by Marcus Errico
Jan 9, 2006, 11:15 AM PT

The Terminator's bike chops have gotten a bit rusty.

While his cyborg alter ego showed considerable motorcycle-driving prowess in Terminator 2: Judgment Day's epic chase scene, Arnold Schwarzenegger failed to make it down a residential street without getting into an accident.

The 59-year-old California governor was tooling around in his Harley-Davidson, his 12-year-old son Patrick riding shotgun in the sidecar, near their Brentwood home Sunday afternoon when Schwarzenegger bumped into a car that was backing out of a driveway.

"The governor was unable to avoid the vehicle in his path and collided with it at a low speed," press secretary Margita Thompson said in a statement. The motorcycle mishap occurred about 3:15 p.m.

Schwarzenegger and son were both wearing helmets and weren't seriously injured, but they were taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, where the Last Action Hero star got 15 stitches to patch a busted lip. The other driver, whose identity was not disclosed, was unscathed. Neither party was cited, said Officer Jason Lee of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Despite the lack of Perhaps it's time Schwarzenegger said hasta la vista to the Harley.

In December 2001, Schwarzenegger broke a half-dozen ribs and spent four days in the hospital after wiping out his bike not far from the scene of the latest incident.

"It was a Sunday afternoon and I was riding through Santa Monica on my Harley, when the car in front of me suddenly braked," Schwarzenegger recounted in the bodybuilding magazine Flex. "My front wheel hit the rear fender of the car and I ended up sliding along the road sideways.

"I was taken to the ER at St. John's Hospital, and they told me I had broken six ribs and that I couldn't work out for three months, until early March," Schwarzenegger continued. "In fact, I started training again in late February, which was only six or seven weeks before shooting [on Terminator 3] began."
Mercifully, the fat lip has so far prevented Schwarzenegger from uttering "I'll be back," but we're guessing it's only a matter of time. The governor's office says Schwarzenegger will make all his scheduled appearances Monday, giving him ample opportunity to fire up the catchphrase.
EOnline

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Russell Wilcox is a retired college professor who spends several months in Florida and several months in Rhode Island each year, and whose interests include boating and sailing, political activism, ballroom dancing and bridge. He has an MBA from Harvard, a Computer Systems CAGS from Bryant and a BS from Northeastern. He has worked in industry for EG&G and Texas Instruments, operated his own business with more than 200 employees, and served as Director of the Computer Information Systems Program for Stonehill College. He is a published author of two technical studies, and is the proud father of four children and the proud grandfather of six grandchildren. A holder of two patents in microchip connections and a true product of the melting pot, his father is the son of a Yankee farmer, and his mother the second generation daughter of Italian immigrants who retained their culture, but strove mightily to become Americans, sending four sons to fight against Hitler and Mussolini.