Fat-lipped Schwarzenegger jokes about accident

Arnold Schwarzenegger

LOS ANGELES - Swollen-lipped California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today brushed off a weekend motorcycle accident that left him needing 15 stitches on his mouth.

"What normally happens when you see someone in Hollywood with swollen lips, it's collagen shots," the former action movie star told reporters while touring a North Hollywood clinic. "But this is ... simply an accident with a motorcycle."

Schwarzenegger was riding his Harley-Davidson motorbike with his 12-year-old son, Patrick, in the sidecar on Sunday afternoon (local time) when a car driver backed into a street near his Los Angeles area home.

"We were going 32 km/h ... and the woman drove out, stopped, looked to the left, saw me -- looked me right in the eye -- and looked to the right and then drove out anyway," Schwarzenegger said. "It was just too short of a distance for me to put the brakes on."

Both Schwarzenegger and his son were wearing helmets and were treated in hospital for minor cuts and bruises. The other driver was not injured.

Schwarzenegger, who rode a motorcycle in his 'Terminator' films, said he had ignored his doctor's advice to take some time off.

"He also said to me that I should not speak for three days. My wife said, 'Make it seven'," he joked.

In December 2001, Schwarzenegger broke several ribs and was hospitalised for four days after a motorcycle crash in Los Angeles.

The California governor was speaking to reporters at an event stressing the need for children to have health insurance. He was later due to fly to Sacramento a day before his annual presentation of his new fiscal year budget.

- REUTERS