75-year-old cyclist suffers broken pelvis and collarbone in yet another pothole-induced accident

A 75-year-old from West Sussex has suffered multiple serious injuries, including a broken pelvis and collarbone, as well as soft tissue damage after falling off her bike as she hit a pothole, and has called on the council to tackle potholes quickly and keeping the roads in a better state.

Greta Nunn was cycling on the Perrymount Road in Haywards Heath on Monday when she came off her bike and had to be rushed to the hospital. Sussex World reported that the incident happened near MINCKA Coffee before the roundabout at about 2:30pm following heavy rain.

“The heavens opened so the potholes were full of water. That was particularly bad because you can’t see them soon enough,” said Greta. “That pothole’s been there a long time but I forgot about it and it was so deep I couldn’t control the bike.”

Greta said she fell off her bike to the right and landed in the middle of the road. She added that she was fortunate that there were no cars on the road at the time, and that witnesses immediately helped her get back to safety and called an ambulance as well.

Due to her injuries, Greta won’t be able to walk as she can’t hold on to a Zimmer frame, and will temporarily have to stop teaching piano. According to doctors, it would take at least six weeks to recover from the fractures and said she will be feeling the effects of her injuries for at least four months.

> "Same question every winter": Cyclists slam "disgraceful" state of Britain's pothole-covered roads

Greta, who lives in Lindfield, is now calling for West Sussex County Council to tackle potholes sooner and keep roads in a better state of repair. She said: “I’m really fed up with the council for not looking after the roads.”

She added that she and her husband do not have a car so she cycles most days and has to avoid several other potholes in Lindfield.

“It’s too dangerous for people,” she said, calling the state of the roads ‘unacceptable’. “I mean, we’re supposed to be encouraged to cycle and then it’s dangerous.”

In recent times, injuries sustained by the elderly while cycling due to dangerous potholes on roads has become a worrying trend, with councils often neglecting to repair them and failing to consider them as a risk to cyclists.

> “They didn’t think I would make it”: 80-year-old cyclist wins compensation after horrific pothole crash

Pothole graffiti (supplied by road.cc reader)

This year in January, 84-year-old Harry Colledge who was a “much loved” member of the cycling community in Lancashire, died while riding his bicycle after the front wheel got “lodged in a crack in the road surface”, throwing him off.

The late cyclist’s wife later called on both the government and local authorities to do more to repair potholes on the UK’s “woefully inadequate” roads. “Harry’s front wheel got stuck in a nine-inch-deep pothole. A local farmer told me she had complained to the council about the pothole, but nothing was done,” she said.

Cycling UK’s Keir Gallagher said that Mr Colledge’s death highlights the serious threat posed by potholes and road defects to cyclists, arguing that “our crumbling roads… are deterring many from taking up cycling”.

> Is there a pothole crisis on Britain's roads?

And in August, a 75-year old fell off his bike on Monday morning after hitting a pothole in Edinburgh. After reporting the incident which left him “shaken and bruised”, the cyclist was told that by the council that the road surface issues on Paisley Crescent were not deemed to be a “critical safety defect”.

In April 2021, an 80-year well-known bike racer in Scotland said that his friends “didn’t think I would make it” after he crashed when he hit a pothole. He was left with fractures to his face and spine, and spent 10 days in hospital. He also needed to wear a back brace for three months.

Three months ago this year, he managed to win a compensation from the council for not taking care of the roads and leading to the horrific crash.

> Cyclist smashes teeth in pothole crash, demands council action on dangerous roads

According to data from the Department for Transport, at least 425 cyclists have been killed or injured due to poor or defective road surfaces since 2016.

In October, a coroner’s report raised concerns about Surrey County Council's lack of action in repairing dangerous potholes, one of which caused a fatal cycling crash in June 2020.

Less than a month earlier, we reported that three Tamworth Cycling Club riders were left badly injured, one in critical care, and with an estimated £10,000 worth of damage, following a crash on a road the council admits was scheduled for repairs.

Rick Green, the chairman of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which represents road repair companies, said that there is a stark contrast between funding for urban and rural roads, and that a recent survey found that £12 billion was needed to bring roads “up to scratch”. Green also said that a “longer-term funding horizon” would help local councils better plan their road maintenance.

> Pothole crisis will only get worse as research suggests 85% of councils to cut road maintenance projects

Jack Cousens of the AA added that cyclists face “the hardest of choices about whether to hit the pothole or swerve and hope they avoid other traffic”.

Just a few weeks ago in March this year, the chairman of the County Councils Network (CCN) warned cyclists and other road users that the state of roads in England and Wales is likely to continue to deteriorate as research from the group found that 85 per cent of councils plan to cut their roads maintenance projects next year.

He said that inflation has hit the cost of resurfacing works which, combined with the cold weather makes it “inevitable” that there will be more potholes on the roads.