Ron Johnston Crash washup
Just an update from my Club ride crash on
the
Once home I checked out my injuries but
didn’t go to the hospital till later. Put the trailer on the car, picked up my
eldest son Daniel, and went back and picked up my bike. Daniel and the young
farmer had to load the bike on the trailer because my left shoulder was killing
me. It was all I could do to drive the car. It was getting on dusk when we left
and got home just after 8 pm. I left the bike on trailer in the shed and
unloaded it the next day. Had some tea and got cleaned up and went to the
hospital late and didn’t get home till
Shoulder was x-rayed and showed a torn AC Ligament, skin torn of the right thumb. Both hands were swollen, (still having problems with them), bruising to the L elbow, and grazed, L leg, bruising, groin and lower stomach. They told me to take 3 days off work, but I didn’t. I had already been off work for 7 months due to a crash in July last year, and then cutting the tendon in my finger at xmas ’07 didn’t go down well. I had only started back at work on 7th Feb ’08. I was back at work for two days and then another accident (Gippsland). Some people have all the luck. I will have to stop being a crash test dummy for Suzuki.
On Monday I rang the Baw Baw Shire to report the incident from the previous Sunday and they told me Vic Roads was in charge of it. After a couple more phone calls I got in touch with a Call Centre Hotline, gave them the details and they didn’t ring me back. But after another call and a different operator I explained to him what happened. The next day the man at Vic Roads rang me and I explained what happened and that I was seeking compensation for the damage caused to my bike.
The week after the accident I went to the crash site and marked it out in fluoro orange. The wedge shaped hole measured 4.8 metres long, 1.8 metres wide and 3 inches deep at the deep end. They sent me a Notice of Incident report to fill out, plus I had to get a couple of quotes for the damage to the bike and leathers, etc. After having done all that, I had to wait a 5 or 6 weeks before I got a reply, and the man got angry with me for ringing him up all the time. Talk about drawn out. Finally they sent me a letter stating that Vic Roads could not accept liability in this matter. But the up-side to it all is that they have finally fixed the road. So at least some good has come out of it, and some other poor sod doesn’t go down because of it. Paul Southwell and I can attest to that.
Back to the Bandit. I have since done some work on it, bought some new handle bars, starter cover, foot peg bracket. The speedo has been repaired. I had starter clutch removed so I could clean all the gravel and dirt out. I dropped the exhaust and sump. It looked like someone had put a large hand full of dirt in there. I was surprised considering how far it went along the road before it ended up in the side of the road.
Put it all back together and got it running. I took off the broken bits and went for a ride over the Reefton and Black Spurs and back home. Everything is going alright and I am currently doing the bodywork. But in the mean time I put my CB 400/4 back into service so I could have something to ride while I fix the Bandit.
Ron
Johnston
(The
other positive side is that Ron now is wearing a brand new set of leathers with
armour throughout. Note Paul Southwell fell off on the same corner at likely a
faster speed, his bike travelled further through the air and ended up tangled
and suspended in the barbed wire fence well down the embankment. Paul walked away with no skin loss, just the
odd bruise. Paul was wearing full leathers, good gloves and boots. Ron may have been just unlucky … but you can
improve your chances. …Ed.)