A cyclist says that video footage clearly shows he was deliberately knocked off his bike by a driver in Richmond Park earlier this week, leaving him with a broken collarbone.
David Williams, aged 53, is in no doubt that the driver hit him on purpose, and police are investigating the incident, which he captured on camera.
While David, who is a cycling instructor and bike mechanic, is unable to share the footage until any legal proceedings have run their course, he did share still photos online.
The incident, which happened on Tuesday lunchtime as he was returning home to Long Ditton after a cycle training session in Mortlake, took place the day after he filmed an incident in Kingston upon Thames that we featured in our Near Miss of the Day series last week.
> Near Miss of the Day 656: Driver cuts across rider at cyclist priority junction
"I have had some close scrapes in my time, but this is one where we came off second best,” he told Kingston Nub News..
"I was heading along Queens Road in the park towards Pembroke Lodge. Traffic levels were fairly normal and several cars went past me at a safe distance, although maybe faster than they should have been going.
"This one car, a blue BMW, went past me and was really close. I slapped the boot to let the driver know how close he had been.
“He immediately braked quite sharply. I wasn’t able to stop but filtered along the road between the car and grass and ended up in front of him.
"Immediately, he then accelerated and came alongside me – about a foot away. I rapped on his roof to make the point he was too close and get him away.
"He accelerated again and swerved in towards me, knocking me off balance and I fell right onto my shoulder into the road. He then sped off down the hill.
"I was lying on the ground in shock and pain. Several people, including the drivers behind, stopped and came to help me. Luckily an ambulance was coming up the hill towards me and they stopped.
"Within a couple of minutes the paramedics were helping me. I was lying on the floor for 20 minutes or so, they put a sling on my arm and I was taken to Kingston Hospital.
“The people in the other cars behind me were shocked. This was not an accident. They probably thought they wanted to scare me, but the consequences are very serious for me.
"My head hit the floor quite hard and my helmet is now finished as it has a big crack in it.”
Besides a broken right collarbone, he also sustained severe bruising when he crashed, and said: “My job involves being on a bike all day … It seems I won’t be able to get back on a bike for five or six weeks, at best, which means I won’t be able to work."
We’ve covered extensively here on road.cc a number of incidents in Richmond Park where cyclists have been put in danger by motorists, many of whom use it as a short cut.
David said: "The reason that cyclists are so vocal is because the consequences of any sort of collision are very much more serious for cyclists. In this case, I have got very clear video of what happened.
"I have given the police the video and the car registration details. At this stage, they have asked me not to share it."
He told road.cc that he has not yet heard back from the Metropolitan Police about how their investigation is progressing, but added that a new slow-motion edit of the footage “clearly shows the car diverting towards me.”
If the Aluminum is thin enough to absorb buzz how long before it fatigues? Seems like a substance that never should have been used to build bilkes.
Reminds me of the story, a few years back, of locals, in Tower Hamlets, London, sick of drug dealers parking outside there houses every night and...
Zwift will always be useful to some be it those with little time to ride outdoor or those who follow strict workout plans etc, but I think since...
Let's just hope people will be riding tubeless next weekend.
My point was to emphasise the smart rather than the trainer then I got distracted mid-ramble....
Yeah. It's a bit of a grey one. They say fitted. Not used. I left for work this morning at 4.30am. (30 min before sunrise) There was no need for...
As a place to stay, Pollença - a few KM inland of Port de Pollença - is a pretty place to stay. The bike rental tends to be in the Port (as is the...
I would expect the changers to be cheaper for being electronic (but hydraulic more expensive than cable brakes), but the derailleurs are clearly...
It looks like a broken Brooks, but the photo is originally from December 2018 so I doubt it's still in that state.
Scores look bang on, Dave. Thanks