An Alberta woman is grateful to be alive after being involved in an accident while riding her motorcycle through the rock cuts, near Fernie.
Lori and her husband Dale Hann were travelling home to Devon, Alberta on July 14 after a week of riding in Montana. About 10 kilometres out of Fernie, a back tire of a van travelling in the oncoming lane became dislodged, crossed lanes and hit the car in front of her. Lori remembers a cloud of shrapnel flying over the roof of the car which caused her to fall off her bike and roll down the highway.
“All of a sudden it was like something exploded in front of her car, and all the shrapnel from whatever it was came back, and I just remember rolling, rolling, rolling down the highway,” said Lori.
“Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.
As she lay on the asphalt in the middle of the highway she tried to pull herself off the road, but was stopped by close to a dozen people who were by her side within seconds. Lori felt it necessary to thank everyone who stopped to help.
“People came running,” she said.
Lori would like to thank the people in the vehicle behind her, the firefighter from Calgary, the nurse from the Children’s Hospital, the two people holding up a blanket to shade her from the sun, the woman who had finished her night shift and was on her way to the beach, the firefighters, the police officers, the paramedics, Jean and David, the two truck operators who stopped at the hospital to drop off her belongings, and the driver of the vehicle in front of her, a woman from Saskatchewan, who came to the hospital to make sure she was okay. She would also like to thank Dr. Stimson and the attending nurse, Vanessa at the Elk Valley Regional Hospital who she says were great during the three hours she was there.
“I just want to say thank you,” she said. “Like I said to my husband, I was calm. And I think it was just all these people that were there, talking to me, and just making me feel at ease.
“Just a big thank you.”
Lori escaped from the accident with only a few scratches on her stomach and elbow. She believes that the quick attendance of those around her, as well her leather and Kevlar riding outfit saved her life. Fortunately her husband, Dale, who was behind her at the time, was able to stay on his bike and escaped with nothing more than an injured ankle.
“I just have a few scratches and that’s it,” said Lori. “It’s unbelievable, really.”
Every day Lori says she complained about her big jacket, considering the heat in Montana at the time which was ranging between 32 and 36 degrees Celsius. After this, she says she’ll never complain again. Now, seeing other motorcyclists wearing just t-shirts makes her cringe.
“You almost feel like you should be more hurt, when you walk away from something like that,” she said.
“It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around it, but I’ll take it.”
