- The first accident I was involved in was circa 1991, two years after getting my driver's licence. I was riding my Yamaha XT350 and got pushed onto the sidewalk by a lorry driver in the middle of the street on a blind bend. No major injuries, just some scratches and bruises. The SOB, of course, didn't stop. It was my wake up call about riding a bike wearing a t-shirt.
- The 2nd one I was driving my dad's Nissan van and a car cut a corner, ripping off my door mirror and pushing me off the road. I hit the embankment alongside the road and bent the underside of the mud guard, blocking the right front wheel. The driver didn't stop. Fortunately, the driver that was following him stopped and helped me unbend the bodywork so I could go on my way. Unfortunately he didn't memorize the scumbag's licence plate.
- The 3rd one was a distracted moped rider who crashed head-on into us. The old Toyota Corolla 1200 suffered minor damages but the rider broke his left leg in several places. I was a passenger back then.
- In 1993 I rear-ended a car with my Kawasaki ZX-10. The driver was stopped on the road to turn left after a blind bend and didn't leave enough space on his right. Anyway, it was my fault. It was a slow speed accident, the car didn't suffer anything but it was enough to break my bike's left side fairing.
- In 1999 we were squeezed into the guard rail by a semi that cut the corner coming out of a bridge. One of the trailer's wheel completely smashed the Toyota's front left corner and both Alex and I had to get out of the car through my window because on his side there was this big rig and on my side there was the guard rail and none of the doors could be opened.
- On June 10th of the same year I was on my way to Figueira da Foz on my '98 Yamaha R1 and this dump truck came flying off a bend in the middle of the road. I had only two choices: end up splattered all over the front of the truck "Mad Max style" or take evasive action and get off the road. It was an easy choice (don't even think of making jokes about it!
). Result: a broken left elbow and the left side of the R1 completely scuffed. The scumbag didn't stop.
I was about 40km away from home but I rode back not knowing I had a broken elbow. I only found out the next day when I went to the hospital because of the pain.
- New Year's day 2000. Got involved in a head-on crash with an elderly driver who fell asleep at the wheel and went straight to my side of the road. I honked, went all the way to the roadside to avoid him but to no avail. The Seat Ibiza I was driving took the hit from the moving Peugeot 106 completely stopped. The fire department had to cut the Peugeot to remove the other driver, so you can imagine the state the car was in. I suffered a bit of whiplash and my girlfriend was left with some bruises from the seatbelt on her chest. The Ibiza was a write-off.
- September 2005. Another head-on crash. I was entering the street near my work place, which has a blind entrance, just to find a Seat Ibiza with a woman at the wheel driving on my side of the street. I managed to almost stop but her reactions were a bit slow and she hit me at the speed she was travelling. It was also a slow speed accident but it caused enough damage for the insurance company to write the car off. It was a 1992 Opel Astra 1.4i (8 valve).
- Between 2006 and 2008 the current Opel Astra was side-swiped 3 times at the same roundabout entrance, one time by a lorry (ripped the Opel's left front side open like a can of sardines) and another time by an Audi. Both these accidents were caused by drivers swerving from the left lane to the right at the roundabout's entrance. On the 3rd one I was driving the car and I was hit by a female driver on an Opel Astra H. I was in the right lane and she was in the left lane, and her level of distraction was so high that she hit me behind the left passenger's door, i.e. I was more than half way in front of her!
- New Year's Eve 2015. I was stopped at a junction and was rear-ended by a driver who had his car's windshield/windscreen partially covered with ice. He only cleaned a portion on his side, hoping the rest would disappear before he got home. It was at 2 A.M. and the outside temperature was 1ºC, so it was a very bad decision.
They all left a mark on me, that's why I remember them so well, but the first one was the most important because it made me see the importance of wearing protective gear when riding a motorcycle.
