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Driver blames cyclist for crash after hitting rider, 2 pedestrians, and a bus while driving wrong way up one-way street

"There are too many bicycle people on the road"...

A driver who hit a cyclist and two pedestrians before his car finally came to a halt straddling a low wall and embedded in a bus has blamed the cyclist for causing him to panic and lose control of his vehicle.

According to the Kingston Guardian, Shibob Li, 49, the manager of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture in Fife Road, drove his BMW out of Fife Road Kingston and attempted to drive the wrong way  into Clarence Street.

Paramedics treated two women - one of whom is believed to have been a cyclist - and a man at the scene. One of the women was airlifted to hospital with lower limb injuries. She is reported to be in a stable condition.

A traffic officer said the driver had hit a cyclist at the pedestrian crossing outside Cappadocia restaurant.

He went on to hit the two pedestrians as his car careered down the street.

"Not just my fault"

Mr Li subsequently blamed the cyclist involved for the incident.

He said: “It is really regrettable all this happened. I just wish them to get better quickly and wish them the best. I am very, very sorry. I was panicked and lost control of the car.

“It happened really quickly and I didn’t have any time to think about it. I was shocked and shaking. Of course I regret. But it is not just my fault.

“He started shouting and caused my panic. I was panicked and lost control of the car.

“I think people cycling, they need to pay due attention. There are too many bicycle people on the road.

“They do not really watch the other people. Sometimes they just come quickly.

Wrong way

However, eyewitness Billy Cole, 19, told the Kingston Guardian that the driver of the car came out of Fife Road and drove the wrong way towards the one way system.

The male victim of the crash, Yassar, was a refugee from Syria who had recently arrived in the UK.

His sister-in-law, Dima, said he was being shown round Kingston by her husband.

“They were going to have some Shawarma at Lebanese Valley. He was standing across the street to Cappadocia.

“The BMW came against the traffic and it hit the cyclist.

“My husband and Yassar were walking together. When they saw the car aiming for them my husband jumped and managed to step away but Yassar couldn’t.

“The car hit him from the side and went on and hit a few other people afterwards.

“He hit his head and the car hit him in both legs and his back.”

Dima said the family were “angry and frustrated.” Yassar had fled the conflict in Syria, only to be hit by a car in the UK.

She said: “There was violence, bombs and shelling 24/7 and snipers. It is a war.

“He never got injured but managed to get injured in Kingston.”

Police say no arrests have been made.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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50 comments

Avatar
northstar | 10 years ago
0 likes

I don't care what you think or not, as it seems i'm not the one with a sheep mentality ; ).

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djpalmer32 | 10 years ago
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The victims of this incident should press charges and make sure that this guys is charged with dangerous driving.

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Collett73 | 10 years ago
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As a 'bicycle people', I resent the accusation that I 'come quickly'!

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northstar | 10 years ago
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I've read of drivers of arrested for collisions even if not serious so why wasn't he?

You were the one who chose to tell everyone on here you are a policeman, i couldn't care what your job is but keep on telling yourself whatever you will believe to try and divert the topic.

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purplecup replied to northstar | 10 years ago
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northstar wrote:

You were the one who chose to tell everyone on here you are a policeman, i couldn't care what your job is

yeah, that *really* shines through in your comments  39

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northstar replied to purplecup | 10 years ago
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purplecup wrote:
northstar wrote:

You were the one who chose to tell everyone on here you are a policeman, i couldn't care what your job is

yeah, that *really* shines through in your comments  39

Sorry, did i ask for your input? You don't have a clue what you are on about.

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purplecup replied to northstar | 10 years ago
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northstar wrote:

Sorry, did i ask for your input? You don't have a clue what you are on about.

sorry, didn't realise i had to wait to be asked before i commented on here. you're in charge, then? i'll bear that in mind next time.  39

a bit ironic given your recent comment on 'policing' the internet, dontchathink?  3

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northstar replied to purplecup | 10 years ago
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Show me where I said i was in charge? I'm just not interested in your sarcasm.

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jova54 replied to northstar | 10 years ago
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northstar wrote:

......You were the one who chose to tell everyone on here you are a policeman.....

Perhaps to give some background and context to the comments he makes on a subject in which he can be considered to be an expert, unless of course you too are a police officer.

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a.jumper replied to jova54 | 10 years ago
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jova54 wrote:

Perhaps to give some background and context to the comments he makes on a subject in which he can be considered to be an expert, unless of course you too are a police officer.

Police are experts on traffic policing? If only that were true!

I just failed to catch on camera a pedalling PCSO wobbling around the road and turning without signalling on Tuesday. Ordinarily, I'd have a quiet word with such a cyclist, but I'm a bit reluctant when it's the police.

The other thing the local police like to do is relieve congestion by removing bollards and directing cars up a cycle track (which is not a road and never has been) - cue crazy conflict  7

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northstar replied to jova54 | 10 years ago
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jova54 wrote:
northstar wrote:

......You were the one who chose to tell everyone on here you are a policeman.....

Perhaps to give some background and context to the comments he makes on a subject in which he can be considered to be an expert, unless of course you too are a police officer.

It seems the crab mentality is in full swing.

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jova54 replied to northstar | 10 years ago
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northstar wrote:
jova54 wrote:
northstar wrote:

......You were the one who chose to tell everyone on here you are a policeman.....

Perhaps to give some background and context to the comments he makes on a subject in which he can be considered to be an expert, unless of course you too are a police officer.

It seems the crab mentality is in full swing.

So you're not a copper then, thought not.

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antigee | 10 years ago
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"If he is local I don't understand how he went the wrong way on that one-way system"

because he was local and knew what he was doing - I can think of one 50m section of one way on which I regularly meet delivery trucks coming the wrong way because it saves 3 sets of lights and a lengthy trip around the block

sad that his incompetence injured people - would be good if has to personally pay for all that damage / emergency service time and compensation rather than an insurance co

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JonD replied to antigee | 10 years ago
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antigee wrote:

because he was local and knew what he was doing

May I suggest you check out the location on a map/streetview ? Clearly you've never seen the Kingston on-way system ! - there's no-way anyone would dare try that at any time unless they were suicidal or had completely lost the plot. Even in the wee hours of the morning there's traffic on there, there's lots of blind corners and it'd be quite easy to do 30-40+ around there when there's less traffic.

If you look up 'Fife Road' - the exit is opposite Kingston station.
At the junction where he turned right there's very little visibility to the right because of the curve in the road and the buildings. As a pedestrian waiting at the adjacent crossing lights on the inside of the bend (or even the outside), if you choose not to wait you've got to be prepared to run across the road if anything appears.

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thereverent | 10 years ago
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If he is local I don't understand how he went the wrnog way on that one-way system (I use to be semi-local).

If he panics like that when someone is shouting to alert him he is going the wrong way then he shouldn't be driving.

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WolfieSmith | 10 years ago
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Didn't Macca do a song about that?

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madhouse | 10 years ago
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The reason he was getting shouted at was because he was going the wrong bloody way!

The fact he hit a cyclist, two pedestrians a bus and a wall suggest he's easily panicked and not in proper control of his car - should go on some kind of driver training at least!

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hillboy | 10 years ago
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After that big fire in Birmingham recently this incident will certainly lend impetus to the ongoing campaign to ban chinese wrongturns

I'll get my coat...

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Stumps | 10 years ago
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No arrests ?

Loads of statements from witnesses to get first, then when the evidence is all collected you get him in and he wont have a leg to stand on.

Why rush and make an error ?

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Argos74 replied to Stumps | 10 years ago
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stumps wrote:

...he wont have a leg to stand on.

Like one of the pedestrians, it seems. Though I agree with the sentiment. It'll take at least a day or so to stop saying "WTF? WTMFingF?" before they even start thinking about where the charge sheets are.

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Stumps replied to Argos74 | 10 years ago
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Argos74 wrote:
stumps wrote:

...he wont have a leg to stand on.

Like one of the pedestrians, it seems. Though I agree with the sentiment. It'll take at least a day or so to stop saying "WTF? WTMFingF?" before they even start thinking about where the charge sheets are.

Just shows how much you know, charge sheets are computer generated and have been for years  40

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northstar replied to Stumps | 10 years ago
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stumps wrote:

No arrests ?

Loads of statements from witnesses to get first, then when the evidence is all collected you get him in and he wont have a leg to stand on.

Why rush and make an error ?

Care to explain why in nearly all collisions involving drivers they are arrested, even if they are bailed the same or next day.

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fluffy_mike replied to northstar | 10 years ago
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Many reported collisions involve a fatality, in which case being arrested in highly likely. This doesn't necessarily result in prosecution, however - even less so conviction.

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Stumps replied to northstar | 10 years ago
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northstar wrote:
stumps wrote:

No arrests ?

Loads of statements from witnesses to get first, then when the evidence is all collected you get him in and he wont have a leg to stand on.

Why rush and make an error ?

Care to explain why in nearly all collisions involving drivers they are arrested, even if they are bailed the same or next day.

I assume you mean injury rtc's ? please be clear before criticising yet again. However, yet again, your wrong about arrests. Unless its a fatal or a very serious rtc the driver is not arrested straightaway and a lot of the time they are brought in later after the statements are taken so all the facts can be put to them. Our force deals with over 500 rtc's per month and less than 3% result in an arrest

But hey ho why let the facts get in the way of yet another pointless dig at myself.

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tired old fart replied to Stumps | 10 years ago
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stumps wrote:
northstar wrote:
stumps wrote:

No arrests ?

Loads of statements from witnesses to get first, then when the evidence is all collected you get him in and he wont have a leg to stand on.

Why rush and make an error ?

Care to explain why in nearly all collisions involving drivers they are arrested, even if they are bailed the same or next day.

I assume you mean injury rtc's ? please be clear before criticising yet again. However, yet again, your wrong about arrests. Unless its a fatal or a very serious rtc the driver is not arrested straightaway and a lot of the time they are brought in later after the statements are taken so all the facts can be put to them. Our force deals with over 500 rtc's per month and less than 3% result in an arrest

But hey ho why let the facts get in the way of yet another pointless dig at myself.

when I was involved in an RTC (me in a car stopped at a red light 44tonne truck shunting me 100meters) the cop in attendance told me that he would have arrested the truck driver for careless driving if he (the cop) had seen it but he didn't want to as without seeing it there was a possibility he (the truck driver) would get let of in court if he employed a slick lawyer. The truck driver did get punished with a "driver improvement course" a slap on the wrist but better than no punishment.

Just to clarify I was put out of work for 14 months while recovering so it could cost me my home. On balance I guess the cop has to make a judgement call on the spot. So at least he was punished.

But as a cyclist I have never felt the police where on my side even when I know I have been totally in the right. When I am in a car they are normally on my side in the event of needing their assistance, so I believe that North Wales Police to be bias this is just my opinion however.

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TeamCC | 10 years ago
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Panicked driver is the problem, when behind the wheel of a vehicle one should not be able to get panicked so easily and not so thoroughly that you hit pedestrians, a cyclist, and a bus. Panicking and hitting the gas is all his fault, he should have been driving slow and if startled take the brakes.

I have yet to see a panicked cyclist begin to cycle faster to hit a car, pedestrian, and bus!

Capital Cycles

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farrell | 10 years ago
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Marvellous that Dave.

I was thinking about Sly and the Family Stone and their 'Everyday People', but now I think that someone should do something using the Arrested Development version:

http://images.45cat.com/arrested-development-people-everyday-metamorphos...

(Hopefully) "Arrested Driver - Bicycle People"

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farrell | 10 years ago
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The phrase "Bicycle People" has really grown on me today.

I am a bicycle people.

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dave atkinson replied to farrell | 10 years ago
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farrell wrote:

The phrase "Bicycle People" has really grown on me today.

I am a bicycle people.

we've been having fun with it too  4

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Tripod16 replied to dave atkinson | 10 years ago
0 likes

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant despite coming from the mouth of an idiot.

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