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news
Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)Cyclist hit by egg thrown from car says he could have lost eye
A cyclist in Southampton says he could have lost an eye after he was hit by an egg thrown from a car travelling at an estimated 30mph one evening last week as he rode home from work.
Cycle courier Peter Lever sustained a black eye and swollen face in the incident which happened close to the junction of Portswood and Kent Road, reports the Daily Echo.
After the egg struck him, the 44 year old thought he had blood running down his face, but realised what had happened when he saw eggshell on the strap of his cycle helmet.
Mr Lever, who had been heading home from work, turned around and set off after the car, described as a red Citroen C1, with the driver heading into the city centre, but was unable to catch up with it.
“I think if it had got me in the eye, I would have lost my sight,” he said. “There are no consequences for people doing this sort of thing.”
Asked what he would say to his assailants, he said: “I would just explain I am a father to a young child. If they had damaged my eyesight that would have impacted me for the rest of my life.”
He added: “I felt shocked. I was angry at first. I did chase after the car. Who knows what would have happened if they had stopped at the traffic lights.
“I feel a bit disappointed in humanity. Most people are good people. I would like them to be charged with assault because that is what it was.”
A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary commented: “We received a report of an egg being thrown forcefully by a person in a Citroen car at a cyclist on Portswood Road around 12.05am on Friday, July 9. The cyclist suffered bruising to their face.”
Anyone who has information is asked to contact officers in 101, quoting reference number 44210270319.
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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42 comments
I think it needs to hit a critical mass where a majority of cyclists have cameras and make reports to the police that it becomes too big a risk for them to make a stupid decision in relation to a cyclist whether that be an overtake or throwing things at a cyclist or getting out of their car and road raging.
It is an uphill struggle in a lot of cases getting any action in relation to incidents with motorists and without video evidence it is simply a non-starter.
In general I would not cycle without a camera due to the appalling driving of a small minority of people. Also I always cycle with glasses on to minimise the chances of any debris/insects/missiles doing damage to my eyes.
The more you ride, the more idiots you discover on the roads.
I'd recommend a GoPro if you want good image stability and quality.
I've tried about 5 or 6 of the cheaper cameras found at Amazon, an they're not worth using.
If you do want a GoPro, but don't want to pay full price, buy I refurbished one.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184550787153?hash=item2af8158851:g:kiwAAOSw5u...
I use a refurbed 6 Black as my rear camera. And a 7 Black as my front.
The downside of using cameras, is you need to use power banks to power them.
I use two 10,000 mAh.
Not in any way victim blaming, really not, but this is why I think I would rather leave my helmet at home than my eye protection, even in the early hours of the morning I use my POCs with the clear lenses in. In the past couple of years I've had fullish takeaway coffees, McD's milkshakes, beer cans and (somewhat oddly) a can of deodorant thrown at me, in all but one instance totally unprovoked (the other one I had the temerity to point out that they had no lights on at midnight). Shouldn't have to go out there with SWAT team eyewear on for protection, until and unless things change, always will.
Hope Mr Lever recovers quickly and fully and isn't too shaken by this horrible incident.
Same here. It also just stops dust, bugs and all sorts of other natural obstacles that can be thrown up by wheels or just appear. However if with those, the egg incident would probably still cause a blackeye and, depending on the shell fragments direction, potential eye trauma.
Agree; I mean, I wear glasses anyway but something about the wrap-around functionality of riding glasses is so much more reassuring. The cheapo Rockrider MTB ones from Decathlon are a few spare pennies' worth and fab; they come in clear and tinted for low light too!
Then again, you could so unlucky as to crash, as I did, and for your glasses to smash into your face and break your eye socket. If it could happen to anyone, it'd be me...
Sorry to hear that - but wouldn't the thing into which your glasses crashed have crashed into your eye socket anyway if the glasses hadn't been there?
If the police weren't bothered about an axe being thrown, I doubt they will even look for someone throwing eggs. Lucky guy.
Yup. And driver aggression towards cyclist is a myth, according to our MPs.
I was about to make the same point.
I have been spat at twice and had things thrown at me from cars,
Cyclists have stood up and called out aggressive driving to MPs, Police and the Judiciary. The petition that lots of us signed asking for driver education was dismissed. They all know we believe that we have a problem, but they think that it is a myth. We are just a bunch of neurotic wierdos.
So where do we go from here?
The power is with the motorist and until cycling participation rates as a legitimate mode of transport get close to that of motorists, the situation will carry on, just as we will all carry on and just take these incidents in our stride. It isn't right and there's a wholesale lack of understanding because the vast majority of MP's have not ridden a bike on the roads.
In the future things will improve but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. The majority of motorists are good people that take care around cyclists but with anything, there's always a minority contingent of idiots that do not care or have the ability to consider the dangers of their actions. This is where we need to focus improved education and much tougher penalties/prosecution rates for offenders.
We increase the number of cameras, and the number of reports we make. At some point, the stats have to make some difference.
And things are starting to be taken more seriously, in no small part thanks to DCS Andy Cox and his colleagues.
This incident was two hundred metres from where a car driver tried to force me off the road, then went up the road, got out and came out into the road on foot and punched me, with me taking avoiding action. All on video (as previous near miss of the day).
https://road.cc/content/news/240910-near-miss-day-128-driver-follows-close-pass-punch
Police took no action.
Cameras are a help, but the problem is no enforcement. Perhaps if cyclists clubbed together to pay for additional resources?
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