Tuesday - June 07, 2011

The Lady Next Door

Pray for my neighbor, she needs all the help she can get.

Michelle B is one of those superwomen. Strikingly attractive, self confident, skillful at all sorts of home improvement work. As a dedicated athlete she works out constantly and runs marathons. Wicked smart, she’s a member of Mensa and teaches science in the local school system. Divorced from an FBI agent, she has two preteen daughters. She’s always been an avid motorcyclist, owning several bikes in the time I’ve known her, including a bright yellow Buell. Her latest ride was a full fairing Honda CB1000 with all the performance goodies. Even with all that power on tap, she’s always been a modest and safe rider. Naturally she always wears her leathers and her top of the line Bell helmet.

Wednesday evening she went down to the Exxon station 2 miles away to get gas. It was a nice evening, so she took a short ride around the reservoir right behind us here. A deer jumped out of the woods and hit her.

Woman motorcycle rider hits deer in Union Twp. ejecting her 50 feet off bike

UNION TWP. - A woman motorcycle rider traveling on Van Syckels Road in Union Twp. was ejected about 50 feet after a deer that entered her path made contact with the bike on Wednesday night at about 7:47 p.m.

State Police at the Perryville Station said the woman landed on the road and sustained serious injuries, including a broken wrist and multiple abrasions. She was unconsious and transported by medevac helicopter to Morristown Memorial Hospital.

The woman is still in critical condition as of 11 p.m. Thursday, June 2, police said. No other vehicles were involved.

She lost a kidney, seriously bruised her liver, shattered her arm so bad that the bone had to be replaced with metal, and broke her jaw in several places. And that’s just the injuries I’ve heard about. Her mother is over watching the kids, but Michelle will be in the hospital for some time to come.

She lost one boyfriend in a motorcycle accident a few years ago; he survived but had serious brain damage. Another one trashed himself and his bike a couple times; we don’t see him around anymore.

One of the happiest days of my mother’s life was when I sold my last motorcycle. I really miss riding, but I will not own one as long as I live in this state. It’s bad enough with the lunatic inattentive local drivers and the can-never-go-fast-enough folks from PA and NY who pass through the state every day. And the tens of thousands of giant trucks. And the tailgating SUVs that use your vehicle as a wind wedge. But it’s worse than that. The deer attack. I am not kidding. And not just when the rut is on. They seem to suffer the same suicidal drive that squirrels have. They come after you. I’ve been hit by a deer twice. Once was when one came bouncing off the bumper of a car coming the other way and hit our car like 130 pounds of raw hamburger. The other time was right out on the village road here in the early evening, not 100 yards from my door. Two of them ran right at me. I blew the horn, I swerved, I shouted. I was only going about 20, so I slammed on the brakes. And the damn deer ran right into the side of the front fender and went over the hood. I know loads of people who have similar stories: I didn’t hit the deer, the damn deer hit me. They’re nuts. They are a lethal hazard, and I swear we have more deer per square mile around here than we do people. And we have more people per square mile in NJ than in any other state in the nation. You don’t see a deer. Or two together. You see herds of deer at a time. Two or three dozen out in packs in the middle of the day, stripping people’s lawns and hedges bare. We have 1/2 acre of woods on the Association property here, down by the highway on-ramp. 8 deer live in there year round, and there are at least 2 new fawns this spring.

Morristown Memorial is a Level II Trauma Center. Van Syckel’s Road gets used but is not highly traveled. I have no idea how long she was laying there in or by the road before someone found her.

I’ll talk to her mother tomorrow if she’s around and try and get an update. My God. Without that helmet she’d be dead for sure. For her daughter’s sake, I really hope she gives up bikes after this, should she survive.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/07/2011 at 06:25 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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