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Doctor tells cyclist that mobile phone may have saved him from paralysis in bus crash

James Wilkinson, a bus driver himself, had been on a cyclist awareness course on same day as crash in Gloucestershire

A doctor has told a Gloucestershire cyclist that his mobile phone may have helped prevent him from being paralysed when he was hit by a bus as it crashed into a house in a village on the outskirts of Cheltenham.

James Wilkinson, aged 39, was one of four people injured in the incident in Prestbury at 6.10pm on Friday evening, reports Gloucestershire Live.

He was thrown against the windscreen of the bus and narrowly avoided being crushed against the house when the vehicle hit it.

Mr Wilkinson sustained bruising to his head and right hand, lost a large amount of skin and suffered a chipped vertebra as a result of the crash.

But a doctor who treated him in hospital told him that he could have been left permanently paralysed due to a spinal injury had his mobile phone, which was in his back pocket, not taken the brunt of the impact.

He told Gloucestershire Live; “Not many cyclists get hit by a bus and survive, let alone walk again on the same night.”

Earlier that day, Mr Wilkinson, who has recently qualified as a buss driver for Stagecoach, had been on a training course with his employers.

He said: “It was about dealing with how bus drivers should look out for cyclists,” he said. “It is such an odd thing.”

A former heavy drinker and smoker, the father-of-two competed in his first Ironman event in 2012 and had hoped to represent Great Britain in November’s Middle Distance Triathlon European Championships in November, although that is now in doubt due to his injuries.

Speaking about the crash, he said: “I felt this massive whack from behind. My first thought was, ‘Who is that hitting me?’

“I smashed down on the floor. I saw the bus smash into the building.

“I saw a lady come out of the bus screaming, with her arm bleeding. I couldn’t feel my legs and there was a lot of pain in my back.

“I hit my head as I landed. Only a day or two before, I had looked in the mirror and seen my helmet strap was loose,” which led to him tightening it.

“A nice lady came over and held my hand, the one that wasn’t hurting.

“I was really scared. I thought I was paralysed. I couldn’t move at all. All my body went numb.

“I thought, ‘I am not going to play with my boys again.’ I was lying there crying.”

“I think I lost consciousness,” he continued. “I don’t remember being on the bus windscreen.

“Police told me I was lucky not to have been on the windscreen when the bus hit the house.

“The woman who did the scan at hospital told me my phone protected the lower part of my spine. She said I could have been paralysed.”

Mr Wilkinson, who was discharged from hospital later that evening and is now continuing his recovery at home, added: “I wasn’t able to walk until about midnight. I felt so lucky.”

Police are continuing to investigate the crash, which involved a bus operated by Cheltenham-based Marchants Coaches.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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12 comments

Avatar
felixcat | 6 years ago
3 likes

I guess this pronouncement about the protective properties of mobile phones has about as much validity as similar about helmets. Except that doctors don't get endless propaganda about how important mobile phones are for safety. They certainly get no training in the subject.

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
3 likes

I'm happy to accept the truth of this comment as I have no medical experience, doctors have never used incorrect phraseology that is taken literally by both the patient or the press. As a stupid person, I wouldn't dream of making an off the cuff remark that questions the veracity of the hyperbolic comment. I blindly accept the miracle of this blessed phone.

Praise indeed.

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
2 likes

I remember when I was a hit n run victim, there I was spread-eagled on my back thinking where the fuck are my goggles, oh, there they are just as the cunt that went into the back of me drove over them. Another car driver came over to me and said don't move, you might have damaged your back/neck. I replied it's alright love it was only an audi a3 not a bus and promptly got up with just a scrape on my arm. Embarressingly someone had called an ambulance, there in a very short time as the station is only 600m away. Police were worse than useless.

Glad this bloke is not really badly injured and doesn't sound put off at all.

 

Avatar
Natrix | 6 years ago
2 likes

Reading the original report it was the woman who did the scan that said the phone may have helped, so was probably not a doctor and most likely just making conversation.

Oh and Mr Wilkinson believes if he hadn’t tightened his helmet, which was wrecked in the collision, he would have died.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Natrix | 6 years ago
1 like

Natrix wrote:

Reading the original report it was the woman who did the scan that said the phone may have helped, so was probably not a doctor and most likely just making conversation.

Oh and Mr Wilkinson believes if he hadn’t tightened his helmet, which was wrecked in the collision, he would have died.

In this century, it's not un-common for doctors to be women.

Avatar
Natrix replied to hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

In this century, it's not un-common for doctors to be women.

But it is unusual for doctors to carry out a scan in a hospital, it is usually a radiographer who produces the scan for the doctor to make a diagnosis...........

Avatar
madcarew replied to hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
1 like

hawkinspeter wrote:

Natrix wrote:

Reading the original report it was the woman who did the scan that said the phone may have helped, so was probably not a doctor and most likely just making conversation.

Oh and Mr Wilkinson believes if he hadn’t tightened his helmet, which was wrecked in the collision, he would have died.

In this century, it's not un-common for doctors to be women.

" it was the woman who did the scan". In this century it is very unusual for doctors to do scans.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
3 likes

I avoided serious injury on my bike by driving my car today!

Avatar
burtthebike | 6 years ago
8 likes

Must be the same doctor who keeps telling people that a helmet saved their life.  I firmly believe that all cyclists should be made to carry a mobile phone, and will be agitating for a law with several gullible MPs.

If it saves just one life........

Avatar
fukawitribe replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
2 likes

burtthebike wrote:

Must be the same doctor who keeps telling people that a helmet saved their life.  I firmly believe that all cyclists should be made to carry a mobile phone, and will be agitating for a law with several gullible MPs.

If it saves just one life........

Jokes aside..

Arm. Screwdriver. Stab.

Arm. Phone on arm. Screwdriver. Stab.

Trenches. Grandads cigarette case. Snipers bullet. Boing.

Maybe something like that, maybe not. Maybe, like most reports, we don't have even half the information needed to work out what was going on and what saved/didn't save what... until then, it's just a completely weird sounding quote..

Avatar
fukawitribe | 6 years ago
0 likes

Yeah - sounds odd doesn't it ? My first thought was that it was some sort of focused impact (e.g. sharpish object) that the phone helped protect against, especially as he also had a chipped vertebrae (although not clear if it's in the same location as the phone).

Avatar
Hirsute | 6 years ago
1 like

Have to say I am a little confused as to how a mobile phone could take the brunt of the impact. Surely only a small amount of the force would be used in destroying a small phone.
Any physicists on here ?

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