Celebrities, just like the rest of us, can fall victim to San Diego motorcycle accidents. Below, we report on three famous celebrity motorcycle crashes and try to learn lessons from them.
1. Bassist for The Allman Brothers Band hits a bus, a year after his bandmate’s fatal crash.
24-year-old Duane Allman died in 1971, in Macon, Georgia, when he slammed his Harley-Davidson Sportster into a flatbed truck. The accident was Rube Goldberg-esque. Allman tried to let the truck take a left in front of him, but the vehicle stopped suddenly, causing him to crash into it. The truck’s weighted ball then smashed Allman in the chest. Allman seemed fine immediately afterwards — his only visible injuries were scrapes and cuts. But he died that evening in surgery. Nearly a year later, Berry Oakley, the band’s bassist, drove his motorcycle into a bus, just a few blocks from where Allman’s crash occurred.
Lesson: history tends to repeat itself.
If you’ve been in an accident – or if you’ve had a “close call” – take a good look at what went wrong. Change your habits and behaviors accordingly.
2. Peter Fonda, so-called “Easy Rider,” torn up in three separate crashes.
Peter Fonda, a self-proclaimed motorcycle aficionado, recently bragged to the Los Angeles Times about all the bikes that he’s owned: Harley-Davidson Fat Boys, a Ducati, several Triumphs, an MV-Augusta F4 1000, and many other fantastic rides.
But he’s gotten into serious trouble, at least three times:
- In 1964, his bike flew over a speed bump and smashed into a car. Fonda, who was wearing little more than a bathing suit, suffered back injuries, and his hip bone penetrated his skin.
- 1n 1985, Fonda broke his neck and back in a different motorcycle accident.
- In 1993, Fonda hit a deer head-on, an incident, that finally got him to understand the importance of motorcycle safety gear!
Lesson: don’t skimp on your safety gear.
Get into habit of suiting up appropriately. The cost benefit calculus just makes sense. A good helmet and top grade gear can be pricey. But it pales in comparison to the amount of money it takes to pay for repairing broken bones or spinal surgeries.
3. Bob Dylan’s mysterious July 29, 1966 motorcycle accident.
Singer Bob Dylan’s beautiful melodies and inscrutable lyrics have fascinated generations of song smiths. But he’s also gotten into his fair share of motorcycle accidents and scrape-ups. For instance, on July 29, 1966, he crashed his motorcycle near Woodstock, New York. Did the accident break Dylan’s back and nearly cost the singer his life? Or did he simply use the crash as a pretext to drop out of the limelight, so that he could wean himself off heroin and meth? Rumors abounded about what happened… and still nobody (save, perhaps, for Dylan himself) knows for sure.
Lesson: often, the only witness to a motorcycle accident is the rider.
This lack of perspective on the crash can create serious problems for a San Diego motorcycle accident case. Without witness statements or other corroborating evidence, you may have a hard time proving your story.
For a free, confidential consultation about your San Diego motorcycle crash, please call attorney Dean Goetz today at 858-481-8844.