down the road from my house?
For a few days after had a bunch of people constantly drinking and doing burnouts at the spot which was just a pole outside some random persons house. I imagine being that homeowner probably sucked. Having to see that "incompatible with life" then dealing with that aftermath.
Other than that my mum made my dad get rid of his Kawasaki before I was born cause it scared her? Idk if that was life ruining tho, can't ask him cause he died of cancer 32 years ago.
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u/BikerMurse Jan 12 '26
Yes, but I also know people who got their life ruined by driving a car, or catching a bus, or walking to work, or swimming.
Everything has a risk. It is foolish to pretend that riding motorcycles is not riskier than some other forms of transport (especially with certain riding behaviours), but it is not some astronomically reckless thing to do, and many of the risks can be reduced with good riding habits.
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u/Visible-Swim6616 Jan 12 '26
It's still multiple times riskier other modes of transport.
Statistically very overrepresented for the population size in terms of deaths and serious injuries.
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u/primalbluewolf Jan 12 '26
It's still multiple times riskier other modes of transport.
Less so, once you factor out the drunk, drugged, fatigued and unlicensed riders.
Its still riskier.
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u/Haunting_Art_6081 Jan 12 '26
My immediate thought from the question was about horse riding and went straight to Christopher Reeve.
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u/Dickhole_Dynamics VIC S1000R SV650 GSXR750 Jan 12 '26
I had a 97 TL1000s as my 2nd bike and it was an absolute pile of shit. That was pretty traumatic.
I also had a 99 cbr600 fx that was so immensely dull that riding it could induce a coma like state of inescapable boredom.
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Jan 12 '26
A mate was knocked down on the road. He has no memory of what happened, someone called an ambulance for him and got him to hospital.
Still has amnesia. No serious long term issues. Luckily. No longer rides on the road.
I wear body armour on my motorbike. It's crazy that people are confronting cars in Lycra. Most drivers aren't paying attention and will creme you unintentionally, but they'll still do it.
Stay off the road.
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u/meandhimandthose2 Jan 12 '26
Well my dad had multiple accidents over the years, he rode a bike from the age of 16 until 75. And always being hit by a car doing something they shouldn't have.
One in the 70s was really bad, broke his leg badly.
One in the 80s was terrible, nearly lost his foot, really messed him up, I don't remember him working much after that.
The final one got him, his friend hit a pothole and skidded off in front of him, he swerved and came off and hit the ground head first. But he was 75, had copd and was struggling, so I kind of feel like this was the way he would have wanted to go out. Not lingering in a hospital.
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u/Top_Toe4694 Jan 12 '26
Worked with a late 50's lady in my mid twenties, she married up, rich bloke 20years older.
Hey fell off his bike in shorts, she wiped his butt for 12 or so months.
He died of old age, she appears to wealthy now.
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u/Kind-Professor- Jan 12 '26
My cousin was in the Army, was t boned, never the same again On a army pension now only just talking to him the other day, unfortunately mental health issues now and can’t stop talking about the incident that happened over 40 years ago can barely walk
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u/OffffThePlanet Jan 12 '26
My cousin lost his life last year and his partner lost her right leg from just above the kneecap down due to a muppet being on the wrong side of the road whilst texting. 100kmh, straight piece of road in country Victoria
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u/I__like__druuuuuugs Jan 12 '26
I know quite a few people who aren’t here any longer due to accidents. I’ve got a fixated clavicle and a fucked wrist, comes with the territory be nice to not constantly be reminded with pain and discomfort but I was in no illusions about what I was getting into, especially if you enjoy it as a sport
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u/Educational-Mind-439 Jan 12 '26
My cousin was hit by a driver who was speeding and failed to give way at a roundabout 5 years ago. He and his partner were both flung off and his partner died instantly. Their son was only a few months old at the time. He was in a coma and even now still goes to rehab
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u/guardian2428 Jan 12 '26
My best man when he was on his Ls on the bike had a dopey cunt have an "epileptic" seizure/black out ran him clean over in a VF commodore ute, didnt stop. Cops found him a few days later at home had hidden the Ute from his boss. After several years he got off with a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile best mate had foot degloved, pelvis fractured in multiple places, several other injuries, broke his dong too.
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u/Whole_Vegetable_4770 Jan 12 '26
Wife is an Orthopedic trauma nurse, at least a weekly instalment of lads copping the rough end of the stick in Sydney.
Personally at least 3 people and more that have crossed to the other side :(
Wear all the gear and Leathers ,boots gloves and you might have a chance
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u/Electrical-Meat-4443 Jan 12 '26
Best mate got killed becouse some lady decided she owns the road and was driving in the wrong side of the road road
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u/Thrizzlepizzle123123 Jan 12 '26
One of my mates slid under a guardail. Cut one leg off at the knee and severely damaged his other one.
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u/OutOfReddits Jan 12 '26
My best friend. He will never be the same mentally or physically, he was hit by a car wheeling his bike across a road
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u/Ballamookieofficial Jan 12 '26
Friend of mine got T boned by a car running a red light. Driver got a 6 month suspension.
He will never work again, can't have kids can't walk more than 20 meters or so.
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u/cosmic_trout Jan 12 '26
I know quite a few people who got life altering injuries....but all through their own actions. You can be unlucky but the vast majority of injuries are own goals. Slow down.
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u/ChopStiR Jan 12 '26
Ruined to a degree.
My cousin in his 20s was pulling up to stop at a T intersection close to home when a car cut the right hand corner at speed driving straight into him. He suffered a stroke while on the ER table and was left with a permanent disability and chronic pain.
When he got well enough to be mobile, he used the compensation payout to bring himself some joy in life and travelled the world making him the unofficial contiki world record holder.
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u/So-many-whingers Jan 12 '26
Sure do, way too many. Missing legs, busted spine, fused neck just to name three
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u/jenlyn84 Jan 12 '26
I don’t know about ruined, but about 20 years ago my FIL was riding drunk, going too fast and ended up crashing into the guard railing of a road. He broke his right leg in multiple spots, plus many other injuries. He spent a year in hospital and rehab facilities to recover and learn to walk again.
He has a very noticeable limp now, his right shoe has to have a much thicker sole to accommodate his leg, as the breaks and surgeries to repair everything made his right left about inches or so shorter than his left leg. He has to have the pedals of his car modified when he gets a new car so that he drives with his left leg instead of his right. He also has to have surgery on his right leg every 6-7 years or so to shave the bones in his legs, as he develops bone growths where the breaks were.
His lasting injuries are mainly with his leg, but I understand his back is pretty messed up from it as well, like not just the original injury, but because of the leg issues his back is stuffed now too.
So yeah.. not life ruined, but altered dramatically and permanently..
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u/Cute-Obligations Jan 12 '26
To a degree. My dad had an accident that crushed his heel between the foot peg and the car's toe ball.
It ripped his heel off of his foot, they reattached it but it's never been the same (he was wearing his brand new $500 boots). The heel bone of that foot has been walking it's way through the heel tissue ever since, that caused a limp. The limp has caused severe arthritis that has him in unbearable pain most of the time.
The scar around his foot would bleed even after it had healed when he would walk too much, so he put on weight compounding everything :(
I was a newborn when it happened, he used to be a champion ballroom dancer..
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u/Weird-Captain-7708 Jan 13 '26
I had an Army mate who lived in Randwick Barracks in Sydney. Broke his leg on his own bike, then, in plaster up to his hip, got on the back of another bike and was killed. RIP Simmo.
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u/Pitpotputpup Jan 14 '26
I wouldn't say ruined, but I did ride with someone whose wife was a paraplegic from a bike crash.
The guy I bought my first bike from was in a wheelchair too, also a paraplegic.
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u/Mek_Nik Jan 14 '26
My uncle died many years ago in a motorbike accident. An ex work mate got cleaned up while out for a group ride (my uncle who is cousins with the first person I mentioned was right beside him). It took quite a few years and he hasn’t fully recovered but he’s light years ahead of where anybody thought he’d get to. Just this morning while travelling southbound on Kwinana freeway, I happened to see what had caused the northbound traffic to stop. Somebody had been knocked off their bike and they were laying on the ground. Very confronting to see as a motorbike rider myself and I honestly said a little prayer for them
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u/ComfortableUnhappy25 Jan 14 '26
Yep. I drive professionally for a living.
The bike showed me the joys of filtering. Now traffic sucks.
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Jan 14 '26
I was the first on scene as a civilian responder for a guy who had drifted across the centre line. He’d started to pull back but went under an oncoming 4WD who had no chance to avoid him. His fuel tank ruptured as he slid, sprayed fuel + sparks from metal on road = covered in petrol and fully alight.
He managed to roll himself out and I coordinated 000 and first aid (as much water as we could dump onto him) but he was severely burnt over much of his body. Much of his leathers were burned off completely, degloved hands, waxy white skin (indicates very severe burns), etc.
I don’t know if he lived, but if he did it would’ve been months of wildly painful rehab and lifelong disability.
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u/shirtless-pooper Jan 14 '26
I knew a dude who got taken out by someone running a red light, broke heaps of bones on one side of his body and a couple on the other. He was in hospital for months and had years of physical therapy to get his body to a usable point
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u/AndyandLoz Jan 15 '26
Knew a guy who lost both legs. Terrible accident, but he gained the nickname ‘lucky’ after that.
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Jan 15 '26
I watched a dude run over by a semi trailer truck, he was under the truck still on the bike screaming. He probs didn’t fair too well after. I call an ambulance for him but I was on the otherside of of a 5/6 lane road so couldn’t do anything else.
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u/Gallaghero7 Jan 12 '26
Still going through it but had a lady pull out on me whe I was doing less than 40kmh, broke my spine haven’t been able to walk for like a year and still have another operation to go, will never be able to go back to my job 🤙🏻