The most dangerous part, is just getting there...

[Mike Edmonston]

It is with great sadness that I post this.

My good friend, student and dive buddy John Mcdaniel was critically injured a couple days ago, while riding his motorcycle to work.

John was on US-27 on his motorcycle, and a 93 year old man just pulled out right in the middle of the highway. There was no time to react. He hit the car broadside, and although he was wearing full gear (helmet, padded jacket, leathers etc...), he was critically injured. Although we have 4 major hospitals within 5 minutes of the accident, he had to be airlifted to the Tampa General Trauma unit with severe internal injuries.

As of this writing he is still in ICU (6 days), with 25% loss of his right kidney, and level 3 damage to his liver. There is still an unidentified bleed in his lower abdomen, and he is due for another CT scan shortly. John is a NAUI training assistant, and was supposed to join me for some classes I was teaching last weekend, he had also enlisted and was slated to enter into the NAVY EOD diver program.

I wish him the best, and truly hope that these injuries will not keep him out of his dream to be a NAVY diver.

I know that diving has dangers that we can (somewhat) control, but IMHO you have a better chance of getting killed while on the way to the site.

Everyone, please please be careful on the roads. I would really like to meet you all one day.

 

[almitywife]

oh geez mike...... again im reminded that i have more chances of being hurt by others on my trip to work than hurting myself diving

i truely hope your friend is going to recover

and prays for him, his family & his friends in getting him thru this

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

I can certainly confirm your statement about the drive being the most dangerous part of the dive outing. In October 2005, I drove from Miami Beach, Florida to near Morehead City, North Carolina for a dive trip. In my car, I carried fully charged double steel 120 tanks, two 40 cubic foot cylinders of oxygen, my scooter and all of my dive gear. As a precaution, I tied down my gear in the rear of the vehicle (since it is a crossover type vehicle, which is more or less like a station wagon, which means that there is no wall separating the driver from the rear storage area).

The weather was so bad in North Carolina that we never got to dive. After four days, I headed back to Miami with all of my gear including my fully charged tanks. After completing all but the last 45 minutes of a 14 hour drive, my car hydroplaned over a puddle while at full highway speed. I spun around and crashed into a tree on the side of the road.

In addition to totalling my car, the force was such that, even with my tanks and gear tied down in the rear, one of my full charged oxygen bottles and scooter were ejected from the car. The engine was smoking, Gasoline was leaking, and my door was crushed in so that I couldn't exit the vehicle. I was lucky enough to crawl out of the passenger side and make it to the edge of the road.

I broke six ribs in that accident, and I had some other internal injuries. I spent four days in intensive care in the hospital, and I couldn't work for the next three months.

If any of those oxygen tanks had ruptured, or if leaking oxygen had come into contact with gasoline vapor and the source of the smoke, I don't want to think of what the outcome could have been. Certainly, the drive to and from the boat is the most dangerous part of the diving day!

Best wishes to your friend, and hopes that he can return to diving soon.