In what has been a concerning few weeks for the safety of young cyclists on Britain’s roads, an 11-year-old and an 18-year-old have been injured in separate hit-and-run incidents while riding their bikes in Gloucester and Uckfield, respectively.
In Gloucester, an 11-year-old boy was taken to hospital with a head injury after being knocked off his bike by a driver while crossing a road on his way to school yesterday, Gloucestershire Live reports.
At around 8.20am, the child was cycling across Waterwells Drive in Quedgeley, around three miles from the city centre, after a driver in one lane stopped to let him past. However, another motorist, driving a red Mini Cooper, continued on in the next lane, striking the child and causing him to bang his head off the road.
According to police, while members of the public stopped to help the boy – who was taken to hospital with injuries to his head and legs – the driver failed to stop at the scene and sped off in the direction of Telford Way.
“Officers are now asking the driver of the Mini to make contact and give an account of what happened,” a spokesperson for Gloucestershire Constabulary said.
Witnesses, or anyone with information or dashcam footage, have been asked to complete the police’s online form, quoting incident 74 of 24 January.
Meanwhile, police in East Sussex have launched a similar appeal after an 18-year-old woman was left seriously injured on the road following a suspected hit-and-run.
According to Sussex World, the cyclist was found by police at around 7.30am on Monday 16 January on Bellfarm Lane, Uckfield. She was taken to hospital by air ambulance with serious injuries, while the damage to her bike indicated that she had been struck by a motorist.
Officers investigating the incident believe that the 18-year-old was hit by the driver of a gunmetal grey Audi A3, who failed to stop at the scene.
Police understand that the motorist was heading north in the vicinity of Uckfield High Street and had overtaken the driver of a yellow Vauxhall, travelling in the same direction as the cyclist, before the collision.
A 35-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of failing to stop after a road accident and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He has been released on unconditional bail until 18 April while enquiries continue.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact collision.appeal [at] sussex.police.uk, quoting Operation Cradle.
> Father and son named as cyclists killed in suspected hit-and-run
The two hit-and-run incidents come either side of the tragic deaths of a father and his 16-year-old son, who were killed in a suspected hit-and-run near Barnsley in South Yorkshire last Friday evening.
Dean Jones and his son Lewis Daines died at the scene after being hit on Royston Road in Cudworth, with the car involved later found abandoned in a neighbouring village half a mile away.
South Yorkshire Police have arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, but police are still searching for another man.
In a social media, post Lewis’ mother Susan said she loved him “millions” and that the 16-year-old was “well loved” and “will be missed by many”.
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8 comments
It is a very sad society that we have evolved into whereby people can now leave other people laying on a road injured, without even stopping. There seems to be no common decency left in people. I sincerely hope that the two people injured make a good and swift recovery.
Well I'm not noted for being a supporter of the police, but I'm really hoping that they continue to do as good a job on these cases as they appear to have been, so far!
More evidence that there should be an automatic severe punishment for leaving the scene of an accident. Perhaps mitigated if the person attends a cop shop within 4 hrs.
Law allows up to 24 hrs to report an accident, and the wording used is "Failure to stop or report an 'accident' within 24hrs" so I guess you could drive off after an accident based on some lame excuse - then report at police station within 24hrs and you have done nothing wrong. Chances are if there are no injuries then the victim of the incident may not think to report/check with the police after 24hrs to see if anyone reported an accident.
I think the law should be tightened up and state that leaving the scene of an accident needs to be in exceptional circumstances (such as the other party wielding a weapon and/or being threatening) not just because you didn't feel like stopping.
If you're going to quote the law, quote it right. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/170
The law says "The driver [...] must stop and give his name and address. [...] If for any reason the driver [...] does not give his name and address [...] he must report the accident."
There is no excuse in law for not stopping. However, the problem is that (assuming the driver later reports the accident) there is no further qualification on what the driver must do to comply with the requirement to have stopped. The driver could stop for one second and then drive off, and they could argue that they did comply by stopping.
Attending a police station within 4 hours is not going to help a victim that may be bleeding out in the street. If they leave the scene of a collision, then they should receive an equivalent sentence as dunk/drugged driving as otherwise there's a clear incentive for drunk drivers to speed off and if they later get caught they can state they had a drink after the collision.
But but what if they didn't notice the collision, or thought it was a deer or sack of potatoes (previous cases)? What if they had to get to work and were the sole supporter of a disabled child and four fainting goats? Suppose they were carrying transplant organs for two people when they ran over the first? They were female and lots of big blokes were standing around? They really needed the loo?
All used in court as defense / mitigation and have worked. Well, OK, I've not heard the organ transport one and the goats are invented.
In the flimsy shed of UK road law you're going to have to nail down a lot of loophole objections!
If someone doesn't even notice a collision, then I'd be perfectly happy for them to receive the same kind of sentence as a drunk driver - they're showing about the same level of inattention and danger to others. If it's a female driver and they were scared of their surroundings, then the best bet would be to stay in the vehicle and phone the police, which surely they'd be doing anyway to report the collision - possibly drive a short distance to somewhere safer, but communicate that to the police as well.