What started as a simple date night for Lisa Dugan turned into a harrowing lesson on how protective gear can save your life.

It was an unseasonably warm Wednesday evening in May 2021 when Lisa's husband, Trevor, surprised her by taking her for a date on their motorcycles.

As she walked out of the house, Trevor asked Lisa to put on a leather jacket. It was almost 90 degrees, she recalled, but Trevor reminded her the jacket was important to wear. 

Lisa was already wearing leather pants lined with Kevlar but grabbed the jacket, too. The outfit, particularly the pants, cost more than she planned to spend. But Lisa and her sister decided they were cute. 

At the time she figured the extra protection might be worthwhile, especially after her sister agreed she was worth it. “And my sister said I’d never regret buying them,” Lisa recalls.

Date night was going great. After a quiet dinner in Minneapolis, Lisa and Trevor hugged and hopped on their respective motorcycles to drive home. 

Trevor was leading the way as they approached the Interstate 94 and Interstate 35W interchange. Lisa looked left as she merged into an open lane. When she looked forward again, a huge pothole was in front of her. 

Lisa tried to ride through the pothole as she was taught in motorcycle training classes and had learned over 13 years of riding. At 60 mph the pothole violently bucked her cycle. She flipped over the handlebars, bounced and then slid down the highway in front of a wall of vehicles. 

Everything was a blur.  

Vehicles behind her screeched to a stop.

“It’s really foggy at that moment,” Lisa said. “I knew that I had crashed and had slid quite a way down the freeway. And I remember trying to stand up and there was the panic of knowing I was in the middle of 35W and needing to get out of the lanes because I didn’t want to get hit by traffic.”

Drivers got out of their cars and ran to help as Trevor turned around and returned to the scene. When Lisa looked into Trevor’s face, she knew things weren’t OK.

In the emergency room Lisa remembers a doctor saying they usually didn’t see people after a motorcycle crash at that speed. 

 “My helmet saved my life,” Lisa added. “The gear that I had on, I would say, it saved my limbs from permanent damage.” Lisa’s injuries included a brain injury from bouncing and rolling on the pavement, but Lisa concluded, “because I had my gear on, I was able to leave the hospital the next day.”

Learn how to stay safe on your motorcycle at Motorcycle riding tips.