Cyclist critically injured after head-on crash with e-bike rider

A cyclist is in a critical condition in hospital following a crash with an e-bike rider in Leeds city centre yesterday evening.

The collision happened on the A61 East Street at 5.45pm on Thursday 21 April, say West Yorkshire Police.

Officers say that the 51-year-old cyclist, riding a black Boardman bike, and the e-bike rider, aged 19, collided after they rode towards each other from different directions on the pavement alongside the busy dual carriageway.

A photo published by Leeds Live in its report of the incident shows a section of the road, a major route into the city centre from the south east, cordoned off by police outside former textile mills that have been converted into apartment buildings, pictured above.

The cyclist was taken to hospital by ambulance and remains in a critical condition after sustaining serious injuries in the crash. The e-bike rider is said to have sustained a minor leg injury.

Police have asked anyone who witnessed the collision, or the circumstances leading up to it, to contact the Roads Policing Unit on 101 quoting log 1386 of April 21 or online at www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat.

While the pavement where the collision has no specific signage indicating that it is a shared-use path where cycling is permitted, Google Street View imagery captured in July last year shows signs a couple of hundred metres away in either direction suggest that does form part of a designated cycle route in and out of the city centre.

In the results of a consultation into proposed cycling improvements in Leeds city centre published ty last year by West Yorkshire Combined Authority, a number of respondents called for safer provision for cyclists along the A61 corridor.