Hampshire Police are appealing for witnesses following a road rage incident in the New Forest that left a cyclist with a broken collarbone after a motorist deliberately rammed him with his vehicle.
Bournemouth resident Stephen Roberts, aged 43 and a member of New Forest Cycling Club, was riding his Cannondale time trial bike on Burley Road near Brockenhurst when the incident took place at around 2pm last Sunday afternoon, reports the Bournemouth Echo.
Mr Roberts told the newspaper that he had been forced to brake approaching a pinch point on the road at which he believed he had right of way due to two vehicles coming towards him at an estimated 40 miles per hour.
He admitted that he gave a ‘V’ sign to the driver of the second car, who subsequently turned his vehicle round and went off in pursuit of the cyclist, beeping his horn as he pulled up alongside him before swerving, forcing Mr Roberts into the grass verge.
The motorist, who was driving a black hatchback which may have had tinted rear windows and was thought to be carrying a passenger, made off without stopping.
“Luckily I didn’t land on a kerb stone or anything like that,” reflected the cyclist.
“At first it was a numb feeling, then it got a lot more painful. For the first couple of minutes I lay face down just getting myself together because I couldn’t believe what had happened.
“Two or three cars stopped and the people came over to help me – I want to thank them,” he added.
Hampshire Police are keen to trace any motorists who were I the area as well as a female cyclist who was in the vicinity, and anyone with information is asked to call PC David Woolfrey at Lymington police station on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.