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Five cyclists injured after being hit by Brisbane motorist ‘blinded by sun’Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)

Five cyclists injured after being hit by Brisbane motorist ‘blinded by sun’

Three cyclists in their 50s and two in their 40s injured on regular club run
by Sarah Barth
Sun, Aug 27, 2017 13:28
11

A driver who ‘might have been blinded by the sun as he performed a U-turn’ has said he hopes the five cyclists he hit make a speedy recovery.

The 22 year old motorist was doing a U-turn on Dornoch Terrace in West End around 6:20am on Friday when 5 cyclists ploughed into his car at speed.

Speaking to 9NEWS the driver, who currently faces no charges, said: "I would like to say that I hope everyone is going to be okay and makes a speedy recovery."

The riders, who range in ages from 45 to 55 years old, are part of the "Venerdi Corsa" club which is Italian for "Friday Ride”.

A 54-year-old woman, who was initially reported as being critically injured, has now had her head injuries downgraded.

Other cyclists have had surgery to treat broken bones and internal injuries.

"There were bikes all over the road broken in two, five bodies on the road, blood everywhere," said one witness, cyclist Tom Nash.

"The car looks like it's been hit by another car, but it's been hit by people," said David Shelberg whose wife Caroline was one of the riders injured.

"Caroline will be all right. She was the last to leave but there were other more critical people in front of her."

Queensland Ambulance senior operations supervisor Matthew Hannaberry said the number of people at the scene made the rescue “chaotic”.

“Upon our arrival, it was quite a chaotic scene because not only were the cyclists that had been involved in the incident there, there were another dozen cyclists who had been travelling in that peloton,” he told the Guardian.

“There were some local residents who were providing first aid until our paramedics arrived,” Hannaberry said.

Police continue to investigate.

Brisbane
Austraia
sun
blinded by sun

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11 comments

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Aussie Rider | 7 years ago
0 likes

Bet he would've seen and given way if it was a 20 ton truck rather than a bunch of cyclists. I've been told that Brisbane drivers are worse than in Melbourne where I am and that's bad enough.

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antigee | 7 years ago
1 like

Car choice can be an indicator of driver behaviour - reckon that's a Mitsubishi Magna a pretty standard Aus' 4litre V6 sedan comes in at number 3 on the Victorian Police most crushed "hoon" car list - one you always keep an eye on when they appear.

6.20 am and the driver is in tradie clothes - so on his way to work - the news articles simply reflect Aus'  predominant view  that cyclists get in the way of people going about their ordinary business[/whinging_pom_cockroach]

 

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Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
2 likes

There are some circumstances where you can begrudgingly accept that a driver is caught out when a change of direction brings the sun into their line of sight and for whatever reason the sun visor is not quite in the right position. But to start from a state of safety, I.e not moving, and commiting to a manoeuvre that will cause you to cross oncoming traffic, without being able to see clearly if there is any traffic is wanton stupidity and self evidently negligent.

From the reports on cycling in Australia that we see here in the UK it seems that cyclists there are treated little better than roadkill.

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jackseph | 7 years ago
1 like

I saw this on a Channel 7 news bulletin (in Australia) the day it happened. They also trotted out the 'blinded by the sun' line too, literally giving an excuse to the driver before any investigation had taken place. If you do not / cannot see a bunch of riders travelling down the road towards you, then you should not be driving / turning / given a driving licence. If you cannot make a turn safely becasue the sun is in your eyes, don't make the turn. Simple

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alansmurphy | 7 years ago
4 likes

Should driving in the sun be banned, I believe blind people are not allowed to drive...

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to alansmurphy | 7 years ago
3 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

Should driving in the sun be banned, I believe blind people are not allowed to drive...

people continuing without modification of their actions when vision is distorted for any reason and injury/death occurs should be an instant sentence because by definition the action is dangerous at best, reckless bordering on insanity for a known outcome.

The sooner we start charging for manslaughter as std for all motoring deaths the better, do away with the bias jury system in motoring cases because as we've seen despite rock solid, irrefutable evidence they won't convict. 

We should go one step further and remove the police out of the equation because frankly they have such an inbuilt bias themselves they distort matters (to the point of unlawfullness) and won't follow procedure nor enforce the law as it stands.

An independant body needs to look at these matters (not coronoers either because they know fuck-all too and are as bias) because the whole system stinks to high heaven.

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hawkinspeter | 7 years ago
7 likes

Being Australia, they'll probably charge the cyclists with damaging property (i.e the car)

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brooksby | 7 years ago
3 likes

Aussie motorist: probably always furious...

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ktache | 7 years ago
1 like

I believe that is more wanton rather than furious.

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brooksby | 7 years ago
3 likes

Was he u-turning at less than 18mph??

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Yorkshire wallet | 7 years ago
2 likes

Maybe he'll get charged with furious u-turning.

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