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11-year-old cyclist suffers life-changing injuries after swerving to avoid motorist and landing in river

The driver failed to stop at the scene of the incident, which happened as the young cyclist was crossing a bridge over the River Lew in Devon

An 11-year-old boy has been left with serious, life-changing injuries after swerving to avoid a car and falling into a river while cycling in Okehampton, West Devon.

The young cyclist was riding on Rockey Lane/Harper’s Hill in Northlew when the incident took place on the afternoon of Sunday 27 February.

He was descending towards a bridge over the River Lew and was forced to take evasive action to avoid an oncoming motorist driving a blue car.

The boy swerved, crashing into a hedge before ending up in the river below. According to police, he suffered serious and life-changing injuries in the fall. 

The driver failed to stop at the scene. Officers from the Roads Policing Unit who are investigating the cause of the collision say they are keen to speak to the motorist as well as anyone else who may have witnessed the incident.

Any witnesses or anyone with dash cam footage the collision have been asked to telephone 101, quoting Log 231 March 14, 2022.

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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11 comments

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OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
7 likes

That's disgraceful behaviour by the motorist. Leaving a child injured is appalling.

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hawkinspeter replied to OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
6 likes

OldRidgeback wrote:

That's disgraceful behaviour by the motorist. Leaving a child injured is appalling.

I agree, though I'd add that leaving anyone injured is appalling.

Unfortunately, the petition to re-work the laws around leaving the scene of a collision was deemed unnecessary by our political leaders and so there is a clear incentive for drivers to leave the scene if they are under the influence of drink or drugs.

Personally, I think that someone found guilty of leaving the scene should never be allowed to drive again, but maybe that's just me.

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OldRidgeback replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
2 likes

Yes, yes and yes.

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Muddy Ford | 2 years ago
5 likes

What kind of scum drives off after running a child off the road. I hope the boys family find the driver before the police do.  

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TriTaxMan replied to Muddy Ford | 2 years ago
8 likes

Muddy Ford wrote:

What kind of scum drives off after running a child off the road. I hope the boys family find the driver before the police do.  

Unfortunately there are a growing number of people who will quite happily laugh at cyclists who are involved in accidents rather than help.

I hope they find the people who were driving.

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blackbikerider replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
6 likes

and in my recent experience laugh whilst swerving at you. Absolute scumbags, not being the smallest of cyclists i'd love to have a "face to face" discussion about their behaviour

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Ride On | 2 years ago
5 likes

That makes me very angry.

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Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
5 likes

Look at the reference (quoting Log 231 March 14, 2022. )if it happened on the 27th Feb WTAF is the log dated 2.5 weeks later?

I'm hoping there is an innocent explanation as Bob.S says most of the footage will be long gone.

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brooksby replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
2 likes

Secret_squirrel wrote:

Look at the reference (quoting Log 231 March 14, 2022. )if it happened on the 27th Feb WTAF is the log dated 2.5 weeks later?

I'm hoping there is an innocent explanation as Bob.S says most of the footage will be long gone.

Never be quick to attribute to maliciousness something that can be explained by sheer incompetence  3

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bob.sweet | 2 years ago
11 likes

Most people who have  cameras will have deleted the footage by now, or it has been overwritten. If they want a video the police need to ask immediately. Our thoughts are with the young boy and his family.

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open_roads | 2 years ago
7 likes

Heart breaking.

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