Motorcycle Crash With Lonnie

Written By:  Andrew Eide

I traded my Honda 50 Motor Scooter for a Honda 90 Trail Bike very similar to the one in the photo above.

One of the people I loved riding with was my neighbor Lonnie.

Lonnie liked to take the muffler off his 50 cc motorcycle so that it sounded loud and impressive. I thought removing the muffler to go straight pipe was a stupid concept as the muffler is there for a reason.

On this day Lonnie and I were riding near my home at 4263 Saint Andrews Road. If you look on a map of 4263 Saint Andrews Road and then to the northeast you will see the intersection where Sequoia Road, Oak Hill Road, and Sage Drive meet. Today I will talk about a scary incident that took place between me and Lonnie on Sage Drive.

We had just come down Oak Hill Road and we turned onto Sage Drive. As you can see on a map Sage Drive is a Cul-de-Sac, meaning a dead-end street. About half way down Sage Drive there were many empty lots with nothing but dirt and weeds.

Lonnie was to my left and I was on the right of Lonnie. We were both traveling around 40 miles per hour when without warning Lonnie leaned to the right, went directly in front of me toward the empty lots to the right, and before I knew what happened I slammed into Lonnie and his motorcycle and I broadsided him.

I remember watching Lonnie and his motorcycle cart wheeling in the empty lot and flopping to a stop. I remember that I stopped when I broadsided Lonnie and I flew over my handlebars. I remember landing hard on the street and it hurt. But I had learned years before that even on the hottest day I would wear boots, jeans, a heavy jacket, thick gloves, and a helmet, to avoid serious injury.

My bike was messed up but it wasn’t that bad. I was bruised but all my protective clothing saved me from serious injury.

When we got together I demanded to know why Lonnie cut in front of me. He said he saw the empty lot and he thought it would be fun to turn and ride into the lot. I then asked Lonnie didn’t he remember I was riding to his right and he said with his muffler taken off his bike and it was straight pipe he couldn’t hear my bike over his exhaust noise.

I stopped being Lonnie’s friend after this incident.