Woman, 40, cheats death in bicycle incident

Another one of those h*lm*t saves a life story that some people seem to
have such a problem with.

-----------------------------------------------------------
By JOSH ALSTON
09may06
A 40-YEAR-OLD woman is lucky to be alive after coming off her bicycle
on Ross River Rd in Aitkenvale yesterday.

The driver of a green Mitsubishi Magna attempted to swerve and avoid
the woman as she attempted to cross the busy road about 10.30am. The
car still struck the woman, who was sent flying off her pushbike.

The woman's helmet was scattered across the road after the impact and
she was lucky not to be struck by the oncoming traffic.

One onlooker, who was working at a dentist across the road, said he
heard a scream before seeing the woman hit the bitumen.

"I saw her helmet go everywhere, it was like her head exploded," the
onlooker said.

Ambulance workers were at the scene attending to the woman, while
firefighters were called to close two lanes of traffic while the woman
lay prone on the road.

Despite suffering from head injuries, abrasions and bruises the woman
was conscious and able to communicate.

She was taken to hospital shortly after the accident wearing a neck
brace.

"It's a reasonably standard procedure, basically a precautionary
thing," an ambulance spokesman said.

The driver of the Magna was clearly shaken by the accident, but was
unhurt.

Her car had swerved down the road while trying to avoid the cyclist but
was undamaged.

"There were no injuries to any party (in the car) and investigations
are continuing," police spokesman Sergeant Tony Jacobs said.

The accident follows a worrying trend of cyclists being struck by cars
in the twin cities.

Northern Region Traffic Co-ordinator Inspector Brian Richardson said 70
cyclists were hit by cars in Townsville last year.

Of those, 21 were taken to hospital, 23 required medical treatment and
26 received minor injuries.

Eighteen of the victims were aged between 30 and 39 (most likely age
group to be hit) followed by 13 aged between 12 and 16.

Six children under 11 were stuck and three over the age of 50.

Insp Richardson stressed the importance of wearing helmets on
pushbikes, saying this incident could have been much worse if the woman
had not been wearing one.

"This is a typical example of how important it is to wear a helmet,"
Insp Richardson said.

"It's a bit like wearing a seatbelt when you are driving a car.

"(Cyclists) are the odd ones out on the road and it is important to
observe the road rules all the more."

----------------------------------------------

Population 150,000 and 70 cyclists hit by cars last year.
Townsville has the worst drivers in Aust and some of the "bike riders"
here seem to have no idea either. Wonder if the crap bike riders grow
up to become crap drivers.
I have a theory that kids who dont wear a bike helmet dont use a seat
belt in a car when they get a licence.

'Townsville Bulletin Link' (http://tinyurl.com/r9yps)

Cheers
Hugh


--
HughMann

HughMann wrote:

I have a theory that kids who dont wear a bike helmet dont use a seat
belt in a car when they get a licence.

Maybe they're the kids that choose to drive WITHOUT a license?

Travis

On 2006-05-09, HughMann (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Her car had swerved down the road while trying to avoid the cyclist but
was undamaged.

Bull****! I bet she simply wasn't conscious enough to refute the
story that the magna driver came up with. I'm betting no witnesses to
the actual incident (as opposed to those who heard the scream and
turned around to see her on the ground) stayed back, right?

"There were no injuries to any party (in the car)...

Oh, that's a relief then.

The accident follows a worrying trend of cyclists being struck by cars
in the twin cities.

Northern Region Traffic Co-ordinator Inspector Brian Richardson said 70
cyclists were hit by cars in Townsville last year.

Wow. Bogan town, eh?

--
TimC
Jun 26 14:08:17 kernel: troll-o-meter (pid 15134) killed: memory exhausted

HughMann wrote:

Another one of those h*lm*t saves a life story that some people seem to
have such a problem with.

Seems to be.


Insp Richardson stressed the importance of wearing helmets on
pushbikes, saying this incident could have been much worse if the woman
had not been wearing one.

"This is a typical example of how important it is to wear a helmet,"
Insp Richardson said.

"It's a bit like wearing a seatbelt when you are driving a car.

"(Cyclists) are the odd ones out on the road and it is important to
observe the road rules all the more."

Yep. Woman hit by car while crossing road. No evidence to suggest she'd
done anything wrong. Did have a helmet on. Still injured badly enough to
be lying on the pavement. What do the cops suggest? Cyclists should obey
the law, oh and by the way, don't forget your helmet.

I've seen cops pull kids up with no helmet on, make them put the helmet
on the handlebars on their head and then let them ride off on bikes with
no brakes. Maybe we need to broaden the focus just a little.

P

--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA

HughMann Wrote:

The driver of a green Mitsubishi Magna attempted to swerve and avoid
the woman as she attempted to cross the busy road about 10.30am. The
car still struck the woman, who was sent flying off her pushbike.

The woman's helmet was scattered across the road after the impact and
she was lucky not to be struck by the oncoming traffic.

Sounds like a case of 'driver said' or 'she did' over what could of
occurred. What actually transpired may never really be known.


--
cfsmtb

On 2006-05-09, cfsmtb (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
HughMann Wrote:

The driver of a green Mitsubishi Magna attempted to swerve and avoid
the woman as she attempted to cross the busy road about 10.30am. The
car still struck the woman, who was sent flying off her pushbike.

The woman's helmet was scattered across the road after the impact and
she was lucky not to be struck by the oncoming traffic.

Sounds like a case of 'driver said' or 'she did' over what could of
occurred. What actually transpired may never really be known.

Unfortunately the cyclist will possibly never remember (due to
concussion, possible unconciousness) what happened to refute the
driver's story. The best she may be able to do is say "Well, I was
going to work here points at map from home here points at map,
which means I was travelling along that road. Why on earth would I
want to be crossing there?

Let's hope she is in a state quickly in which she can say tell her
side of the story, and furthermore, than police believe it (one
wonders whether they will care -- they've already shown us just how
careful their investigative skills are).

Fortunately, in my case, even though I was not in a state where I
could say to police what happened, and those ******* witnesses decided
it would be best if they just mind their own business and go on their
merry oblivious ways, the driver at least said something not
completely disassociated from the truth, even if it didn't end up
incriminating them.

--
TimC
To define recursion, we must first define recursion.

On Tue, 09 May 2006 18:15:56 +1000, HughMann wrote:

Insp Richardson stressed the importance of wearing helmets on
pushbikes, saying this incident could have been much worse if the woman
had not been wearing one.

Funny, I would have thought he would have stressed not to
try to overtake cyclists if there's not adequate room.

-kt


--
Kingsley Turner,
(mailto: )
http://MadDogsBreakfast.com/ABFAQ - news:aus.bicycle Frequenly Asked Questions

"Kingsley" wrote:
HughMann wrote:

Insp Richardson stressed the importance of wearing helmets on
pushbikes, saying this incident could have been much worse if the woman
had not been wearing one.

Funny, I would have thought he would have stressed not to
try to overtake cyclists if there's not adequate room.

I know the real circumstances could have been different, but as I read the
article the accident did not seem to be an overtaking error.

"The driver of a green Mitsubishi Magna attempted to swerve and avoid
the woman as she attempted to cross the busy road about 10.30am. The
car still struck the woman, who was sent flying off her pushbike."

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)


-kt


--
Kingsley Turner,
(mailto: )
http://MadDogsBreakfast.com/ABFAQ - news:aus.bicycle Frequenly Asked
Questions

"HughMann" wrote

"I saw her helmet go everywhere, it was like her head exploded," the
onlooker said.

"This is a typical example of how important it is to wear a helmet,"
Insp Richardson said.

It should be apparent even to the casual observer that the helmet
failed to protect the rider on at least two points.
1. It was no longer attached to the riders head (did it leave the
rider's head before or after it "exploded")
2. The helmet broke up.

Insp Richardson is clueless. Hang on, he's in Townsville, so you
already knew that.

Theo

cfsmtb wrote:
Sounds like a case of 'driver said' or 'she did' over what could of
occurred. What actually transpired may never really be known.

You can make some reasonable assumptions about anyone who drives a
green Magna and also lives in Townsville.

Donga