The Suggestion Box

Got a Suggestion or Feature Request?

Use the suggestion box to submit suggestions

Vote on suggestions submitted by other members.

Monthly Archives

Pony Tales November 2011

Pony Tales header

By Lulu

Below is a letter written by the wife of a man severely injured in a bike v/s car accident by a young girl who tried to flee the scene. When her father arrived the wife of the injured man was unaware that prior to her arrival the father of the young girl had been ranting about bikers “thinking they owned the road” and about bikers being “nothing but druggies”. The wife came to the defense of the father unaware of what was said that enraged the other bikers at the scene. This is her letter written a bit later. The letter to the father says it all…

[like url=https://thunderroadsflorida.com/?p=1997]

Dear Mr. G.
A lot of time has passed and I’ve had many opportunities to think about this letter and what it means to me.

I became aware of your presence at the scene of my husband’s accident over 18 months ago. The same accident your daughter caused. The other bikers that were riding with my husband at the time of the accident vehemently voiced to me their displeasure with you at that same scene while the paramedics were treating my husband and the officers were directing traffic around my husband. I immediately defended you, something within days afterwards I regretted. As we all know, the scene of the accident was a very emotional scene. The moment the bikers told me of their displeasure with you, my immediate response word for word to all of them was, “Calm down, he is doing his job. He is protecting his daughter. Just ignore him.” I continued trying to reassure all of them that everything was going to be ok and that you were just upset with the situation. It was several weeks later before I learned of the reason for their displeasure.

I’d like to give you some background information on that group of bikers. There were four motorcycles riding together that day. It is something they do often and usually there are many more of them. Of the four motorcycles, three of the bikers were veterans of our country. That’s right; they have served our country to protect your freedom. One is still serving in our military, one is retired military police and my husband is a veteran from the Gulf War era. Many times since the accident I have wondered if these same gentlemen were in uniform that day would you have been nearly as disrespectful to each of them and their wives.

Two of the three bikers at the scene of the accident that day work for my husband. He is their manager. He is the leader of a crew of almost twenty gentlemen. Each of his team members visited him during his stay in the hospital. They did not visit because they had to; they visited because they wanted to. I called my husband’s manager while still at the scene of the accident. She met me at the trauma center and stayed by my side for many hours that evening and into the night waiting to get information on his condition.

The sheriff that witnessed the accident called me many times during the night to check on the status of my husband. He was truly shocked that my husband was still alive. The gentleman that witnessed the accident from his home was also amazed that my husband was alive. He originally told the 911 operator that my husband was dead. Two additional bikers rode upon the scene and stopped to show their support, not because anyone asked them to, but again, because they wanted to. These were all strangers that had the decency to show care and concern toward another human that was obviously seriously injured due to actions of your daughter.

At the time of the accident the bikers were traveling below the speed limit through an intersection with a green light. They had the right of way in the same manner that a car or truck in their position would. Your daughter was stopped to turn left facing the bikers on the same road. As we know, it was her duty to yield right of way to oncoming traffic. I am, after all of this time, still floored by your reaction that, “Damn Bikers think they own the road!” I believe the bikers were doing what they are entitled to do by law which is to drive down a road and expect other drivers to obey the same laws in which they do.

Your daughter tried to leave the scene of the accident. One of the bikers had to get in front of her vehicle and demand that she stop trying to move her damaged SUV which wasn’t getting very far since her bumper was under her front wheel and impeding her attempt to leave. This seems to me like maybe she felt that she not only owned the road, but had no concern for the well being of the man that she ran over at the intersection and watched as he flew in the air over her SUV prior to landing in the middle of the road, potentially killing him due to her poor judgment.

When my husband was released from the hospital, he was in a wheelchair. Without asking, the bikers, the same ones you ridiculed, came to our home and built my husband a wheelchair ramp. Two additional bikers, both are also veterans, immediately showed up at the scene of the accident with a trailer to load up my husband’s damaged motorcycle and take it to our home. One of the bikers stayed with our children so I could remain with my husband in the hospital for days on end. During my husband’s extended recovery the bikers that you look down on brought food to our home unannounced and cooked us dinner and cleaned up afterwards, allowing me to take care of my husband. They all made themselves available to us at any time of the day or night. They ran errands for us and eased my burden of caring for my husband and our children. Bikers from all over the country, even mere acquaintances, called us constantly asking how they could help us. Many bikers wanted to organize charity bike rides to assist us with the staggering medical bills but we would not allow it. I do not know how we would have gotten through the weeks and months ahead if it were not for the kindness, the generosity and the care and concern of Bikers.

Contrary to your belief, these bikers were not “Druggies, drug dealers” nor had they “Just left a drug house.” None of these bikers use illegal drugs or abuse prescription drugs. None of them frequent drug houses. If you do not believe me, please ask their employers, including the United States Government, which perform regular drug screenings on each of them.

Each of these bikers have been in numerous charity events to raise funds for many worthy causes from Camp Boggy Creek, a camp for seriously ill children, to breast cancer, to the Wounded Warriors to Daniels’ Kids, just to name a few. If these gentlemen were so heinous, would they spend their time and money on charitable events and worthy causes? When is the last time you donated to a charity or volunteered your time for a worthy cause?

As I mentioned in the beginning, my initial reaction to the outbursts at the scene was to defend you. I was not made aware of what you were saying until weeks later. I knew the group was angry but I didn’t know the reasons. I regret that I immediately defended you. However, given the circumstances, I would still immediately have the same initial reaction. I am a mother and I would also protect my children and I recognize that was your intent, to protect your child. But the difference between us is that I would also show compassion towards the injured man and his family especially at the scene of the life changing accident. It saddens me that as of yet, we still have not yet received an apology from you or your daughter, neither for the accident, nor for the inaccurate and judgmental words that were spoken by you.

I pray for you regularly, Mr. G. I pray that one day you can stop judging people by your preconceived notions that bikers are bad people that “own the road” and “are druggies” simply because that’s your stereotyped idea of what a biker is. These were all stand up gentlemen whose lives were endangered due to your daughter’s actions. I pray that one day when you need help, the world doesn’t turn its back on you in the same manner that you have with a tremendous group of bikers that I am proud to call my family. I pray that you can stop judging a book by its cover since, after all, you work as a car salesman and we have not classified you as a slimy salesman that lies to and preys on others to make a living. I also pray that one day you can learn compassion toward other humans and the ability to put others before yourself instead of looking down on them. I pray that you are able to learn empathy. The lack of common concern you showed for another individual was appalling and I pray that you can learn from it. I am very disappointed in the actions taken that day.

These low life bikers in your opinion are husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. They have defended our country. They are all hard workers and contribute to society. Each one of them is dependable and reliable and they go out of their way to help others at a moment’s notice, expecting nothing in return. These are not attributes to be loathed, but reasons to be admired. Again, I am proud to call Bikers my Family.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.