Friday, July 23, 2010

Cyclist Down...

According to Carol Clark at the Monitor, a cyclist crashed into a guard arm at the West Jemez Vehicle Access Portal yesterday and was seriously injured.

According to Ms. Clark in her blog (see link above), "...Schon, 79, rode his bicycle into a guard arm and hit a gate on LANL property near the bottom of Pajarito Ski Hill...He was placed in a medical helicopter from Santa Fe and airlifted to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque..."

No details yet as to what caused the cyclist, identified by Carol as Herb Schon of Eldorado, to crash into that gate.

I'll be on KRSN this morning with LAPD and Carol Clark discussing traffic safety on the radio station's Safety and Security Matters call in show. Maybe more information will be available.

At any rate, please be careful out there. As I remind students of Traffic Skills 101, your air bags are your lungs, and your crumple zone is your ribs.

Here is an update:

Via: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfroadriders/


Bill--FYI and anyone else you think will care: Herb was moved from the trauma center ICU to the regular trauma center Saturday night, and soon I hope he'll be downgraded to the general hospital so he can have visitors.

We keep getting conflicting information, but we think the story is that although he has a lot of injuries, none are life-threatening. He does have three breaks in the pelvis, but they are in positions that will allow him to do some weight-bearing exercises...if he can stay awake that long. He'll be in a neck brace for a while for the vertebral break, his shoulder and elbow look like raw meat, his head and shoulder wounds look like they were stitched up by Dr. Frankenstein, he has broken bones I never heard of and he has some remarkable bruising and lacerations and punctures, but on the whole, Peter and I are much heartened.

It seems he'll go from here to the general hospital and then to a rehab facility, most likely his alma mater, HealthSouth. He still is drugged much of the time--oxy and morphine--so doesn't do well with the phone. Visitors are restricted. I'll keep you posted. Thanks so much for your help with the bike and for staying in touch.
--Irene

3 comments:

Steve A said...

Certainly these guard arms can be tricky even at the slow speed appropriate to negotiating one.

Greg Kendall said...

Is Herb the guy that was speaking at the Mountaineers recently about his cross country bike trip?

Khal said...

Herb is a member of the Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes (SOBs). Don't know much else about him.