A couple of stories in the Bournemouth local press this week involved two very different cyclists....
One of the stories had the heading...'Left for Dead'. It concerned a cyclist found in the road following a hit and run incident.
The 40 year old experienced cyclist was cycling to work at around 05.30hrs one morning. He was wearing high-visibility clothing and a helmet and he had a number of lights to the front and rear of his machine when a car ploughed into him.
The impact flipped him over the top of the car and apparently the cyclist landed on his back about 10 metres from the point of impact. The poor guy suffered two broken vertebrae...a broken bone in his hand and plenty of road rash. The car did not stop and just left the cyclist in the road.
Luckily an off duty fireman saw the incident and went over to assist. He phoned for the emergency services.
Later, the cyclist said..."There is no way that the driver would not have seen me...I was lit up like a Christmas tree and I'm not a small person. I did a double somersault over the top of the car and he just kept on going...I can remember riding the bike and then looking down and thinking it was going to hurt....I cracked my helmet and the bike is probably a write off".
After four days in hospital he is now at home but has to spend the day lying very still and is on morphine slow release to ease the pain...apparently he is due to see a spinal specialist but it is not expected that he will have any permanent damage . He really was a very lucky guy not to have been killed.
As for the driver of the car..well the police are still looking for him.
The next story concerns cycling on the pavement (sidewalk) which is one of my pet hates.
Apparently the police have been out in the Boscombe area of Bournemouth to remind cyclists that riding on the pavement and through the precinct is not allowed.
This follows an incident involving a four year old girl which highlights the dangers that cyclists can pose when riding along the pavement and precinct areas.
The young girl was left in agony after an irresponsible cyclist slammed into her when riding his bike in the dark on a pavement in Southbourne Grove. In the impact she suffered two breaks in her lower left leg.
As for the cyclist....well after stopping briefly to get back on his bike he then rode off ....the police have made a public appeal and they have issued CCTV pictures of the man they want to speak to. In the CCTV images I've seen, the man is cycling along no handed....
What do these two stories highlight then ? Well for me it shows that there can be some pretty nasty people driving cars as well as some pretty nasty people riding bikes.
I do hope that the hit and run motorist and the hit and run cyclist are both caught....it is a good thing that the majority of motorists and cyclists would not behave like these two...but it does the reputation of both groups of road users no good at all when people behave like this.
I trust that both the little girl and the cyclist that was hit by the car make a full and complete recovery and that their Christmas is not spoiled by these incidents.
One of the stories had the heading...'Left for Dead'. It concerned a cyclist found in the road following a hit and run incident.
The 40 year old experienced cyclist was cycling to work at around 05.30hrs one morning. He was wearing high-visibility clothing and a helmet and he had a number of lights to the front and rear of his machine when a car ploughed into him.
The impact flipped him over the top of the car and apparently the cyclist landed on his back about 10 metres from the point of impact. The poor guy suffered two broken vertebrae...a broken bone in his hand and plenty of road rash. The car did not stop and just left the cyclist in the road.
Luckily an off duty fireman saw the incident and went over to assist. He phoned for the emergency services.
Later, the cyclist said..."There is no way that the driver would not have seen me...I was lit up like a Christmas tree and I'm not a small person. I did a double somersault over the top of the car and he just kept on going...I can remember riding the bike and then looking down and thinking it was going to hurt....I cracked my helmet and the bike is probably a write off".
After four days in hospital he is now at home but has to spend the day lying very still and is on morphine slow release to ease the pain...apparently he is due to see a spinal specialist but it is not expected that he will have any permanent damage . He really was a very lucky guy not to have been killed.
As for the driver of the car..well the police are still looking for him.
The next story concerns cycling on the pavement (sidewalk) which is one of my pet hates.
Apparently the police have been out in the Boscombe area of Bournemouth to remind cyclists that riding on the pavement and through the precinct is not allowed.
This follows an incident involving a four year old girl which highlights the dangers that cyclists can pose when riding along the pavement and precinct areas.
The young girl was left in agony after an irresponsible cyclist slammed into her when riding his bike in the dark on a pavement in Southbourne Grove. In the impact she suffered two breaks in her lower left leg.
As for the cyclist....well after stopping briefly to get back on his bike he then rode off ....the police have made a public appeal and they have issued CCTV pictures of the man they want to speak to. In the CCTV images I've seen, the man is cycling along no handed....
What do these two stories highlight then ? Well for me it shows that there can be some pretty nasty people driving cars as well as some pretty nasty people riding bikes.
I do hope that the hit and run motorist and the hit and run cyclist are both caught....it is a good thing that the majority of motorists and cyclists would not behave like these two...but it does the reputation of both groups of road users no good at all when people behave like this.
I trust that both the little girl and the cyclist that was hit by the car make a full and complete recovery and that their Christmas is not spoiled by these incidents.
7 comments:
Two sobering stories, and two offenders that deserve all that the law can throw at them.
But here's the rub...
By law, the offending car-driver must have mandatory third-party insurance and so any claims by the victim for injury and/or damage would be handled by and paid by the offender's insurer.
The offending cyclist has no such insurance mandate upon him and as such is unlikely to be insured. Any claims by the victim for injury and/or damage would probably have to go through the courts which takes ages, is stressful for the victim and generally results in comparatively less recompense.
These incidents make the case for some sort of mandatory third-party insurance for cyclists, methinks.
I think it is doubly fortunate that neither of the "villains" are typical, or else the roads and pavements would be completely unusable. Imagine what riding a road would be like if even one motorist out of a thousand were like the hit and runner.
*BG*
I agree with you that cyclists should have third party insurance....indeed most of what I would call 'proper' cyclists belonging to a club will have that insurance...CTC members for instance are all covered by £10m third party insurance. The sort of cyclist that broke the young girls leg would not have that cover and if it was made mandatory I fail to see how it would be enforced....My other half is an enforcement officer with the DVLA and they and the police are unable to ensure that all drivers are adequately insured...what hope with cyclists?
*Steve A*
You are so right Steve..it is indeed fortunate that they are not typical....
You have a very nice post here. It says a lot about "bad apples" as there are some in every group it seems. Some people have a hard time grasping that concept.
*rlove2bike*
Thanks a lot for your comment....I think that you have highlighted an important point here.....and for a lot of us we actually fall into both groups.
That both victims are okay is heartening.
One more reason to celebrate life. While adversities are indeed a part of life, life still has so much more to offer.
Merry Christmas, Trevor!
Paz :)
Nice comment Chandra......and a Merry Christmas to you.
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