A FLORIDA ALLIGATOR NEARLY TURNED TWO MOTORCYCLISTS INTO RANDOM ROADKILL
Ah, this is almost old news now. But it’s Florida, which is all too often the source for unique news we couldn’t otherwise imagine. And this certainly seems to fit the bill. While this happened two weeks ago, I’m both surprised to have never heard the like before, and yet still shocked that it happened at all. I’ve visited the oranges, alligators and hanging chads state a few times. I’ve even seen and held an alligator there. A baby one, that is. I’ve also taken a tour of the Everglades and seen large, adult alligators in the wild. And in a word, I respect and fear them. Now, I respect and fear them even more after learning that one Florida alligator nearly turned two motorcyclists into roadkill.
Read More: Florida Frisbee Hunter Killed By Alligator In Pond
FLORIDA ALLIGATOR STOPPED MOTORCYCLES, BUT THEIR RIDERS KEPT GOING A BIT FURTHER
But how? Well, in an obvious and simple way, really. It was in the damn road. And the two motorcyclists, Cameron Gilmore, 67, and an unnamed 25-year-old woman, didn’t see it until it was too late. But unlike running over a rabbit or turkey, where there’s a loud thump and you drive on with regret, when you hit an alligator riding a motorcycle your bike stops and you keep going. And that’s pretty much what happened to the two motorcyclists when they were riding in a larger group on Florida’s Interstate 4, or I-4 near Orange City. As Camerron explained:
“I saw it, like, 10 feet in front of me, and I just, you know, I thought — I knew I was going to hit it. It kind of just happened so quick. I didn’t even have a second to do anything. Couldn’t put on the brakes or not. And I just had to hold on. One of the riders in front of me said he, he went by the gator, looked in his mirror, saw me hit it, and I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my head on I-4 and rolled. They said — somebody said two or three rolls on, you know, head-first, and then I start flying for a long way.”
MOTORCYCLISTS TREATED FOR BONE BREAKS AND FRACTURES, AND ALLIGATOR NEEDED SOME HELP, TOO
I already knew that riding motorcycles could be pretty dangerous, given the basic realities of physics and the frailty of the human body. And potholes! But I never really considered hitting things like animals in the road, and certainly not an alligator! Both motorcyclists were taken to HCA Lake Monroe Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, like broken bones and fractures. The also-injured alligator got help from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
