January 2012, I got hit by not one but two cars on the highway and sent flying down the road. The second hit was to the back of my head (well, helmet) at 60mph.
Obviously I’m still here; this isn’t my first too-close encounter either. I walked out of the hospital 7 hours later as they didn’t find any damage serious enough to keep me overnight. They were absolutely astonished that nothing was broken and actually sent me through scans multiple times because they could not believe it. Modern safety gear such as personal armor, helmet, gloves and the rest of the lot saved me; I would not consider even a short trip without the full suite. The difference between modern gear’s comfort and protection is literally light-years beyond what it was when I started riding; in itself, that early gear was well beyond the ‘leather cap and jacket’ some people stuck in the 50s-70s seem to think is still state of the art.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine was in a car that was sideswiped on a surface street and sent into a concrete barrier. He still has headaches and neckaches from the accident. He may never get rid of them.
Some of you ‘donorcycle, donorcycle’ yappers want to comment on this?
You realize, of course, that those who harp on the “donorcycle” meme, in truth, are quite content to see dead bikers, don’t you?
Otherwise, they’d not be so morbidly gleeful about it.
Ah, angels were following you :-).
I had a weird collision happen to me 14 years ago, a van barreling into the rear of my stopped bike while I sat waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so I could make the left turn. I never made the left turn though. BAM and the van impaled my rear wheel into its radiator. Amazing thing was that it did not knock the bike out from under me (and hit me in the back or tumble me through its windshield). I hung on tight to the handlebars... to this day still don’t know WHY... and did not lose my seat on the bike until the two now-united vehicles came to a stop on the other side of the intersection. Then I was pitched forward and flew off the bike, bruising my thigh on the air cleaner. Nothing actually broken. Bruised bad and my left elbow joint got torn up a little.