Police in Weston-super-Mare have appealed for help in tracing a motorist who hit a cyclist, leaving him with facial injuries and possibly needing plastic surgery. The victim, 40-year-old Jason Mousley, says he is “lucky to be alive” following the incident earlier this month.
According to a woman who witnessed the incident, the female driver swore at the cyclist after the collision close to Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College between 7.30pm and 7.45pm on Saturday 18 April.
She said that the driver, who had red hair, said she would park her car, but after driving round the corner she did not return. The vehicle was described as old-style and silver in colour.
The witness did not take down the registration number of the car because she was more worried about Mr Mousley’s injuries.
Mr Mousley, who needed stitches around his eyes and nose, said: “I was coming home from the seafront. I saw there was traffic at the junction with Devonshire Road but knew I had right of way.
“All I remember then is being hit. I was on the floor and the woman was shouting at me. I keep having flashbacks and remember her driving off towards Broadoak Road.
“It could have been much worse. The paramedic couldn’t believe I had kept all my teeth because I wasn’t wearing a helmet.
“I am lucky to be alive.”
His brother Chris has posted photos of his injuries to Facebook.
A spokesman for Avon & Somerset Police said: “A silver vehicle was in collision with a male cyclist, causing him to fall from his bike.
“The driver then left the scene of the collision.
“The cyclist suffered facial injuries and was taken to Weston General Hospital.
“The driver of the vehicle is described as a woman with red hair.
“Anyone with information is asked to contact us on 101 quoting log number 921 of 18/04/15.”
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
19 thoughts on “Police seek hit & run driver who left cyclist with facial injuries”
Bring back hanging.
Bring back hanging.
Bizarre statement from the
Bizarre statement from the paramedic. I reckon if you land face first, a helmet would increase the likelihood of losing teeth because the helmet would hit the ground first making your chin jut forwards.
Idiot should have been
Idiot should have been wearing a helmet.
He was asking to have his teeth knocked out if he is selfish enough to be in a hit and run.
“The paramedic couldn’t
“The paramedic couldn’t believe I had kept all my teeth because I wasn’t wearing a helmet.”
Is it some sort of pavlovian response whenever a cyclist is injured that emergency service staff will expect things to always be worse in the absence of a helmet? Even for injuries they are not design to protect against?
Yes, Pavlovian response, but
Yes, Pavlovian response, but it has happened before.
A few years back one of he dental practitioner organisations (I think maxillo-facial and dental, can’t be sure) argued for mandatory helmets . One of the “reasons” was that cyclists could then move on to full face lids ( like for BMX and downhill mountain biking) and their teeth would be protected!
If you some hours to idle away, look at posts collected here http://rdrf.org.uk/category/cycle-helmets/ and of course http://www.cyclehelmets.org
ChairRDRF wrote:Yes,
I wear a full face MX lid for BMX racing and training. It’d be a chore to use for the road though.
I hope the driver is traced and gets the charges she deserves.
OldRidgeback wrote:
I wear a
It’s totally unbearable. I’ve worn mine once or twice to ride to the track. Even on a cold day you overheat in minutes.
I’ve lost count of the number of medical professionals that have asked if I was wearing a helmet when I was hit by a car and suffered broken wrists and cuts to me legs. I now answer ‘yes, but unfortunately it was on my head at the time’.
If he’d been driving a car
If he’d been driving a car this would never have happened to his face….what was he thinking cycling without a helmet…..??
…wait a minute, supposing she’d knocked over a pedestrian…would they have kept their teeth!!!!
*It was the lack of a helmet that surely caused this incident in the first place…inconsiderate cyclists…tsk, tsk…*
Quote:The paramedic couldn’t
What a ridiculous statement by the paramedic. If someone’s face looks like that, then they presumably landed on their face – what protection would a typical cycling helmet have provided?
How many bicycle helmets have full face protection? Other than ones for specific sporting events (like mentioned earlier by another poster), I mean. I know mine doesn’t.
(Disclaimer – I wear a helmet. But just because I do, doesn’t mean you should.).
brooksby wrote: If someone’s
Probably none. I broke both jaw joints and split the front of the jaw into two, no sign that the helmet I was wearing ever touched the road surface.
One of the other comments mentioned maxillofacial surgeons, they’re the ones you end up seeing if you have such an accident. Jaw joints are bad news, break them and they will almost certainly never work quite right again. I can understand them wanting better helmets, but I don’t see how that’s possible.
Totally agree. Unless he was
Totally agree. Unless he was wearing a downhill MTB helmet would have made no difference teethwise. Maybe we should all start wearing gum shields?!!!
(Ps I also always wear a helmet)
Question. Has this had the
Question. Has this had the same coverage in the media as this story?
http://road.cc/content/news/149223-police-release-cctv-image-cyclist-who-left-london-woman-scarred-life
Didn’t think so!
levermonkey wrote:Question.
Don’t be silly, how could it, was just a cyclist hit… 🙁
I’ve had three high speed
I’ve had three high speed accidents where I think helmets probably saved me from a fractured skull. In another accident I broke a tooth during a lower speed face plant into a van (helmet didn’t come into play)–but was otherwise ok.
Bike helmets are a compromise–but there’s no need to belittle them for that–you can wear a full face BMX type helmet if you want–but in 35 years of cycling it would have been really useful to me only one time–so probably not worth the inconvenience of that.
Bottom line is I wouldn’t even ride a bike if it wasn’t for helmets.
“I’ve had three high speed
“I’ve had three high speed accidents where I think helmets probably saved me from a fractured skull.”
So not only did you learn nothing from the first “accident” you are remarkably misinformed about the effectiveness of helmets. cyclehelmets.org
If you really have had three
If you really have had three high speed accidents where a helmet probably saved you from a fractured skull you are, without a shadow of a doubt, doing it wrong.
“The paramedic couldn’t
“The paramedic couldn’t believe I had kept all my teeth because I wasn’t wearing a helmet.”
If a paramedic said that to me, they’d lose a few teeth themselves.
We keep getting these “helmet
We keep getting these “helmet saved a life” stories from paramedics, so are they all completely misinformed about helmets, or just stupid?
Is there some paramedics organisation which could actually educate them so that they don’t keep coming out with such blatantly untrue statements?
Just sent this to the College
Just sent this to the College of Paramedics:
Dear College of Paramedics,
It would appear that every time a paramedic attends a collision involving a cyclist, they make a completely unfounded claim, usually that a cycle helmet saved the cyclist’s life, or that the helmet prevented a fractured skull, or that if they had been wearing a helmet, they would have suffered significantly less injury, e.g.http://road.cc/content/news/149409-police-seek-hit-run-driver-who-left-cyclist-facial-injuries
and http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Hanham-mum-son-s-cycling-helmet-saved-life-crash/story-21117394-detail/story.html
Since the wearing of cycle helmets is not associated with reduced risk, it would appear that many of your members are seriously misinformed about the effectiveness of helmets, and are misleading the public by making unjustified claims about helmets, and such ridiculous claims are likely to bring the profession into disrepute.
All publicly available research is collected at cyclehelmets.org which is the most comprehensive website about helmets, and includes research which shows massive benefits and that which shows none, and includes scientific critiques of both.
Would it be possible for you as a professional organisation to issue factual advice about cycle helmets to your members so that they stop making such ill-informed statements?