Around 8:00 AM, September 4, 2004, I decided to do something a little "special" for myself and have a breakfast at McDonald's in Moundsville.  The drive from my house to McDonald's went fine.  After I had breakfast, I decided to take a nice drive to New Martinsville, which is around 20-25 miles south of Moundsville.  I am about 80% sure that I prayed to God for my safety while out on that scooter that day.  Well, I got onto Route 2 and got into the 55 MPH zone.  I did ok for about 15 miles.  I seemed to have pretty good control of things.

    At around 15 or so miles south of Moundsville, things started to turn sour.  Oddly, I started to veer to the right.  I was getting to the extreme right of the road and I was UNABLE to get back on course.  I got very scared and nervous.  Later, I ended up on the white line or very close to it.  I started slowing down, for I knew I was in trouble.  I didn't want to brake too suddenly, for improper braking, particularly at high speeds, can cause a motorcycle or scooter to flip right over, causing serious injury.  Also, I was afraid of the traffic behind me.  Still, I kept veering to the right against my will.  Immediately to the right of the white line was gravel around one inch in diameter.  I was down to about 30 MPH when I hit this.  I was in this for about 1-2 seconds before I totally lost control and went over a hillside about 20 degrees steep.  I ended up around 15 feet down this hillside.

    I was scraped pretty badly and had a severe laceration or possibly an avulsion in my right hand.  My face was bruised badly.  The face shield that I had on my helmet was never seen since and was probably totaled.  The helmet remained intact and probably saved me from a serious head injury.  In fact, my brother later said to me something like "Had you not been wearing your helmet, I probably would have been burying you."  Some people witnessed the accident and came to help me.  They then called for help.  First, a sheriff arrived on the seen.  An ambulance was also called.  I was also pinned under the 350 LB scooter.  However, if no one saw me, I seriously think that I could have mustered up the strength to get myself out and get the scooter back up the hill and tried to drive back home.  After someone lifted the scooter from me, I was able to walk away from the crash site.  My tracheostomy cannula was shot out and lost, but was found by someone helping me out.  My partial plate was damaged.  I was taken by ambulance for about a 28 mile trip to Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, WV.  I was taken there for they wanted to take me to a trauma center just in case if I had any serious injuries.  I was examined thoroughly and was able to get my tracheostomy cannula put back in.  A slew of x-rays and a CT scan was taken.  No broken bones were found--THANK GOD!  The only thing that needed repaired was my right hand.  This was about an hour surgery with just local anesthesia.  It included 11 stitches.  There was a 1/4" thick piece that was ripped open in my hand!  They kept me overnight mostly for observation.  I was able to go home on the next day.

    There appears to be at least two causes of this accident.  First of all, I may not have been ready to be going 55 MPH, for I have been driving for only about 6 weeks.  This was my first day going 55 MPH.  It was NOT due to traffic conditions, road conditions, weather, or lighting.  It happened around 9:00 AM.  Also, there is an 80% chance that so-called "non-sedating" or "less sedating" antihistamines may have played a role in this.  I was taking Zyrtec AND Claritin due to the severity of my itching and hives.  Around 10 years earlier, I almost had a similar, but much more serious, accident on an ATV and that morning, I had a Dimetapp pill.  While I was not sleepy or anything like that, these medicines can be DECEIVING!  I am darn lucky that I didn't get tested or cited due to antihistamine use.  I had a Zyrtec pill around three hours prior to the accident.

    As a result of my accident, I am wondering if people new to motorcycles or scooters should limit their speed to no more than 40-45 MPH for about 3 months.  I am more cautious when it comes to antihistamines, even if they are "non-sedating" or "less sedating".

    As for as scooter or motorcycle accidents are concerned, the injuries that I had are probably about as "mild" as they come!  Below are some photos.

    As for the scooter, it sustained probably around $2600 in damage.  Fortunately no one else was involved.  The scooter was still drivable, but is cockeyed and torn up.

    At the time of the initial writing (September 22, 2004), my face appeared to be near normal.  My right hand was healing on or ahead of schedule.  I made a full recovery, except for a scar on my right hand.  I elected to limit my maximum speed to 40-45 MPH for the remainder of 2004, until I get more experience.  I seem to be proven to do fine at 40-45 MPH.  As I mentioned earlier, I am more cautious when it comes to antihistamine use and driving.  As for "Mr. Itch", it doesn't even deserve to see daylight!  It deserves to burn in HELL!

    Fortunately, I knew that the best "therapy" for myself was to get right back into it.  While I was careful before, I am even more so nowadays.  One thing that I do have a problem with is the possibility of an "unanswered prayer".  Throughout the day of the accident, I was questioning God, saying something like "Why did you let this happen?".  I sought counseling from other Christians, particularly people from my prayer group.  Some act as if it could have been much worse had I not prayed.  There may be a possible "lesson" regarding the dangers of so-called "non-sedating" antihistamines.  About 2-3 people told me that nearly every motorcycle has at least one wreck.  My brother, Mike, said to me something like "Hopefully this will be your one wreck."  One of my friends told me something like "I knew you would one day bust your a**."  I am also trying to learn from other people's accidents, so that hopefully, I don't repeat it for myself.  Right now, I am driving mostly around town (Moundsville and Glen Dale, WV).

    You may wonder why I am not driving a car instead.  Well, I had all kinds of problems.  I don't know whether if it is my vision or "learned" depth perception or what, but I had lots of difficulty staying in my own lane.  However, I don't seem to have this problem on bicycles and scooters.  The fact that I did fine at 55 MPH for about 15 miles, and then just started veering off the road and could not get corrected makes may think that the Zyrtec may have played a role in this accident.  My next door neighbor, who has ridden motorcycles for over 30 years was surprised by this fact that I did ok at 55 MPH for a substantial distance before having a problem.  However, if I can stay away from the "dope" (antihistamines) for a while, I seem to do fine driving.