A motorcyclist's brush with death

AUTO

Friday, March 12, 2010

David Sirjue was on a regular journey on his motorbike in Havendale, St Andrew one afternoon about three years ago. It was a trip he took everyday.

But life changed drastically for Sirjue that fateful afternoon when a motor car driver who was overtaking around a corner came full blast towards him. Within a few seconds the cyclist, hit by the speeding car, was sent sailing through the air; his body slammed into another motor vehicle then fell to the asphalt, limp and broken.

At the moment of the collision Sirjue recalls saying to himself, "Seriously, I can't crash here," but the choice wasn't his to make. And as he lay on the ground in pain he said could see the driver of the vehicle that hit him, slowly driving away from the scene.

He remembers feeling terrible chest pains, but all the time he was still aware of his surroundings. "I was still conscious but I was gasping for air, and saying 'I can't die here'," Sirjue recalled.

Forcing himself, he stood up clutching his side, but he says as soon as he did, he heard his leg snap and nerve-wracking pain seared through his body. "I saw my leg in three different directions and I felt unimaginable pain," he remarked.

Sirjue sustained several injuries, including a broken sternum (chest plate), three broken ribs, and leg fractures from his knee up to his hip. He was not wearing a crash helmet at the time of the accident and was lucky to receive only one stitch for a cut to the back of the head. Sirjue admits that the entire episode could have gone entirely differently, had his head hit the asphalt or some other object.

Although Sirjue, 19 years old at the time, spent only few weeks in the hospital it took him almost a year to walk again. "It was like baby stages all over again because I basically had to learn to walk," he recalled.

Now back on his feet, Sirjue says he again feels independent and "loving every minute of it".

Unfortunately, however not everyone is as lucky as Sirjue. Last year 48 motorcyclists lost their lives in collisions and the majority of them were not wearing protective helmets.

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A motorcyclist's brush with death