Crash Response Guide
What to Do After a Motorcycle Crash
Five steps for the first ten minutes, in order. Read it now, before you ever need it.
React Armor does not provide medical advice and does not replace emergency services, professional medical care, or certified first-aid training. Always call 911 in an emergency. Everything below happens around that call, not instead of it.
A crash compresses everything into seconds. Adrenaline spikes, the road is loud, and it's hard to think in order. Riders who have been through it say the same thing: having a fixed sequence in your head beforehand is what let them act instead of freeze. This is that sequence.
Get Out of the Travel Lane
Hazards on if the bike still runs. If you can stand and the scene is safe, move yourself and the bike off the road. A second impact from following traffic is one of the most common ways a first crash gets worse.
Exception: if you suspect a neck, back, or head injury in yourself or someone else, don't move that person. Stabilize the lane instead, with hazards or someone waving traffic wide.
Call 911, Even If It Feels Minor
Give your location first, in case the call drops: nearest mile marker, cross streets, or direction of travel. Stay on the line if you can. Dispatch will walk you through what to check next.
Find and Stop Serious Bleeding
Direct, hard pressure on any wound that's bleeding heavily, using a jacket, a glove, whatever's clean and available. For a limb wound that won't stop with pressure, a tourniquet placed high and tight can be the difference before help arrives.
Not sure how? The R.E.A.C.T. kit's tourniquet walkthrough is in the app training library.
Keep Them Still, Keep Them Talking
Don't remove a helmet unless it's blocking the airway. Keep the rider still, keep them talking to gauge alertness, and cover them with a jacket. Shock drops body temperature faster than you'd expect, even in summer.
Loop In Someone Who Isn't a Stranger
A crash is disorienting for everyone involved, including bystanders trying to help. If your emergency contacts are already set up in React Armor, this is the moment they earn their place. One alert and the right people know where you are and that you're not okay, without you having to explain it over the phone.
If You Ride, This Is the Moment a Kit Earns Its Spot
Step three is the one most riders aren't equipped for. Most stock first-aid kits don't have anything built for arterial bleeding. That's the specific gap a trauma kit is built to close.
- Tourniquet, rated and accessible
- Compressed gauze
- Chest seal
- EMT shears
- Emergency contact card
- Emergency blanket
Questions Riders Ask
Should I move my motorcycle off the road?
If you're physically able and there's no suspected spinal injury, yes. Move both yourself and the bike out of the travel lane. Oncoming traffic not seeing a downed bike in time is a real risk on top of the original crash.
Do I need to call 911 for a minor drop?
Call anyway. Adrenaline hides injuries. Road rash can be masking a fracture, and a low speed drop can still mean a concussion. Let dispatch decide whether you need to be seen.
How do I know if I actually need a tourniquet?
If direct pressure on a limb wound isn't slowing the bleeding within a minute, or the bleeding is pulsing, stop trying pressure alone and apply a tourniquet. It's easier to loosen one you didn't need than to have skipped one you did.
What if the rider is unconscious?
Don't remove the helmet unless they're not breathing or you need to clear the airway. Check for breathing, keep the head and neck as still as possible, and tell 911 immediately that the rider is unresponsive. That changes what gets dispatched.
Don't Wait for a Crash to Find This Page Again
Put the checklist, your contacts, and the kit in one place before you need any of it.
Follow along and share it with your riding group.
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