Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Paralympian Rachel Morris hit by car during time trialRachel Morris ©British Cycling

Paralympian Rachel Morris hit by car during time trial

Hand-cycling champion may not recover in time for Games
by John Stevenson
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 09:55
11

Welsh hand-cyclist Rachel Morris' preparation for the London Paralympics has been severely disrupted by a crash. The 33-year-old was hit from behind by a car while competing in a time trial near Guildford at the weekend.

“This has totally screwed me up,” Morris said.

“I feel like everything I’ve worked for has been taken away. I can’t imagine not being there, but I know how long it has taken me to recover from this type of injury before, and it was longer than I now have before the Games.”

Morris was six minutes into the event when a car ran into the left side of her hand-cycle, leaving her with whiplash and shoulder injuries. She had time to get as close to the curb as possible, but the impact destroyed the left side rear wheel of her hand-cycle.

She said: “The bike went up into the air. I remember looking across and I was aware that I was at the same height as the passengers in a car passing in the outside lane.”

Morris' condition, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, is a nervous system malfunction that causes extreme pain and related sensory abnormalities. She has previously had both legs amputated because of her condition.

When Morris suffers an injury, her body reacts in a damaging way, which means that an accident like this impacts her more seriously, making her recovery compromised and uncertain.

After a crash in 2011, Morris was concerned that her body might reject her damaged shoulder. In an interview with the BBC she talked about her fear that her arm might need to be amputated. Since developing the condition Morris has competed in various sports as her level of disability has changed.

However, she does not race just to satisfy her competitive instincts. Training is essential. "It's a way of managing the pain' She told the BBC. “Without it, my life becomes unmanageable."

British Cycling says that it is supporting Morris, providing legal and medical help. The organisation said that it will be following the case closely as it is concerned that these incidents are often not adequately investigated and prosecuted. British Cycling recently called on the Ministry of Justice to undertake a comprehensive review of how the criminal justice system deals with this type of incident to ensure that everyone, especially the victim, is treated fairly and that the right environment for people to drive responsibly is in place.

It's certainly been a bad year for top riders getting injured while training. German time trial specialist Tony Martin was hit by a car in April; Levi Leipheimer sat out the Tour of the Basque Country after a collision at the end of March; Russian team pursuit rider Ivan Kovalev was hit while training in Sydney; and world keirin champion Shane Perkins was hit by a car in Melbourne.

 

Rachel Morris
London Paralympics
Cycle Safety
car crash
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

Add new comment

11 comments

Avatar
antonio | 12 years ago
0 likes

Best wishes to this plucky young lady, when we whinge we should think of all the paralympians and what they go through to achieve in our sport and pastime.

Avatar
mingmong replied to antonio | 12 years ago
0 likes
antonio wrote:

Best wishes to this plucky young lady, when we whinge we should think of all the paralympians and what they go through to achieve in our sport and pastime.

^^^^
This

Avatar
Mostyn replied to antonio | 12 years ago
0 likes
antonio wrote:

Best wishes to this plucky young lady, when we whinge we should think of all the paralympians and what they go through to achieve in our sport and pastime.

100% in support of you comments! I also wish her a speedy recovery.

Avatar
Coleman | 12 years ago
1 like

"these incidents are often not adequately investigated and prosecuted."

Quite. The driver shouldn't be on the road. Ensure they never drive again, serve a custodial sentence and contribute financially to the well-being of the victim.

Or just do the usual and put some points on a licence and say it was an "accident". The law is an ass.

Avatar
Gkam84 replied to Coleman | 12 years ago
0 likes
Coleman wrote:

"these incidents are often not adequately investigated and prosecuted."

Quite. The driver shouldn't be on the road. Ensure they never drive again, serve a custodial sentence and contribute financially to the well-being of the victim.

Or just do the usual and put some points on a licence and say it was an "accident". The law is an ass.

So from that article, which says next to nothing about what happened, you can judge the level of the driving and stick him in jail?? 13

Are you mental or something, the only mention about the car is this "a car ran into the left side of her hand-cycle"

Was the driver at fault? Was there a problem with the car? Could something other than the driver have caused this??

Oh no I forgot......Lets just lock up all driver's who are involved in any incident with a cyclist 37 37 37

Hopefully Rachel is able to recover from her injuries, If not in time for the para's, just in full to be able to ride at her best again

Avatar
Coleman replied to Gkam84 | 12 years ago
0 likes
Gkam84 wrote:
Coleman wrote:

"these incidents are often not adequately investigated and prosecuted."

Quite. The driver shouldn't be on the road. Ensure they never drive again, serve a custodial sentence and contribute financially to the well-being of the victim.

Or just do the usual and put some points on a licence and say it was an "accident". The law is an ass.

So from that article, which says next to nothing about what happened, you can judge the level of the driving and stick him in jail?? 13

Are you mental or something, the only mention about the car is this "a car ran into the left side of her hand-cycle"

Was the driver at fault? Was there a problem with the car? Could something other than the driver have caused this??

Oh no I forgot......Lets just lock up all driver's who are involved in any incident with a cyclist 37 37 37

Hopefully Rachel is able to recover from her injuries, If not in time for the para's, just in full to be able to ride at her best again

'Mental or something?'

Charming.

Avatar
arowland replied to Gkam84 | 12 years ago
0 likes

I agree. There is no logical connection between the facts reported in this article and the conclusion, 'The law is an ass', never mind his assumption that the driver was culpable. For all we know, the driver may have been completely blameless, or the law could hand out a life sentence -- it hasn't happened yet. Coleman is just expressing a prejudice.

But like him, I feel very sorry for Rachel Morris and angry that this could have happened.

Avatar
arowland replied to Gkam84 | 12 years ago
0 likes

I agree with Gkam84. There is no logical connection between the facts reported in this article and the conclusion, 'The law is an ass', never mind his assumption that the driver was culpable. For all we know, the driver may have been completely blameless, or the law could hand out a life sentence -- it hasn't happened yet. Coleman is just expressing a prejudice.

But like him, I feel very sorry for Rachel Morris and angry that this could have happened.

Avatar
Mostyn replied to Coleman | 12 years ago
0 likes
Coleman wrote:

"these incidents are often not adequately investigated and prosecuted."

Quite. The driver shouldn't be on the road. Ensure they never drive again, serve a custodial sentence and contribute financially to the well-being of the victim.

Or just do the usual and put some points on a licence and say it was an "accident". The law is an ass.

HOW TRUE!

About time the laws were changed regarding dangerous driving; and especially the penalties impossed upon those who cause injury or loss of life. The Laws are too lenient! And the punishment in non existant or minimal. The Insurance companies should refuse to insure any driver that has caused severe injury or death while driving. Carelessnes costs lives.

Avatar
samjackson54 | 12 years ago
0 likes

I think I was in this race, near Farnham, saw somebody getting put into an ambulance as I rode home, and I had seen her earlier at the start. I didnt know she was a Paralympian champion, either way this is terrible. Thoughts go out to her.

Avatar
notfastenough | 12 years ago
0 likes

That's so disappointing for her. An impact sufficient to elevate her to car passenger head height is some knock.

Latest Comments