David Cook expected to receive up to $2.25m from TAC following 2008 Great Ocean Road crash
TRANSPORT Accident Commission client David Cook estimates the insurer will pay him well in excess of a million dollars worth of wages, medical bills and other support after he was left a paraplegic following a motorbike accident in 2008.
Geelong
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TRANSPORT Accident Commission client David Cook estimates the insurer will pay him well in excess of a million dollars worth of wages, medical bills and other support after he was left a paraplegic following a motorbike accident in 2008.
The 44-year-old’s assertion is backed by the TAC data that shows the average “serious or life-changing injury” claim is about $2.25 million.
Mr Cook, who at the time of his accident was an experienced rider, is one of about 51,000 TAC clients who receive financial and emotional support each year.
“Everyone needs to be careful and think about how their son, daughter or family will react if they are seriously injured,” Mr Cook said.
On June 29, 2008 while riding his motorbike on the Great Ocean Road between Lorne and Aireys Inlet, Mr Cook lost traction and his bike stepped out.
He was then catapulted about 10 metres over the handlebars onto the bonnet of an oncoming car.
Eleven broken ribs, bleeding around his heart, and a broken spine, collar bone, wrist and jaw followed.
“It’s an 80km/h zone but there’s no way I would have been doing 80km/h because I’d just come around a hair pin and there was more bends ahead.”
The force of the impact on Mr Cook’s body is clear by squeezing the helmet he wore on the day. Outside it looks normal but apply pressure to the area where Mr Cook’s head was on the day of the crash, and it crumples and creeks under minimal pressure.
“I thought I was invincible but clearly I wasn’t,” Mr Cook said.
In a coma for seven days after the accident, it was a year until Mr Cook completed rehabilitation and learned how to roll on a bed and dress himself without the use of his muscles from the chest down.
“The first three years after my accident I was a burden on everyone,” he said.
In the decade since Mr Cook’s accident the TAC has funded fit-outs of his home, cars, and paid for a wheelchair, a seven-month rehabilitation stay, costly medical bills and part of his pre-crash wage.
“The cost would easily be a million dollars by the time you get from hospital to home after a serious accident,” Mr Cook said.
Originally published as David Cook expected to receive up to $2.25m from TAC following 2008 Great Ocean Road crash