To be hit by a car driver once is unfortunate, but something that many of us cyclists can empathise with. To be hit twice feels like the worst misfortune, a cruel joke. To be crashed into a third time in under two years feels like an outrage, an indictment of the lack of road safety in the UK.
64,022 cyclists were killed or injured - with 248 killed, and 15,258 seriously - in collisions with car drivers in 2018-2022, according to government statistics, although these are clearly only the ones that were reported. Car drivers are the overwhelming reason behind cycling casualties on British roads, making up 77% of the overall number.
Alex*, an 18-year-old from Swindon, was unfortunate enough to be hit three times. After two near-misses in terms of serious injuries, he was left with a broken back and difficulty walking after being hit by a third car driver in a short space of time.
The bike isn’t just a hobby for the young man, but his only method of commuting a round trip of about 50km a day. The reduced cost of travelliny by bike was a major factor, among other benefits of cycling. Now he has been hit three times, his appreciation for the bike has been thrown into doubt.
“I really, really want to get back on the bike again but I'm also terrified,” Alex explained. “I think since I got hit from the side/behind this'll be even worse than the other two.
Cycling is good for you
Cyclists are vulnerable on the roads, but, it's important to remember that cycling is a relatively safe activity. On average, 23 cyclists are killed on the roads for every billion miles traveled, with 4,000 injured.
It is still better for you to cycle than to drive, both from a personal and public health perspective. Compared to commuting by car, cycling is associated with a lower chance of dying from cardiovascular disease - a quarter less - and cancer, according to Cycling UK, while the life years gained by cycling outweighed life years lost by 20:1, according to a study from the 1990s, although that is likely to have risen since then, the charity says. The benefits of cycling are so great, that it’s been prescribed as a legitimate ‘medication’ by GPs working for the UK’s National Health Service.
“I've been told I've got pretty bad mental health issues from this,” he told Cycling Weekly, adding that the experience had been “a complete upheaval.”
“The first time I was on my way home from college, two days before I turned 17,” he said, recounting his incidents. “It was on a road that is closed to through traffic, but there are a few houses on it. A lady turned out of her drive into me, and I went over her bonnet and ended up with pretty grim road rash. The woman and her husband blamed me for it, and considered the damage to their car - a slight scratch - worse than the damage to me and my bike.”
Describing the next event, he went on: “The second time, I was coming home from work at the end of August. A driver turned across me and knocked me off my bike. There was a crowd who seemed more concerned with the state of the car, and I cycled off because the people in the BMW [car] were shouting at me. It bent my wheel, twisted my seatpost, and might have cracked my fork as well.
“Then the third time, and hopefully final, I was on my way home from college and indicated to turn right. The driver behind me decided to overtake at the moment I went to turn, I went tumbling, and was on the road for two and a half hours waiting for an ambulance. The driver admitted fault, but the police told me to contact them only if I’d sustained a serious injury. I had, but the driver got away without even being cautioned for careless driving.”
The most galling bit for Alex wasn’t just the incidents themselves, but that police decided there was not enough to caution or charge the drivers with, as well as the reaction of those who saw the incidents.
“At the moment I'm struggling to stand up,” he explained. “Hopefully, I should be back on the bike but it could be months. I need my bike to get around though, which makes things really difficult.
“From the most recent collision I have a wedge fracture to my T12 vertebrae, large abrasions to my knees and shoulder, grazing to my lower back/glutes, soft tissue damage there, and a badly bruised and sprained left wrist.
“I've been able to walk, but barely. I passed out during a standing X-ray, and almost passed out making a pan of rice.”
Since first contacting CW, Alex has now been able to walk, and hopes of getting on the smart trainer now, but the journey to riding outside is still a long one. His cycling club and friends have been supportive, though, thankfully.
“I'm scared every time I go out on the roads, I feel punished for choosing an objectively superior method of transport,” he said. “Generally, everyone I know says the standard of driving has gotten lower over the years. Previously, I've had the benefit of looking more obviously like a child and doing less miles that I do now. The culture war stoked by some papers about 'war on motorists' isn't remotely helping and drivers are getting worse and worse,” he said, referencing comments made by the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, earlier this year.
“I like to ride my bike, it's cheaper than the bus, training miles, better for the planet, better for me and I get a sense of self-satisfaction from doing so,” he continued.
“I'm more angry that someone's carelessness has meant I now can't do anything.”
Wiltshire Police were contacted for comment on this story.
*Name has been changed to protect identity
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