One of those days

Today was one of those days I wish I had either left for work earlier - much earlier, or taken a different route, or, not gone into the office at all.

About 1 km from home, the traffic was backed up. I was in the rh lane, but managed to move to the left hand lane, and then into a slip road so as to bypass whatever was causing the backup. And then I saw it - a motorbike, wrecked, in the middle of the intersection.
Yamaha V-Max - stunning bike. This one has a beautiful paint job on the tank - but alas, the damage is serious, and will cost a lot of money to repair.

Now I'm a biker in the blood, and there is no way I can leave this scene without a) checking if I know the biker, b) checking if I can assist in any way.
As it turns out, I didn't know either the biker or his lady passenger. Both were alive, but badly smashed up. Real bad.Paramedics and other "volunteers" working on the two patients.

I spent the next 65 minutes assisting at the scene, helping the paramedics, holding the bikers hand when they had to move him and it hurt, etc.

The biker had fallen face first, it looks like he flew over the offending car. The front of his helmet, where the chin guard is, was smashed, and he had blood coming out of his mouth, but no so bad that he couldn't breath. So we secured his neck with a brace, but left the helmet on.
Once the paramedics turned up, they checked his neck and back, confirmed there was no damage there, and we managed to remove the helmet. Man, if he has any unbroken teeth in the front of his mouth I will be surprised. He was also complaining about his left leg, it was broken above the knee. Bad, The splintered bone had broken the skin. This was what hurt most as they had to straighten it to put a splint in place.
We cut his leather jacket off him, so that drips could be put in, and they gave him painkiller injection through the drip.

Eventually we got him onto the stretcher, and onto that thingy with wheel that they use to load them into the ambulance with. I had spent a lot of time just holding his hand, and talking to him, and making him respond as he went into massive shock, and the para's asked me to make sure he kept alert. I think he will be OK.
When I heard them ask which hospital to take him to, I asked if he had medical aid. He said no - Leratong Hospital - Good luck bro.

Hi slady frind was even worse off. Her left leg was so messed up man. Just when I got there I saw that it was kind of bent the wrong way above the knee, and ahain below the knee, and again at the ankle. There were other people and para's looking after her, so I stayed with the guy, but could see the progress on her. When we cut the bottom of her pants off to check the damage to her leg I nearly threw up. Her foot was torn off, nearly through, about 3 inches above the ankle, and was literally hanging on with about 2 inches of skin, and maybe 5% of flesh. Man, if that don't get amputated I will be surprised. I think she was already in shock, as she didn't moan as much when they worked with her, maybe the damage was such that there was no feeling left and so she was spared that at least. Other than that, I didn't see any other damage.

So, what happened? I had a look at the car that they hit / that hit them.
It's a little Renault. Driven by a Green Breeder... (Look up papvreter, or just Google it, and include an allownace for the female sex).

Good chance that a) she was on her cell phone, and b) she skipped a red light. I'm willing to put money on it. If you know the specific intersection, the traffic on that road in the morning, and anything at all about the dangers of biking in RSA, you must know that the biker would not have been skipping a red light.The offending Renault. Note the damage down it's side - all this caused by the bike, and the laft legs of the two people on the bike. This is serious shit, so explains why their left legs were so stuffed.

Anyway, looking from the front, the right hand side of the car is seriously badly smached. (See attached pic). I think this is the side that the biker hit, and he was going in the opposite direction to the car, hence the damage to both their left legs. The passengers legs, and foot, in typical riding position, would have been more exposed, hence the serious damage to the leg, and foot. That foot was "rolled" backwards by the side of the car moving against it. I cant' work out how the car ended up where it did. With the damaged side up on the pavement, right next to the traffic light.
The bike was in the middle of the intersection. I will have to go there again, and try to work out directions and stuff just to get my mind around that.

As is usual in sunny South Africa, there is always a rubber necking situation.
The driver of the white car stopped in the middle of the intersection to get a better look, and the driver of the other (silver) car following was so busy trying to see what was going on, they didn't notice the car in front stop, and so we had ourselves a nice bumper bashing, adding more woe's to the road users trying to get through. Needless to say, the only attention they got was from the vulture tow truckers who were delighted to have found more work for their machines!

I'm going to wait a day or two, and then see if I can get down to the hospital to check on those two bikers.
Man, I sure hope they can save that ladies leg.

Salagatle!