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Teenage cyclist injured by alleged hit-and-run, red light jumping motorist – hours before another 13-year-old was knocked off his bike in same town by pavement-mounting motorcyclist

One of the boys was hit by a driver, knocking him onto his car bonnet, as he crossed the road on his way to school

Two 13-year-old cyclists were injured in separate collisions in the same town on Monday, with the motorist and motorcyclist involved in the respective incidents both fleeing the scene.

In the first of the hit-and-run incidents to take place in Newton-le-Willows, a market town in St Helens, on Monday, a teenage boy was cycling with two friends to school at around 8.20am when he was struck by an alleged red light jumping motorist while crossing the Ashton Road, near Hope Academy School, the St Helens Star reports.

According to Merseyside Police, the group of schoolchildren were crossing at a set of traffic lights when the driver of a white BMW drove through the red light and hit one of them, knocking him off his bike and onto the vehicle’s bonnet.

A police spokesperson added that the motorist failed to check on the boy’s condition before driving away. The 13-year-old sustained a slight injury to his leg in the collision.

> Questions asked after another police force keen to highlight crackdown on cyclists jumping red lights

Later that evening, on Crow Lane West, about a mile and a half from where the previous collision took place, another 13-year-old cyclist was hit by a motorcyclist whilst stationary at a traffic island.

The incident, which took place at around 6.50pm, saw the rider of a black motorbike mount the pavement and catch the young cyclist’s handlebars, knocking him to the ground.

The motorcyclist then promptly fled the scene, according to the police, leaving the teenager with bruising and cuts to his arms and legs.

Merseyside Police have launched appeals to identify the driver and motorcyclist involved in both collisions, with anyone with information or footage of the incidents asked to @MerPolCC on Twitter or Merseyside Police Contact Centre on Facebook, quoting reference numbers 353 of June 26 (for the morning collision) and 886 of June 26 for the evening one.

> Student cycling to school knocked off bike after being hit by parent driving a car, suffers minor injuries

The back-to-back incidents involving young cyclists in Newton-le-Willows come less than a week after a child cycling to school in Bristol suffered minor injuries and was left “shocked” after being knocked off his bike by a parent on the school run.

Ben Houghton, headteacher at the school in question, has now urged parents to not drop their children off directly in front of the school gates, due to the narrowness and limited visibility of the road leading to the school.

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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11 comments

Avatar
open_roads | 1 year ago
15 likes

No ifs, no buts* anyone who drives away from a road collision that has left someone on the road injured should get an automatic 10 year ban and ideally a custodial sentence.

* one exception: anyone trying to flee eScooter / eBike / eMotorbike mugger type individual and gangs - and in that case they should park up as soon as possible and dial 999 to report themselves / their location.

Avatar
STiG911 replied to open_roads | 1 year ago
3 likes

open_roads wrote:

No ifs, no buts* anyone who drives away from a road collision that has left someone on the road injured should get an automatic 10 year ban and ideally a custodial sentence.

* one exception: anyone trying to flee eScooter / eBike / eMotorbike mugger type individual and gangs - and in that case they should park up as soon as possible and dial 999 to report themselves / their location.

 

^All of this. Twice.

Avatar
NotNigel | 1 year ago
4 likes

Are hit and runs in general on the increase or just ones involving people on bikes?

Avatar
lonpfrb replied to NotNigel | 1 year ago
6 likes
NotNigel wrote:

Are hit and runs in general on the increase or just ones involving people on bikes?

There is a problem with hit and run that presumes a 'momentary loss of attention' and not a deliberate cynical attempt to evade responsibility for law breaking. Even providing evidence sufficient to identify a vehicle is not followed up by police and the driver responsible being held to account.
In practice Avoidance is much better than Enforcement.
Ride safe..

Avatar
LeadenSkies replied to NotNigel | 1 year ago
6 likes

Apparently a general 45% increase in hit and runs between 2013 and 2017. Probably directly related to the huge number of drivers who are one or more of uninsured, unlicenced, untaxed and unfit through drink or drugs! Some estimates put that at 1 in 10 drivers on our roads today.

Avatar
ymm | 1 year ago
18 likes

It is disgusting to know that in a G7 nation our society, and those who lead it, STILL cannot bring themselves to reign in the dangers that motorists present to vulnerable road users with penalty and prison sentences that would actually make a difference. The dice are loaded in favour of the greater danger in our road spaces which has to change. If they did act towards dangerous motorist behaviour society would be safer, healthier and happier as people would think twice. We are still waiting for sentence review!

Avatar
Muddy Ford replied to ymm | 1 year ago
7 likes

Because the motor and oil industry dictate the agenda to the politicians and news editors.  

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lonpfrb replied to ymm | 1 year ago
3 likes
ymm wrote:

It is disgusting to know that in a G7 nation our society, and those who lead it, STILL cannot bring themselves to reign in the dangers that motorists present to vulnerable road users with penalty and prison sentences that would actually make a difference.

Attitude and Behaviour must change. The Road Collision Reporting Guidelines must be enforced to regulate the mainstream and social media. The Department of Culture Media and Sports should take responsibility for that and protect vulnerable road users since it's clear that the Department of Transport changes to the Highway Code - Hierarchy of Responsibility has had little or no effect. Their key metric of Killed or Seriously Injured is not fit for purpose nor aligned with Active Travel. Dis-Joined government!

Avatar
brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes

Ban on cycling to school incoming from Hope Academy in 3... 2... 1...  3

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I love my bike replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
7 likes

. . . and call for bike number plates, because 'hit & run innit'

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chrisonabike replied to I love my bike | 1 year ago
9 likes

There is literally no way of finding out who was in charge of the bike at the time!  They're made in numbers and look the same.  Some of them are used by more than one person or even operated by rental / fleet organisations, and these bikes can have tinted windscreens so you can't... oh, wait...

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