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[CrashCash]

He's in pretty bad shape after a forest rat deer strike

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/ama-hall-of-famer-craig-vetter-seriously-injured-in-streetbike-crash/

Not only is he doing serious original motorcycle aero research, he's one of my heroes.

I'm kind of in shock. I hope he pulls through.

[Richard230]

That really sucks!     Especially at that location and while riding at slow speed.  It sounds like there was nothing that he could have done to avoid the deer. 

A few years ago one of those things got hit by a car on my subdivision street (nothing to eat here but grass and some minor landscaping flowers).  As the deer was laying in the street, a couple of women rushed out of their homes to pet it and give it a bowl of water trying to make it feel better (it didn't look all that happy to be petted) as they called the Humane Society. (What were they going to do with it?)  Sometimes I get the feeling that many residents around here like animals more than people - and treat them better too.     Personally, I am all for declaring "open season" on the big rats (the little ones, too).  We have mountain lions around here, but they just can't keep up with the exploding deer population - but they do a good job keeping outdoor cats running for their 9 lives. 

[Doug S]

That's really terrible. I've always admired him, as well, and six weeks ago I finally got to meet him at the Craig Vetter Challenge up in Hollister. A nicer, smarter, more well-meaning person would be hard to find these days. He and Mike Corbin are really just wonderful people.

I'm guessing the Helix described is the streamliner he rode in the challenge. It sounds like Craig's basically okay and should recover....I hope the machine is salvageable, too. He's put a lot of hours of hard work on that bike, when he should be relaxing and enjoying his retirement. Hard work for the benefit of people like us.

[protomech]

Oh no : (

I hope he recovers quickly and fully. It's good to see the update from his wife.

Vetter remains hospitalized in the ICU at Natividad, but Carol Vetter reports that at this point he has regained consciousness, is speaking and is in good spirits, has no paralysis or loss of motor skills, and will not need any surgery to help his injuries heal.

[Kocho]

I wonder what other gear he was wearing, besides the open-face helmet... Sounds like an awful lot of injuries from a low-speed crash with a deer...

"Vetter was diagnosed with an edema on his brain, a fracture of his C2 vertebra, five broken ribs on the right side, a broken right clavicle, a bruised lung, a broken orbital socket and facial lacerations. Vetter was wearing an open-face helmet at the time of the crash"

[CrashCash]

Well, I'm wondering from the "five broken ribs on the right side" if the forest rat didn't jump right into him, if he was going as slow as they say he was. That would have been a hell of an impact.

The "broken orbital socket and facial lacerations" might have been avoided with a full-face helmet, but I'm preaching to the choir here anyways.

[Doug S]

I'm pretty sure the attached picture is Craig's Helix (if not, my apologies). You can see that it might be difficult to take a fall on...you wouldn't want to just stick out a let to catch yourself, or you could do severe damage to the leg, and there's not much opportunity for anything else. Even at low speeds I could see taking a fair amount of damage from a fall, especially if you're 73 yo.