Watch where you're going!

[superox]

For weeks I had been taking advantage of nice spring weather and the portability of my EUC, by taking it into public transport (mainly train) and exploring smaller towns I've otherwise rarely if ever gotten to see. As the usual pattern I'd wear all my gear, don a high visibility motorcycle backpack in which I'd put my water bottle, first aid kit, other essentials and a large collapsible shopping bag. I'd go out early in the morning, taking the first train or ride, and keeping my gear including helmet, chest protector, backpack etc in the large shopping bag, in order to scare the morning commuters a bit less. The EUC itself fits neatly underneath the train seat.

The other day I was just about to finish up my trip to a couple of small towns 2 hour train ride away. I had already done 60 kilometers on the wheel, seen everything I had set out to see, and returned back to the local railstation waiting for the train home. As I still had 30 minutes and 30% of battery to kill, I thought I would take one short ride around the town. It looked surprisingly pleasant particularly in the sunny and clear spring weather.

Taking care not to overpower the wheel in low battery conditions, I was leisurely going along, snapping the occasional picture on my phone as I had done dozens of times in the 5 hour ride. Just as I was passing a good looking street art at a surprisingly neat provincial town block, I wanted to take a picture. It had already almost rolled past, but feeling so confident on the wheel after hours of riding, I still leaned left to take a snap on my phone. Of course operating it with both hands.

As it always happens with one- and two-wheeled vehicles, turning left also turned by body left, and the wheel with it. Since I was grabbing the phone with both of my hands, I couldn't reflexively correct. Much as I figured, the wheel went sideways to the left, and myself forward and right, landing on my right hand and side.

I was wearing full gear from head to toe and speed at the time couldn't have been more than 15-20 kph. The hand was absolutely fine. Big shoutout to Demon Flexmeter wristguards which are sometimes cumbersome to put on, but comfortable to wear and absolutely saved my hands and wrists again. Not even the slightest bit of discomfort. Elbows were protected by D3O elbow guards in my moto jacket, and were likewise A-OK. Falling on my hip might have been a problem, but again, D3O hip protectors in my motorcycle jeans absorbed the blow. Motorcycle shoes protected toes and ankles. Knees, which relied on D3O pads in my pants, didn't take much hit either. Didn't hit my helmeted head in any way. All in all, zero road rash or other fall damage. Hooray for gear.

However... the studded, grippy aftermarket pedals kept my left foot one with the pedal for longer than I would have liked. Imagine turning your left foot outside 90 degrees, and then falling forward over the body of an EUC on it. That's apparently what happened. The unexpected fall caused a bit of a shock, but immediately I knew something was up. It didn't hurt very much, no more than bumping a knee to something normally would, but the patella or something in the knee seemed to be moving in unusual ways. I was able to stand up and even walk, but the leg underneath felt abnormal; floppy and unstable.

Considering the train was about to leave in 30 minutes, I was maybe a kilometer from the train station, the next train would've come in 5+ hours, and I did not want to get stuck in this small town for heck knows how long, I figured I'd take the walk of shame to the train station. Get on the train, ride home, get in the ER in the city. The EUC -- which was fine -- and its trolley handle served as a decent walking support.

I was able to stumble along for a couple of blocks, but even as the train station was in sight, I felt the knee was starting to lose me and maybe really sideways on me. Couldn't do it. Couldn't make it on the train. I sat on the stairs of a nearby building and called the emergency number.

"Hello, I need an ambulance at suchandsuch. I fell on a light electric vehicle and sprained my knee".
"A light electric vehicle, like an e-scooter?" -- "Yes, something like that."
"Are you bleeding?" -- "No".
"Did you hit your head or black out for any amount of time?" -- "No."
"Do you have any other pains or injuries?" -- "No."
"So you just fell and no other people got hurt?" -- "That's right."
"What's your name and ID number?" -- "<Soandso>"
"Did this happen on a sidewalk or the main road?" -- "I don't know, on the road I think."
"Okay, the ambulance is coming".

I just took off my helmet and rested for a while. The ambulance did arrive in minutes, but surprisingly for me -- with a police cruiser.

Apparently, cops are dispatched to every traffic accident, even if it's just a fall that involved no other people.

EUCs are legal in my jurisdiction, up to 25 kph, and legal to ride on sidewalk or the road (if there are no other options) so I wasn't worried much. The cops only had a couple of questions.

"Hello! Where did this accident happen?" -- "Over there a couple blocks over"
"Did this happen on a sidewalk or the main road?" -- "Uhh, I think it was like yard area" (paved inner-block road where cars don't automatically have right of way)

Since there were no other people involved, the accident site was really heck knows where, I was obviously sober and had been wearing helmet and all sorts of gear, that was all they asked, as the ambulance crew took over. They had me remove all my gear (without cutting anything), had me lie down, put a temporary brace on my leg, and gave me an IV with some mild paracetamol. As the entire ambulance was being filled up with my stuff, I remembered I had the large shopping bag in the backpack, which came handy for containing all the stuff which now also included moto jacket and pants. After instructing them how to turn the EUC off, it also came along with for the ride to the regional hospital, which was fortunately just minutes away.

In the hospital they checked me in, with the reception clerk again wondering what's this thing called, and how it was spelled for the incident report. I was taken to an X-ray, which didn't show any fractures. Didn't do an MRI as it didn't look too bad, and they were almost about to let me go without anything else. Until an orthopedist arrived, examined my knee, had it put into a plaster half-cast and told me it had to be immobilised for 5+ weeks. Bummer. Of course they had to remove my armored jeans for the cast too, giving me just thin papery patient pants to cover myself.

So there I was in the ER checkout area of a hospital 200 km from home, in a wheelchair, with a big bag of protective gear, and an EUC. Were it just the cast, I could've limped myself on a train on crutches, but not with both hands filled with EUC and gear, and no pants.

The hospital people shrugged and gave me number for the local taxi company. In the hindsight I should've considered that, because who cares about a few hundred bucks in an emergency. It was very hard to reach any of my friends who were even remotely in the area, as the Saturday weather was brilliant and everybody was out working their gardens and such. Fortunately I was able to reach my niece, who lived just about halfway; I was able to get a ride with her and she had to make the trip to the city anyhow, so it worked out.

At least it wasn't broken or hurt very much, so I just had to deal with the cast. About a week later, I received a surprise call.

- "Hell, this is police inspector Soandso. You were involved in a traffic accident a while ago, right?"
- "Yes."
- "I'm just here finishing up the paperwork about the incident and I do not understand... what was that vehicle that you fell with? An e-scooter?"
- "An electric unicycle. A self-balancing vehicle with one wheel."
- "Oh, right. Um, did the accident happen on the sidewalk or the main road?"
- "... yeah, well, you know..."
- "Okay, great. Says here that you were wearing a helmet, that's good. Okay then. Have a good recovery!"

The police never remarked on the helmet or anything else on the spot, so interesting they had few questions but a more detailed report filed.

Fortunately the plaster cast was soon replaced with an angle-adjustable knee brace. After 6 weeks of recovery my knee is pretty okay again, though still not quite ready to ride again. The real bummer though was the loss of months of absolutely brilliant, cool, sunny, abnormally good spring riding weather this year.

Some conclusions.

- WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING. Come to think of it, all of the previous instances where I've dropped the wheel and fallen without bailing, had been from when I've had to awkwardly look back over my shoulder at pedestrian crossings and such. Doubly so if you have both hands busy with snapping photos, instead of being ready to balance. Eyes and head ahead.
- It's true what they say that ~1000 km is where accidents happen. 1400 km in my case. You're very confident with the wheel already, and lost your newbie caution, but not experienced enough to really know the limits.
- I really like the grippy, studded aftermarket pedals on my wheel, but I can't help but wonder if their excellent grip had something to do with my injury, when the wheel did decide to go sideways under me. Might go and lower and/or remove some of the studs, maybe from the heel and side parts, to maybe lower the chance of repeating the  injury.
- will have to invest in some serious knee braces now, by necessity at this point.
- Got to let somebody know when adventuring like this. Would've been some serious shit if it happened somewhere in the middle of the woods with no cellphone reception.

For what it's worth, this was the picture I snapped that caused all this nonsense.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by superox

[mrelwood]

What a story! Glad it all worked out reasonably well in the end.

 Do you have jump pads on your wheel? Low enough jump pads with coarse enough pedals is indeed a disaster in a crash.

[superox]

No pads, just moto shoes with flat rubber soles that do grip to studs very well.

[Cerbera]

Great story / adventure !  

RE extra grippy pedals, I agree - they are a hazard, and I have already had to abandon a pair of Moto boots that just locked me in way too much for that reason.

It's quite a ballsy move to try and take photos off to the side whilst you are in-ride - even if you can do it without body twist, there is a risk of catching wind badly, or otherwise altering your finely honed balance, and your eyes must leave the ride path for a certain amount of time, and bad things can happen in that time. I tend to avoid this by taking video instead, and then nicking a still frame from it later - in bright weather shutter speeds should be high enough to get you sharp photos this way, and as long as you casually waft the camera vaguely in the right direction you can usually get a decent shot or 2 out of the clip... crucially you only have to give it the slightest of glances, and there are no buttons to look for and press so you remain much more focused on the ride.

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Cerbera

[woke rider]

Thank you @superox for sharing your story. I understand it can be difficult to share about an accident, but it gives me a heads up to be more careful. I pray you make a full recovery and can ride again soon! You said that your accident happened near the end of your trip. I can say that my small accidents and near miss accidents often happen near the end of my trips too when my body is more fatigued and slower to react than I think it actually is. Incidentally, that's why I think riding an EUC is good for pain management because it keeps my endorphins (natural pain relievers) at a higher level. Kinda like, remember when you first started riding and your feet would start to ache... well I think part of the reason that the aching goes away is because my body produces more endorphins for next time. It's just a theory, but I think the more peak endorphins we can produce the more resting state endorphins are available for general pain management. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Edited June 13, 2023 by earthtwin
elaboration

[level9]

is the moral of the story watch where you are going or is it where you are watching is where you are going (motorcycle rider tip) 

[techyiam]

17 hours ago, superox said:

As it always happens with one- and two-wheeled vehicles, turning left also turned by body left, and the wheel with it. Since I was grabbing the phone with both of my hands, I couldn't reflexively correct. Much as I figured, the wheel went sideways to the left, and myself forward and right, landing on my right hand and side.

Sorry to hear of your accident. I hope you have a speedy and full recovery.

Thanks for sharing. And its was nicely told.

I am surprised that at your travelling speed of around 17 km/h, that there was enough centrifugal force to throw you off towards the outside of the turn. Just curious as to how sharp the turn was. At this speed, you could have easily bent your knees and move your derriere over to the left. And your body should be able to balance the centrifugal force generated by the turn.

Perhaps I am still too new, but I don't do anything else but focused on riding. The most I have done was carrying a large garbage bag of bottles to get recycled, or to bring a large pizza home. In strong winds, one has to anticipate the gusts.

[superox]

1 hour ago, techyiam said:

I am surprised that at your travelling speed of around 17 km/h, that there was enough centrifugal force to throw you off towards the outside of the turn. Just curious as to how sharp the turn was. At this speed, you could have easily bent your knees and move your derriere over to the left. And your body should be able to balance the centrifugal force generated by the turn.

Thanks for the well wishes. I don't exactly know what happened, because I wasn't looking. I gather that's what it had to be, because the wheel went to the left, where I was looking, and I fell on my right side. That's the problem with turning yourself so much on one side, the learned muscle memory and sense of balance does not necessarily apply anymore. Certainly while also trying to take a picture with both hands. That's what I'd like everybody to take with them from my experience.

[mrelwood]

1 hour ago, superox said:

That's the problem with turning yourself so much on one side, the learned muscle memory and sense of balance does not necessarily apply anymore.

I agree. If you want to look backwards over your shoulder while riding, it’s a small skill to learn to compensate with your feet. Twisting your whole upper torso to the side definitely needs one as well.

[alcatraz]

Well. I could be mistaken but this sounds like "photography on one wheel" more than "riding with occasional picture taken".

What I mean is, riding must always be your first priority. If your picture won't come out great then that's a bummer. 

You can improbe your multi tasking skills by just practicing. The better you get at multi tasking the more time you get to do other things. The rule however is to never mix up your priorities.