It’s a startling number; one in every five traffic deaths in 2010 in Colorado was a motorcyclist, according to a recent C-DOT report. 11 News spoke to a local rider who survived being hit by a car and he has a message for all drivers.

Neil Simon enjoys the thrill of riding his motorcycle every chance he can get. But he never expected that a ride over his lunch break could’ve been his last.

“Hit my brakes, and when I did the back of my bike swung around. The next thing I know, I’m lying on the ground, “ Simon explained.

Simon was riding along Southgate heading towards Nevada Avenue when he says a woman driving a grey suburban pulled out in front of him from the Walgreen’s parking lot, leaving him with no time to react.

“It’s too late already; she was too close for me to stop,” Simon said.
While the crash and moments after are a blur, he remembers one thing very clearly.

“I was sitting on the ground next to the bike and there’s no car, as the people are running up their saying she took off.”

In shock and now disbelief, Simon says the driver was no where in sight.

“How could you just take off, you don’t know if I’m okay, you don’t know what’s going on or if I’m even alive?”

Simon is grateful to have survived the accident and be back home with his family, but he and his wife want to caution drivers to pay extra attention on the road

“Just take that extra minute, just to glance over and make sure there’s nobody coming out. It could save someone’s life. It could’ve been my husband’s life,” Holli Simon said.

The suspect vehicle is believed to be a Chevy suburban, mid 90s-model, grey in color with a Dallas cowboy sticker on the back. If you were in the area of Southgate and Nevada and have any information you are asked to call Colorado Springs Police.