Riding a motorbike is an inherently dangerous undertaking because you're much more exposed than in a car. Despite only making up a little more than five percent of the road users, motorcyclists account for 19 percent of all road crash deaths.
But one Perth bloke is lucky he didn't add to that statistic after a pretty gory accident.
Sean Foster was riding through the South West on Monday when the sun blinded his vision for a couple of seconds. It was during those crucial moments when he would have seen a big tree branch sticking up from the ground and avoided it - but sadly he didn't.
The blinded rider was doing about 80km/h when he ran into the branch and impaled himself on it.
The two-metre long piece of wood went into his right side and came out the back, thankfully missing all his vital organs.
Speaking to the West Australian, Mr Foster said: "I knew it had gone in, that's for sure. I knew there was something wrong because I could feel it.
"Then I grabbed it and felt around the back and feel it going right through."
His fiancée was tasked with keeping him still while another bloke got a saw to hack off part of the stick to allow him to fit inside the ambulance then the rescue helicopter.
The tree branch was inside the poor bloke for more than eight hours.
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He was taken to Royal Perth Hospital, where doctors were amazed that Sean managed to escape with just a nasty tree puncture.
If the branch had entered a few centimetres to the left he could have been in a very different situation.
"You kind of expect the worst when you've got a stick hanging out of you, so everything after that was a bit of a win," Mr Foster said.
After undergoing surgery, Sean will have to wait around in hospital for a little longer to make sure everything is tip top and then he'll be free to go.
You'd think something like this would make someone not want to travel on a motorbike anymore, but not Sean. He says once he's right as rain he'll jump straight back on the bike and go for a ride.
Featured Image Credit: 7 News