Thursday, August 06, 2009

"The Car Jumped Out And Attacked Me"


So the biking in the evening has been a bit hit. So much so that the kids requested I come home to do it again tonight. All us went tonight (it works better to have two parental units for the two kids since they move at different speeds on their bikes). For the most part the trip was Quinn was zip ahead, I would stay with him, then we would wait at an intersection for Catherine and Ginger to catch up.


Unfortunately near the end of the trip Quinn had a fairly major wipeout. No one knows what happened exactly, because I was in front of him and didn't see it and we were both far enough ahead of Ginger and Catherine that they didn't see it either (although Ginger heard it). I think it's partly my fault. Quinn was zipping ahead and the next intersection we were going to be arriving at is the busiest of the trip. So I had passed Quinn on the road while he was on the sidewalk. I think he thought I was trying to race him and he tried to catch me (whereas I was merely trying to get to the intersection before him). He ended up going off the sidewalk and crashing on the street (and almost wedging his bike under a parked car).

He was pretty shaken up by the crash. He ended up scraping up the front of his hands and his shoulder pretty bad, but his head seems to have made it out intact. This actually made me like the fact that there are now helmet laws for kids.

I ended up biking home by myself (as fast as I could go) to get the car and come back for him and let Ginger drive him home. Meanwhile that left me getting Catherine and the two other bikes back home. I ended up having the walk the bikes, luckily Catherine doesn't ride too much faster than I could walk.

While I was gone Ginger tried to find out what happened, but Quinn wasn't able to recall any details at all about what caused the crash. She said he was shaking at that point, and she got him to calm down by explaining that the parked car had jumped out and attacked him (he liked this version of events and continued to use it afterward).

Looking back there's a section right before he crashed that has a bush that's overgrown onto the sidewalk right at the spot where on the other side of the sidewalk is a fire hydrant. The only thing I can think of that might have happened is he tried to avoid the fire hydrant, got his handle caught in the bush (which probably turned him some to the right) and he drastically overcompensated turning left and ended up crashing in the street.

5 comments:

wtfree3 said...

Sorry to hear about Quinn. Glad he's doing better.

If I may suggest one thing (from personal experience) - if he was shaking significantly after the accident (shock) and has no recollection of what happened, there is a chance he suffered a concussion in the crash. In my case, as best we can reconstruct (no one witnessed it), I wiped out on some crabapples and smacked a mailbox once around Quinn's age, and I have no recollection of the accident - just from speeding down my friend's driveway and later finding myself at home on the couch. Keep that one in your back pocket the next time you see the doctor, particularly if Quinn still doesn't remember anything about it. Not much the doctor can do now, but something for the medical record (if memory loss is involved).

JamesF said...

I suppose a concussion is possible, but he did have on his bike helmet, and there didn't appear to be any obvious spots on it where it had hit the pavement.

And yea, I unfortunately know all about those as I had a concussion from a bike accident when I was younger too. After the accident apparently I got up, walked my bike home, came into the house and collapsed. But all I remember is going up the ramp and into the air on the bike, the next memory I had was waking up as being carried into the hospital.

wtfree3 said...

Agreed - I only noted it was possible. But anything involving memory loss should be noted to the doctor for the files. If he remembers the walk/ride home, it's probably nothing significant. Glad he's getting back on the bike, but be certain about that helmet - one accident, and it should be replaced.

JamesF said...

Did not know that helmets were only good for one fall. Considering he uses it at ice skating it probably should have been replaced already by now if that's the case.

Thanks for the heads up.

wtfree3 said...

In general, if it's in a crash, you should replace it. That's the rule of thumb I've always heard.

http://www.bhsi.org/replace.htm

This is probably especially true with kids, as they tend to just drop their helmet on the concrete in the garage or driveway/sidewalk outside, and that too can give rise to damage that will reduce its effectiveness. But that's just what I've been told - I'm no expert with direct knowledge. Could be just an industry ploy to keep selling more.