Saturday Sep 26, 2009
A car that allegedly ran a stop sign has left four cyclists in hospital, one in a serious condition.
Four men were cycling along Tamaki Drive in St Heliers, Auckland this morning and were hit about 8am.
Inspector Willy Taylor said police were talking to a woman driver and witnesses.
"It was a stop sign and she went through it," Mr Taylor said.
He said one of the cyclists was still unconscious but he expected the other three to be released from hospital today.
Witnesses said the injured cyclists were part of a group of about 20 people.
Mr Taylor said the cyclists were part of a regular recreational cycling group.
See CAN Page Tamaki Drive Crash Links to Media Reports and Interviews for more information
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10599761&r...
Comments
Herald reporting
The Herald rang me this afternoon and asked me whether we needed more cycle facilities etc. I told them that we need to manage urban speeds - that's how European countries have reduced the urban road toll by one third, across all road user groups.
Also opportunity to put onus
Also opportunity to put onus on motorist to prove their innoence, rather than cyclist need to prove motorist's liability.
Congratulations!
Congrats to Barbara and Barbara, co-chairs of CAA, for handling TV1, TV3 and Radio NZ/ Morning Report successfully... all on a Monday morning!
Barb x 2 made a very tangible, practical case for reducing speed limits and working with the local city council to prevent further cyclist crashes. Obviously speed is a national issue, and having local low-speed examples (Ponsonby Road) makes it easy to build a local case for the next step e.g. lowered speed limit on Tamaki Drive, in part to support international cycle tourists/ the National Cycleway.
Hopefully this crash can stand as a precedent and a model.
I would expect this to play out in both media and policy circles for quite a while. Well done!
Not forgetting the cyclists, is there some way CAN or CAA can express support if appropriate?
Woman charged over collision with cyclists
A young woman driver will appear in court for careless driving after she allegedly ploughed into cyclists on Auckland's Tamaki Drive, hospitalising them.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3010668/Woman-charged-over-collisi...