Video: What's it like to be hit head-on by a car? Police seek driver for this attack

What a cowardly phlucking klunt....I think my next bike-related purchase should be a Bazooka.
P.R.
[[[[[ And by the way, there's nothing in the story that says the cyclist's head hit anything at all, so kindly keep your "helmet saved his life" nonsense to yourself.

All bad, sad and very wrong but not what I was expecting to see and read after the headline used 'attack'.
Sensationalist and not representative of the facts imho.

fukawitride: I've no idea about average speeds. It's possible the dutch are slightly slower, because there's a massive cohort of "normal cyclists" in the Netherlands who are missing over here.

As for the other factors, yes, clearly there is something different about the Netherlands, given that they achieve much better safety for cyclists than the UK does, without obsessing over helmets.

That's the point!

Truffy: The dutch aren't immune indeed, and yet cyclists there have far fewer head injuries than here. Also, something like half, or just over a half, of dutch cyclist deaths are old people, e.g. falling over with heart attacks and what not. Now, even without adjusting for age, NL has much better cyclist death rates than the UK. Once you adjust for the fact NL has many many more old duffers riding their bicycles till they pop their clogs, the dutch rates are even better.

Clearly then the much higher rate of helmet wearing in the UK is, in the greater scheme of things, just *NOT* doing much to help the safety of cyclists here. Clearly, if safety *really* were the goal, then this strategy of relying on helmets is just full of fail. So it's frankly bizarre how so many in the UK cycling community are always *so* eager to trot out the "lucky he was wearing a helmet!" type lines at any opportunity.

Often these commentators come armed with some anecdote about a friend, because as we all know, anecdotes and "common sense" beat nation-level statistics. This friend will have been wearing a helmet, which of course broke in two and so it must have saved them!

(Follow the gourd! Follow the gourd!).

Anyway, it's just amazing how much of a religion helmets are to UK cyclists - the blind faith people invest in them.

Here's another anecdote: I was run over by a car pretty much exactly like in this video. I was doing 30 km/h odd and they turned right without looking and drove into me. I dented their wing, bounced off their bonnet and went onto the ground. I wasn't wearing a helmet. I was OK, other than a sore ankle.

^ That won't be the *actual* car involved though, just a near-identical one whose plates have been cloned. That's the whole point, you won't get very far if you try and pass off a blue diesel Golf as a red petrol Astra...

Having watched the video, it doesn't appear to be malicious, the vehicle is indicating to turn into the garage, so I'm assuming just a classic, but very unfortunate case of SMIDSY. If the plates were false then the driver presumably has all manner of other motoring offences to his name, hence not stopping.

Can't believe how high up in the air the camera seems to go either, not sure what it's actually still attached to at that point.

strange...a quick check on DVLA with the number plate shows up the car...something fishy here!

Going by the date of the MOT looks like the driver was trying to get the MOT done.

✔ Taxed

Expires: 01 January 2015

✔ MOT

Expires: 19 July 2014

Vehicle excise duty

Vehicle excise duty rate for vehicle

6 Month rate

£79.75

12 Month rate

£145.00

Vehicle details
Vehicle make :VOLKSWAGEN
Date of first registration :19 July 2002
Year of manufacture :2002
Cylinder capacity (cc) :1896cc
CO₂Emissions :146 g/km
Fuel type :HEAVY OIL
Tax class :DIESEL CAR
Export marker : No
Vehicle status : Tax not due
Vehicle colour :BLUE
Vehicle type approval :M1

If the police cannot trace this car then they should be ashamed of themselves. But then it was only a cyclist involved in a hit and run and their resources would probably be better spent protecting real people.

The garage forecourt is used as a cut through so may be why the car was going that way.

It is exceptionally bad driving. Thankfully things like this are very rare indeed.

Reading this story in the 'mainstream' press, can't believe how many commenters are ignoring the point entirely and still harping on about "cyclists should be taxed and insured..."etc etc, as though somehow this was the cyclists fault.
God help us.

Here's a little extra detail from the local newspaper, which includes a limited description of the driver -

"The driver of the Volkswagen Golf is described as white, of thin build, with very short brown hair, aged in his twenties and he was wearing a white t-shirt."

http://www.sloughexpress.co.uk/News/All-Areas/Slough/Police-appeal-for-i...

Oh, ye gods someone just *had to* bring out the H word and roll out that tired "Who says they don't save lives?" canard...

I just new what was going to happen. Couldn't watch the slow motion re-run.

Some one must know this car, the driver, who uses it, where it lives, even if it's showing false plates.

When I was hit and run the plod did absolutely fuck all. They won't trace this driver if the car is on false plates.

Can we get this video going viral? Facebook and Twitter post in as many places as possible. I bet the car has been stashed in a lock up garage for a bit or gone to a dodgy body repair place as it will have frontal damage as well as a smashed windscreen.

Best thing Patrick Knetemann can do is contact a PI solicitor or British Cycling's solicitors if he is a member and get the ball rolling for a claim against the Motor Insurance Bureau. He's so lucky not to be dead. I bet he has very very very bad whiplash and a headache. Who says helmets don't save lives?

Even if the police can't trace it from the fake plates surely this is serious enough to warrant them making a handful of phone calls to Autoglass and Partco to see who ordered a new windscreen for a Golf that day?

Shocking.

I hope Karma does exist and the driver befalls some really nasty fate.

Even if it was a real accident rather than a deliberate act, running off is the lowest of the lows.

So on the premise that the car really was going into Kwikfit, do they have any details of callers about tyres or exhausts for a 2002 Golf for that day?

The vehicle is however showing as uninsured on the askmid website.

www.askmid.com

This is a video of an old incident, but it's a good reminder of just how lacking the law is over hit and run. The drivers reaction when confronted is shocking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-4TYhkx1CU

Punishment for the driver
£500 compensation to the victim.
200 hours community service.
2 year driving ban

There are many others that are even more lenient.

Hit and run seems to be a growing problem for all kinds of incidents. At the root of it, is the surprisingly large number of drivers who either have no license, are uninsured (still around one in ten in London) or are driving whilst banned.

Although there is some tendency towards hyperbole when we talk about driving bans, I think a hit and run is absolutely a case where the person responsible should never drive again. Failing to stop and help someone after an accident will significantly increase the risk of severe injuries or death.

Whatever the cause of any incident, failing to stop is a deliberate choice, and deserving of severe punishment.

I think my next bike related investment will be a bike camera. Maybe Road.cc could do a review of what's in offer.

Absolutely shocking!

I think the cyclist is being very charitable to believe the driver was trying to turn into the garage. If you look at its trajectory, it was not turning into the garage but heading straight for the cyclist once it got over to the over side of the road.

Gizmo wins goon of the day award, waaahay!