Man, this sucks. Last Friday a motorist plowed through a group of Critical Mass cyclists in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The motorist accelerated his vehicle directly through the group of riders, injuring about 20 riders and sending eight victims to the hospital ER with at least one victim still remaining hospitalised in serious condition.
A while back, creative agency Airside submitted a cycling poster to Transport for London to promote winter cycling by offering some useful tips on how to improve the experience. Unfortunately TfL didn’t go for their take on the uh, seminal 70s illustrated sex manual, The Joy of Sex – possibly due to all that disturbing facial hair. But thankfully for us, Airside finally decided to take it down from their top shelf and expose it to the world.
If you follow the FGCT Twitter feed you’ll probably know that I was hit by a Golden Arrow bus en route to work yesterday morning. I got off with an impressive collection of roasties but unfortunately my bike wasn’t so lucky.
Enlarge the pic and you’ll see that the back wheel is completely busted, the seatstays are bent and there’s a dent in the top tube where my handlebars whipped round. Because of the structural damage to the frame, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to ride it again. *Gutted*
I was hit from behind, so don’t recall anything other than being flung off my bike and somersaulting along the road. (Re-living that experience sends shivers down my spine.) A number of people who saw the accident said that the driver was speeding down Victoria Road and ran straight into the back of me. She slowed down, then sped off once she saw me scramble to my feet.
Instinctively, I memorised the number plate of the bus: CA 132 095. Several witnesses confirmed got the same number, but Golden Arrow are denying having a bus with that license plate number in their fleet.
There’s more than just a bike at stake here. The driver of the bus needs to be identified and made sure she’s not allowed back on the road anytime soon.
Ride safe out there.
UPDATE: In the past couple of hours, Golden Arrow has identified the driver of CA 132 025. (I mistook the ’2′ for a ’9′.) She’s been suspended pending an official investigation into her reckless and negligent driving, which is (quite rightly) a dismissable offense. What’s more, a Crimewatch CCTV camera positioned opposite Gympie Street may have recorded the hit and run, which will help my case even more.
So great to see South Africans taking it to the next level.
Warning: NSFW (unless you work in a brothel)
