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Driver blames cyclist for crash after hitting rider, 2 pedestrians, and a bus while driving wrong way up one-way street

"There are too many bicycle people on the road"...

A driver who hit a cyclist and two pedestrians before his car finally came to a halt straddling a low wall and embedded in a bus has blamed the cyclist for causing him to panic and lose control of his vehicle.

According to the Kingston Guardian, Shibob Li, 49, the manager of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture in Fife Road, drove his BMW out of Fife Road Kingston and attempted to drive the wrong way  into Clarence Street.

Paramedics treated two women - one of whom is believed to have been a cyclist - and a man at the scene. One of the women was airlifted to hospital with lower limb injuries. She is reported to be in a stable condition.

A traffic officer said the driver had hit a cyclist at the pedestrian crossing outside Cappadocia restaurant.

He went on to hit the two pedestrians as his car careered down the street.

"Not just my fault"

Mr Li subsequently blamed the cyclist involved for the incident.

He said: “It is really regrettable all this happened. I just wish them to get better quickly and wish them the best. I am very, very sorry. I was panicked and lost control of the car.

“It happened really quickly and I didn’t have any time to think about it. I was shocked and shaking. Of course I regret. But it is not just my fault.

“He started shouting and caused my panic. I was panicked and lost control of the car.

“I think people cycling, they need to pay due attention. There are too many bicycle people on the road.

“They do not really watch the other people. Sometimes they just come quickly.

Wrong way

However, eyewitness Billy Cole, 19, told the Kingston Guardian that the driver of the car came out of Fife Road and drove the wrong way towards the one way system.

The male victim of the crash, Yassar, was a refugee from Syria who had recently arrived in the UK.

His sister-in-law, Dima, said he was being shown round Kingston by her husband.

“They were going to have some Shawarma at Lebanese Valley. He was standing across the street to Cappadocia.

“The BMW came against the traffic and it hit the cyclist.

“My husband and Yassar were walking together. When they saw the car aiming for them my husband jumped and managed to step away but Yassar couldn’t.

“The car hit him from the side and went on and hit a few other people afterwards.

“He hit his head and the car hit him in both legs and his back.”

Dima said the family were “angry and frustrated.” Yassar had fled the conflict in Syria, only to be hit by a car in the UK.

She said: “There was violence, bombs and shelling 24/7 and snipers. It is a war.

“He never got injured but managed to get injured in Kingston.”

Police say no arrests have been made.

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.

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50 comments

Avatar
rich22222 replied to dave atkinson | 11 years ago
0 likes

shouldn't it be "woad"?

Avatar
Leviathan replied to dave atkinson | 11 years ago
0 likes
Dave Atkinson wrote:
farrell wrote:

The phrase "Bicycle People" has really grown on me today.

I am a bicycle people.

we've been having fun with it too  4

This would be perfect with Shakey-hands-man/laughing guy from Banzia/Russell Howard, ha-ha-ha-ha...
We need to get Russ wearing some bike tees on Good News.

Avatar
zanf replied to dave atkinson | 11 years ago
0 likes
Dave Atkinson wrote:
farrell wrote:

The phrase "Bicycle People" has really grown on me today.

I am a bicycle people.

we've been having fun with it too  4

//i.imgur.com/8glmFeG.jpg)

Avatar
Karbon Kev | 11 years ago
0 likes

nothing changes in this cycle-resistant country of ours ....

Avatar
moonbucket | 11 years ago
0 likes

If he panics at someone shouting at him to stop driving up a street the wrong way, then whatever you do if he's treating you DON'T shout out in pain at the needles, he'll likely stick the next one in your eyeballs or bollocks...

Avatar
atlaz | 11 years ago
0 likes

I MIGHT have a little sympathy with him if he wasn't local as the one-way stuff around there is a pain in the arse at times. However, knowing the area as he obviously did, then hitting several people, a wall and a bus and then blaming the cyclist he hit when he was already on the wrong side of the one-way system I'd say the police should have a chat with him sharpish.

Avatar
JonD replied to atlaz | 11 years ago
0 likes
atlaz wrote:

I MIGHT have a little sympathy with him if he wasn't local as the one-way stuff around there is a pain in the arse at times.

But it *is* pretty damn obvious there's a one-way system for anyone entering Kingston. And here's enough clues at this junction - the big central brick barrier, the blue 'left only' signs on the lights, and the ruddy big 'left only' sign on the tarmac.

The road he was coming out of is one-way, with a rhs cycle lane in the same direction, and a kerbed cycle lane going the opposite way, between the right-way cycle lane and the pavement. I guess it's possible the cyclist was on the outermost lane ie going the wrong way, but it makes no odds to his actual actions - sounds like the driver hit the gas instead of the brake and panicked, which isn't exactly unheard of where elderly drivers are concerned. (Not that 49 is elderly, he's younger than me..)

Avatar
Leviathan | 11 years ago
0 likes

Lets not jump to conclusions; I think there is a chance this guy will get his just desserts, no matter who he blames. Perhaps his driving style is as Alternative as his therapies. Next time align your Chi before setting off.

Avatar
farrell | 11 years ago
0 likes

I'm making an assumption here, granted, but shouldn't a Chinese person or someone of Chinese descent be fairly comfortable with the idea of "Bicycle people".

Someone get him a copy of Katie Melua's greatest hits....

Avatar
Sadly Biggins replied to farrell | 11 years ago
0 likes
farrell wrote:

Someone get him a copy of Katie Melua's greatest hits....

It's mercifully short  4

Avatar
andycoventry | 11 years ago
0 likes

So he is the manager of a shop on the road where it happened - so he would know the Kingston one-way system ... driving without due care and attention then surely.

"He started shouting at me".... probably that he was going to wrong bloody way.

What a d*ck.....

Avatar
richteebis replied to andycoventry | 11 years ago
0 likes
andycoventry wrote:

So he is the manager of a shop on the road where it happened - so he would know the Kingston one-way system ... driving without due care and attention then surely.

"He started shouting at me".... probably that he was going to wrong bloody way.

What a d*ck.....

dick?

Avatar
therevokid | 11 years ago
0 likes

same old same old .... the mighty car wins again  2
wonder what they're going to do when fuel costs so much
they can't potter about like complete imbeciles in their
little tin boxes ????
Oh yeh - that'll be somebody else's fault as well ....

Avatar
seven replied to therevokid | 11 years ago
0 likes
therevokid wrote:

same old same old .... the mighty car wins again  2
wonder what they're going to do when fuel costs so much
they can't potter about like complete imbeciles in their
little tin boxes ????
Oh yeh - that'll be somebody else's fault as well ....

+1 ... your comment reminds me of the entry in this book, succinctly entitled: "Motorists as persecuted group".

Avatar
John_the_Monkey | 11 years ago
0 likes

"Police say no arrests have been made."

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northstar replied to John_the_Monkey | 11 years ago
0 likes
John_the_Monkey wrote:

"Police say no arrests have been made."

Avatar
Jimbonic | 11 years ago
0 likes

Un-*******-believable!

So, a car driver can drive like a complete and utter t**t and then blame anyone else! What can the cyclist have done, other than take control of his car some how and drive it into themself and the pedestrians?

People need to start taking responsibility for their incompetence and attitude.

Yours angrily,

Avatar
richteebis replied to Jimbonic | 11 years ago
0 likes
Jimbonic wrote:

Un-*******-believable!

So, a car driver can drive like a complete and utter t**t and then blame anyone else! What can the cyclist have done, other than take control of his car some how and drive it into themself and the pedestrians?

People need to start taking responsibility for their incompetence and attitude.

Yours angrily,

t**t, do you mean twat? also do you mean un-cunting or un-fucking believable?

Avatar
Jimbonic replied to richteebis | 11 years ago
0 likes
richteebis wrote:
Jimbonic wrote:

Un-*******-believable!

So, a car driver can drive like a complete and utter t**t and then blame anyone else! What can the cyclist have done, other than take control of his car some how and drive it into themself and the pedestrians?

People need to start taking responsibility for their incompetence and attitude.

Yours angrily,

t**t, do you mean twat? also do you mean un-cunting or un-fucking believable?

Apologies for the confusion, Mr Biscuit. I did, of course, mean un-fucking-believable and the "t**t" should have read "twat"!

I blame the censors!

Avatar
JeevesBath | 11 years ago
0 likes

"$#1t drivers say...."  13

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