BenNelson - hit by a truck on an electric motorcycle - donations appreciated
 

Big thanks for Neil Blanchard for posting it in Darin's 20,000 posts thread. BenNelson who has shared tons of great work on the forum doing electric vehicle conversions was badly injured in a accident while test driving an electric motorcycle he was fixing for a friend a few weeks ago. A large truck turned left in front of him while he was on a 45 mph road. He remembers nothing about it at all, barely remembers leaving the house on the bike for the short test run. The police report said the truck turned left in front of him. It looks like he laid the bike down, got away from the bike, and they both slid into the truck. The truck's rear differential was actually broken and had to be towed away. Ben was wearing full gear and a helmet and is really lucky to be alive. However, he is the sole breadwinner for his house, and of course finances are now a concern. The insurance has been a big headache because the new bike owner hadn't titled it in his name yet.

I went over to Ben's house yesterday and talked with him a while. He is on the road to recovery, but its going to be a long one. He is super bored, and dealing with depression as its just turning to spring weather around here and all the cool fun stuff he has been looking forward to he likely won't be able to do this year.

Here is a recap by Ben on his site:

300mpg.org - Hit by a truck!

Here is a donation link Ben has had setup from the plethora of projects he has done. If you can spare something I know he'd be appreciative.

Donate

What a crappy time of year to be laid up.

I'm chipping in.

Speedy recovery, Ben!

Also: yay for retrograde amnesia! Did it hurt? Who knows! (Although I'm sure it hurts pretty miserably now.)

Love his work and appreciate his presence. I will definitely donate today!

Best of luck in recovery Ben.

EDIT: DONE!

Thanks for posting this Daox. Motorcycles are quite dangerous - I rode for 12+ years, and almost 100K miles. I think that motorcycles just don't register in other driver's brains, then same way that cars / trucks do.

Other vehicles turning left in front of motorcyclists is the cause of about 70% of all motorcycle accidents.

I got paid yesterday, and I passed along some of it to Ben. It is the least I could do.

It sounds like every part of this hurts.

Ben made it easy to donate, so don't think it's a hassle to send him a few bucks.

Thanks guys. I'm sure Ben is appreciative.

I basically want Ben to get healthy so he can continue taking risks and being adventurous. Hope this doesn't cause him to give up riding.

BTW- I approve of the comment that has disappeared, although I can see why it might be in poor taste when we are wishing ben to make a full recovery.

Yep, the risk is very real. Ben said that when he was hit was under very ideal conditions. It was nice, sunny, warm, low traffic, etc.

Not ideal!

Bouncey bouncey, back to the top. Folks should see this and take action as they see fit.

Bump.

I told my brother about what happened to Ben, he is going to also make a donation. My brother is a fellow i MiEV owner, and solar PV owner, and he has learned from various things that Ben has done.

What goes around, comes around!