Driver involved in “allegedly deliberate” hit-and-run with cyclist arrested

Victoria Police have released dashcam footage of a car driver hitting a cyclist from behind, knocking him down and dragging his bike under the car, also announcing that a woman has been arrested after handing herself over to the authorities, in an incident they suspect was 'deliberate'.

The dashcam footage captured by another vehicle showed the 59-year old Robert Clarke riding along Douglas Street in Noble Park, Melbourne, on Thursday morning, when the driver of a white car seemed to slow down, and then suddenly accelerate, swerve around, mount the kerb and hit him from behind, before speeding away.

Clarke flew over his bike and tumbled to the ground, while his bike got stuck under the car and dragged along for more than a hundred metres, before coming apart in tatters.

Today, police said that a 40-year-old Dandenong woman had been arrested, after coming forward and offering to assist the police with their enquiries, ABC News reports.

Police are still hunting for a motorist four days after an allegedly deliberate hit-run on a Melbourne cyclist.

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Thankfully Clarke got out of the incident with a few bruises, but he said it could have been much worse. He added he was riding to work when the driver struck him with her car, which he initially thought may have been stopping to turn into a driveway.

“There was no apparent movement ... so I kept going,” he said. “Then, of course, I heard the acceleration and I thought, 'here's another smart-arse, they're going to rev, scare me, then keep going. And the next thing I knew, the world was spinning.”

“I’ve been hit. That's all I could think. The second thing of course was where's the bike?” Clarke said.

> Video: Melbourne driver swerves into cyclist and rams him off the road

He mentioned that while he has suffered verbal abuse on Melbourne roads before, the driver didn't yell or throw anything at him before he was hit by the vehicle, making the incident all the more bizarre, scary and also seem oddly calculative.

Clarke added: “You can speculate all sorts of things about road rage, but I didn't impede on the lane or falter in front of the driver ... I've been cycling in the area for six or seven years.”

Smashed up cycle (image by Victoria Police)

Greater Dandenong Highway Patrol Sergeant Jerome Ithier said the driver appeared to "deliberately" hit the cyclist and did not appear to have registration plates.

“We're just very fortunate that this particular cyclist wasn't injured any further than he has,” he said.