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news
04 Bradley Wiggins at the TDF 2013 launch © Simon MacMichaelUpdated: Bradley Wiggins in hospital after collision, injuries "not thought to be serious" says Sky
Bradley Wiggins was taken to hospital after being involved in a collision with a van in Wrightington in Lancashire. Lancashire Police later confirmed that the Olympic time trial champion and yellow jersey holder suffered a number of broken ribs and further injuries to his hands and wrist.
The Lancashire Evening Post reports that The incident occurred at 6pm when a white Astra van pulled off a filling station forecourt and collided with the cyclist, although the Sun have the vehicle as a car and say that the woman driver was being questioned by police.
The incident took place about five kilometres south of the village of Eccleston, where the 32-year-old lives with wife Cath and their two children.
In a brief statement issued shortly before 1130pm this evening, Team Sky said: "We can confirm that Bradley Wiggins was involved in a road traffic accident whilst riding his bike near his home in Lancashire on Wednesday evening.
"He is being kept in hospital overnight for observation but the injuries he has sustained are not thought to be serious and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery.
"We will announce more details in due course."
Earlier, a spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "A cyclist has been involved in a collision with a white Vauxhall Astra car.
"The rider of the bike, a 32-year-old local man, was taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries not thought to be life-threatening. His family have been told."
The attendant at the garage, Yasmin Smith, reportedly said of Wiggins, "He said he thought he had broken his ribs and while a lot of police cars arrived it was about 15 minutes before the ambulance got there by which time he was blue."
Crow Orchard Road filling station is the reported scene of the incident (Google Maps)
The Sun, which notes that Wiggins had recently shaved off the 'lucky' sideburns he sported on his way to Tour and Olympic glory, aid that he was being followed by a support vehicle when the incident happened, and quoted a source as saying: Wiggo was on a ride followed by his support team.
He was sent flying by the impact and his pals raced to his aid. A source said: “They were following him in a van and they helped him out after the crash. We think he’s going to be fine, but I don’t know how quickly he’ll be back on his bike. His family have been told.”
A lorry driver, Barry Blacklidge, aged 46, who arrived at the scene immediately after the incident, told the Sun: “There were about four police cars there. All the roads were coned off.
“I could see a pushbike, like a mountain bike, and the front wheel was all buckled. I went into the garage and asked what was going on.
"She said ‘Bradley Wiggins has just been knocked off his bike’. The ambulance turned up and they treated him for a while.
“He was up and walking around, but apparently he wasn’t too good. Drivers were stuck in the service station as the emergency vehicles blocked the exits.”
He continued: “I couldn’t get out of the service station in my truck because there were that many police vehicles there. I had to wait until they had moved. The police were examining his bike.”
Wiggins found himelf at the centre of a controversy over road safety during the Olympic Games when he suggested at a press conference that cyclists had a responsibility to wear a helmet.
He made his comments after being put on the spot with a question related to the death of 28-year-old Dan Harris from Wanstead, who was struck by a bus ferrying media between London 2012 venues immediately outside the Olympic Park.
He later took to Twitter to clarify his comments, saying that he had not been calling for helmets to be made compulsory.
Three years ago, Wiggins' wife Cath, who is herself an age group national champion on the track, vowed to stay off the road bike after being hit by a car while out riding.
A separate incident today in Leyland, less than 10 kilometres from Wiggins' home and 15 kilometres from where he was hit, left an male cyclist aged in his 80s seriously injured whe he was hit by a Citroen car on a roundabout at around 2pm. Lancashire Police have issued an appeal for information, with further details on their website.
Responding to news of Olympic cyclist Bradley Wiggins’ road incident last night, Sustrans Policy Advisor Joe Williams said:
"This collision shines a light on the increasing number of cyclists being killed or serious injured on Britain’s roads.
“Making cycling safer for everyone would cut congestion and pollution and help us to lead healthy lives. The government must create more safe space for cycling on and off roads and look at changing the law to follow the lead of many European neighbours, where a driver is also presumed at fault in a collision with a cyclist.
“We wish Wiggo a speedy recovery and a quick return to cycling.”
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
Latest Comments
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94 comments
I don't hold this only as a complaint regarding new drivers - I seriously struggle to understand the need for a vehicle which can achieve 0-60 in less that 7 seconds and has a top speed of over 140 mph where both of those activities would almost always be illegal
I find little more pathetic than middle-aged men who define themselves by the powerful car they drive
I suppose it is lucky for the driver that they hit someone who has the money to pay for the damage to their van. No doubt there will be a hard luck story interview with the driver over the coming days about how they are now frightened to drive which is affecting their livelihood or walk down the street for fear of reprisals.
I wonder if the first thing they asked *him* was whether he was wearing his helmet!
Given his ill-advised and insensitive comments on the subject after a cyclist died during the Olympic Games I'd be horrified if his helmet hadn't protected him as a 4 ton van tried to go through him
Wasn't he massively misquoted? I could be wrong but I thought he was actually talking about protection in terms of protection from the law in the event of an accident e.g. assuming the driver was at fault, but someone took it to mean the law should require cyclist to use protection i.e. helmets and the media ran with it?
Short answer - No
Try misquoting this
"Ultimately, if you get knocked off and you don’t have a helmet on, then you can’t argue. You can get killed if you don’t have a helmet on.
"You shouldn’t be riding along with iPods and phones and things on. You have lights on. Once there are laws passed for cyclists then you are protected and you can say, ‘well, I have done everything to be safe."
http://road.cc/content/news/62783-cyclist-killed-olympic-bus-witness-acc...
I'm not sure what 'context' could change the meaning of what he said - he *did* try back-pedalling, but what he SAID was pretty damn clear
It's always the drivers fault ?
Well no actually it isnt always their fault and until people realise this then the forum will be full of "stick a spike in the steering wheel" and "remove all safety features" comments which serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever and make as just as bad as the bad drivers out there.
Accidents happen and careless driving which is a "momentary lapse of concentration" will continue to happen. No-one can say they have never been in this situation before, even the safest of drivers and cyclists.
Untill the facts are announced by either Wiggins / Sky or the Police no-one will know what exactly happened.
It is when the driver drives into the road without first checking properly that there's no other vehicle approaching.
As ever, Stumps is being Mr Sensible again and spoiling the mouth-frother's fun.
I have to agree, too much conclusion jumping at this point. We don't know FOR CERTAIN what happened so it's hard to crucify the driver.
The vast majority of drivers don't actively seek to cause cause these things, through errors of judgement or slips of concentration these things occur and there's not much we can do about these things happening (without massive overhaul of driver training) but what we can concentrate on is making sure the post-'accident' process is improved. Assuming fault is not good for anyone as it demonises motorists. Assuming liability (which is different) is great for cyclists as the driver then has to actively prove they weren't responsible or be liable for costs etc.
Vilifying someone for a momentary lapse of judgement is just entrenching the cyclist v motorist view held by many people, accepting that this was an accident (def: An unexpected and undesirable event, especially one resulting in damage or harm) and probably hugely regretable on the part of the driver helps us move past the fact that it happened and onto what can be done to help those involved and stop it happening again.
This is a good point, but I think at the moment these incidents are too easily waved away as just one of those things. I agree there will always be accidents when humans are behind the wheel, even with much higher driving standards than we seem to have now. But the fact is that people in control of a couple of tons of metal need to look what they're doing, and far too many drivers seem to be totally desensitized to that responsibility.
If a pro like Wiggins with a support car can't stay safe then there is just no hope for cyclists out there. Presumed liability needs to come into effect and I am certain motorists will think twice about the way they drive especially around cyclists although I like mrchrispy's idea, remove airbag and all other safety features and replace with ones that can also give drivers lasting injuries.
massive spike in the steering wheel of all cars...I can guarantee that'll reduce accidents of all kinds.
GWS mr wiggest
Roads and cars are designed so that people can drive like tw@ts and survive while mowing down pedestrians and cyclists.
This has started a right ding-dong in the office. I've just gotten a bit worked up having run the whole gamut of it probably being Wiggo's fault, "I pay road tax", "damn cyclists riding two abreast", you name it. A 4x4 driver even told me that we should ride single file because then there was room for him to overtake us aginst oncoming traffic. I have pointed out that this is *precisely* why we ride two abreast, so that a 'proper' overtake is necessary. I wouldn't mind but he rides a mountain bike and a motorbike as well.
Did anyone hear the R2 news at 7am, bearing in mind BW was supposed to be on the show, Moira Stewart said "the cyclist was in collision with a car" or words to that effect.
Probably not how i would phrase it to BW!!!
P.S. Did he go on the show? I was in the pool after that and my radio doesn't work so well in water!
In other commuter related news just seen this:
http://www.magnatom.net/2012/11/giving-up-cycling.html
If Bradley was being followed by a support car as reported the van pulling out, even if not seeing the bike, must have been taking a chance to get out in front of the support car.
Trust he gets well soon
Should never have shaved them bad boy burners off...thats what this is really about...
proves it can happen to any of us of course. I just hope he can use his status to do change something, anything to make it safer for us all ....
...I was going to say that maybe Lancashire Evening Post is better than most local newspapers in this regard, but it appears not...
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/man-due-in-court-over-tragic-cyclist-acc...
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/cyclist-killed-in-accident-1-4241802
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/cyclist-rushed-to-hospital-after-acciden...
Doesn't stop collisions but wearing a camera on your helmet means hard evidence against careless drivers and a more realistic chance of claiming back some money for the mangled metal that used to be your pride and joy ...... if you survive
Usually such incidents are described as accidents, or the cyclist is described as having collided with the motorist, not the other way around, as above. So now we know what it takes for an adult cyclist to be considered likely to know what they are doing, and intent on at least their own safety: win the Tour de France and seven Olympic medals...
This is a good point, and while it might sound a bit trivial it's a bit like the continued use of 'road tax'- this sort of language constantly implies or props up an idea or perception, in this case that drivers aren't to be thought of as responsible for things that happen with their vehicles.
I suppose some of it is to do with trying to report the facts neutrally when what happened isn't clear, but it often seems to suggest that cyclists have just driven into a car while the poor old driver sat there inside, helpless and frightened.
I hope Wiggin's recovers quickly and fully.
I'm fed up with the media treatment of RTA's - If you read the Mcr Evening Post article about this the language used tries to create the impression that the "accident" just seemed to have occurred as some random act of god rather than as the result of a vehicle driver negligently failing to look properly before pulling out. No excuses , I know the location - in the dark the road is well illuminated with street lamps and light from the garage forecourt.
It'll be interesting to see what the Police will do - no doubt they'll start with asking Bradley to recommend a "Driver Awareness Course" to enable them to avoid court action to prosecute for careless driving.
Injured ribs are indeed nasty. Let's hope nobody tells Wiggo any jokes for a few weeks.
Let's also hope some good comes from this. Drivers have to be more careful. And be told that cyclists come in various speeds, and must be treated with respect. Some chance.
The fit state of Bradley Wiggins has probably done much to mitigate the effects of this crash. Some years ago I was hit from behind by a car and bounced off with sufficient force to write off the car.
At the time I was about 15Kg lighter and with good muscle tone, and I think it was this that provided a shock absorber function, and I escaped with just a chipped spine, and some mighty impressive bruises. The broken bones are likely to be the painful hairline cracks but with the added forces of powerful muscle tone raising the degree of pain you experience.
Cracked ribs are the real problem as it is almost impossible to 'set' them and let them heal. I got a couple of those when the crank snapped going uphill, and the bike rolled over with me and landed on my chest. I hope that this doesn't ruin his potential for 2013. If it does than the lawyers will really have a fine time wading in to this case.
Ribs are nasty. I cracked a couple in late September in a freak "hand slipping off the bars and flinging myself to the ground' accident. It took 6 weeks to heal and hurt like hell. I imagine a TDF is made of sterner stuff.
Swift recovery Sir Bradley of Wiggins.
It's crap, and I hope Wiggins isn't seriously injured and can get back on his bike quickly, but I can't help but think this could be a great thing.
Mainstream media doesn't seem to care about cyclists but an Olympic champion? Hopefully it'll force a change of views when it comes to these kinds of accidents and possibly even on liability laws. Although, because its Wiggins, I could see the whole legal process going quite smoothly for him.
My only worry is that this is used as a stick to beat cycling with to show that its 'really dangerous'. "look, its not even safe for pro cyclists on our roads".
I think biggest prize goes to the telegraph for leading with "enough force to knock the wing mirror off" rather than perhaps enough force to break a mans ribs!
I think the only shocker in this sadly inevitable story is that the driver actually stopped.
Wow, what a lot of driver-bashing going on. Nobody here knows a thing about this incident other than what each of the media sources have chosen to report to suit whatever their particular agenda is however this driver has already been found guilty with an unpleasant dose of glee by a lot of posters here.
It's getting a bit boring now, all the same anti-driving comments following every story of accident involving vehicles and cycles.
I'd be surprised if many commenters never use a car/van/truck and we all know there are plenty of moron cyclists out there on the roads as well.
Don't get me wrong, I'd be very surprised If Wiggins was cycling like a moron and I wish him a speedy recovery, but let's have a bit of common sense and balance here: not every driver is a maniac, and not every cyclist is a saint.
A driver pulled off a garage forecourt and hit a cyclist. You don't need any more information that that to know the driver was at fault. Either they pulled out purposefully, which I doubt, or they were careless and didn't look properly before pulling out.
When it's cyclists' lives at risks and drivers walk away with just a dent in their bonnet "driver-bashing" is perfectly reasonable. Not all drivers are morons but this one certainly was and there are plenty more guilty of SMIDSY out there. Until these sorts of things are treated less as an innocent mistake and more as recklessly endangering the lives of others then nothing will change.
Looking at the location I suspect it won't be long before someone blames him for cycling on a dual carriageway and pushes for cyclists to be banned from them. I'd agree that cyclists shouldn't be on roads like that but the solution is less stick and more carrot. If there were good quality, segregated cycle routes running alongside, there'd never be any need for cyclists to ride on dual carriageways!
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