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Triathlete urges drivers to "think twice" after shocking dashcam footage shows moment bike was catapulted into the air from collision

Remarkably Jack Schofield came away with no lasting damage from the crash, but warns: "Today I witnessed first hand how a simple mistake can be almost fatal"...

It's a horrifying image that makes you do a double take, as Jack Schofield and his bike are sent flying following a collision with a driver who decided to go the wrong way around a mini roundabout without making basic checks. Jack now wants to raise awareness to improve driving standards around vulnerable road users, explaining that he was "immensely lucky" not to have come off worse from the incident.   

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The collision happened on Thursday in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, when Jack, a 27-year-old photographer and competitive triathlete who rides for Bath Cycling Club, was in the middle of riding 300km from his home in Leeds to Cheltenham, where he was attending a friend's wedding the next day. Unfortunately Jack was destined to arrive on crutches, as the driver of the white car failed to spot him going over a mini roundabout, ploughing into him and his now written off Giant Trinity bike.  

The driver was actually being followed by a colleague in a separate vehicle, which happened to have a dashcam that captured the moment of impact. 

Jack told road.cc: "I grabbed the phone and airdropped the footage to myself, thinking I really want to have this footage on my phone before you leave.

"She hadn't seen me and carried on driving. I hit the front left of her car trying to miss it. Bent the number plate, bent the front bumper and smashed all the front windscreen with the helmet.

"My bike went up in the air, I hit the ground pretty hard but rolled luckily.

"Because I was rolling it all completely missed me, I was unlucky to be hit but literally couldn’t have been more lucky. Medical professionals have told me I should have a broken neck!" 

 

jack schofield instagram stories screenshot.PNG

Jack also posted a small clip of the footage on his Instagram story 

Jack said he was incredibly fortunate that his bike took the brunt of the impact, and although he was able to get up afterwards, he was taken to Queens Hospital in Burton for X-rays and further checks. He reiterated how lucky he was to come away without any lasting damage other than being "incredibly sore, bruised and shaken". 

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He added: "It makes you feel very mortal and makes you realise how dangerous it is. 

"She [the driver] made an honest mistake, a very stupid one but she didn't mean it. Unfortunately there are drivers out there who do things like this maliciously. 

"For drivers who don't know cyclists and want to shave 30 seconds off their journey, actually you've just put my life at risk. I'm a cyclist but also a brother, boyfriend and son. 

"If I can get one person to give a bike an extra metre and therefore miss an accident then I'm happy with that." 

Jack Schofield hospital - image supplied by Jack Schofield.PNG

Jack in hospital following the incident

Jack also told his followers on Facebook: "I know 90% of my followers are cyclists or know cyclists - but even if you don’t - please please please think twice about your driving.

"Overtaking a cyclist for a few extra seconds, cutting a corner because you’re in a hurry, or not properly checking a junction because there’s “usually nothing there”. Today I witnessed first hand how a simple mistake can be almost fatal - and not everyone walks away as lucky as me!

"Please look after each other out there - luckily a bike and a smashed windscreen can be replaced - people can’t."

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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179 comments

Avatar
arowland | 2 years ago
6 likes

Still, at least it was conveniently close to a bike shop  1

Avatar
Dhill replied to arowland | 2 years ago
1 like

arowland wrote:

Still, at least it was conveniently close to a bike shop  1

Well I was going to make some ‘witty’ comment but FairPlay arowland you got in there first. So at least I can start the argument on this site for wearing helmets, so all the bellends who are anti wearing of can chip in.  

But let’s all agree it is good to see Jack smiling.

Avatar
joe9090 | 2 years ago
2 likes

Cannot see video. I don't use facecrap instantgram.

 

Also Nic is a lowdown troll!

Avatar
Hirsute replied to joe9090 | 2 years ago
2 likes

Blodadtand posted a reupload on page 1

 

Avatar
joe9090 replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

thnx!

Avatar
brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

Dear road.cc admins,

We're at 120 comments and counting on this and nobody's even yet mentioned how he wouldn't have suffered any injuries at all if he'd been wearing a plastic hat 

Please can you just draw a line under this one?

Many thanks,

brooksby

Avatar
mdavidford replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

We're at 120 comments and counting on this and nobody's even yet mentioned how he wouldn't have suffered any injuries at all if he'd been wearing a plastic hat

Or suggested that it's just too convenient that it happened to be on camera, so the whole thing must have been staged.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

Except he was !

He rips it off at the end and throws it down. Then wanders about - I would be sitting down quietly waiting for the ambulance !

Avatar
mdavidford replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

You might not be at your most clear-minded after landing square on your head, though (plastic hat or no plastic hat).

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

Adrenaline probably. 

 

Avatar
brooksby replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
2 likes

Come on, people, I'd really not wanted to start up a plastic hats discussion.  Can we just leave nicmason to shout at clouds on his own, here?

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

Come on, people, I'd really not wanted to start up a plastic hats discussion.  ....

I like plastic hats, especially pink ones

Avatar
nicmason replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

odd. clouds dont usually reply quite so promptly

Avatar
Clouds replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
7 likes

nicmason wrote:

odd. clouds dont usually reply quite so promptly

Oh yes we do

Avatar
mdavidford replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
5 likes

brooksby wrote:

I'd really not wanted to start up a plastic hats discussion.

What about a plaster cats discussion instead?

(Possibly with bonus demonic possession.)

Avatar
ErnieC replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like

brooksby wrote:

Dear road.cc admins,

We're at 120 comments and counting on this and nobody's even yet mentioned how he wouldn't have suffered any injuries at all if he'd been wearing a plastic hat 

Please can you just draw a line under this one?

Many thanks,

brooksby

Do plastic hats have more status than tin foil hats?

Avatar
WolfieSmith | 2 years ago
7 likes

Great stuff guys! 
Bogbrush

Avatar
STiG911 | 2 years ago
15 likes

'She made an honest mistake'

Piss. Off.

Putting the wrong milk in your brew is a mistake - what she did was dangerous, lazy driving fuckwittery of the highest order.

Avatar
nicmason | 2 years ago
1 like

Here's some helpful hints that cyclists with the mindset that "accidents are things that other people do to me"  could also take on board.

https://www.rospa.com/rospaweb/docs/advice-services/road-safety/motorcyc...

"Research shows that drivers have difficulty spotting a bike approaching, judging its speed correctly and estimating its time of arrival. As you approach junctions, try to see where the driver’s eyes are pointing and whether its wheels are beginning to turn. Consider how you would deal safely with the vehicle unexpectedlypulling out in front of you.

That last sentence is very helpful in avaoiding cars.

 

Avatar
mdavidford replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
13 likes

nicmason wrote:

"Research shows that drivers have difficulty spotting a bike approaching, judging its speed correctly and estimating its time of arrival driving their vehicles, which they've supposedly been assessed to be competent to be in charge of, safely and legally. As you approach junctions, try to see where the driver’s eyes are pointing and whether its wheels are beginning to turn try to assume that the driver will do something competent illegal and idiotic. Consider how you would deal safely with the vehicle unexpectedly pulling out in front of you driving the wrong way around a roundabout.

Avatar
nicmason replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
0 likes

There you go . I post something well intentioned and researched and your reply is exactly the problem so many have on this forum. 

 

Avatar
mdavidford replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
13 likes

nicmason wrote:

I post something well intentioned and researched entirely irrelevant to the incident in question in an attempt to suggest that the cyclist was to blame and your reply is exactly the problem so many have on this forum to point this out.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
12 likes

nicmason wrote:

There you go . I post something well intentioned and researched and your reply is exactly the problem so many have on this forum. 

Like hell it was well intentioned, it's victim-blaming trolling as usual. It's also totally irrelevant as it's referring to watching carefully to see if someone's going to pull out in front of you at a roundabout, not what to do if some utter spanner decides to drive the wrong way round a roundabout straight at you.

Avatar
nicmason replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
1 like

you mean Rospa are victime blaming. ?  who knew.

Avatar
jmcc500 replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
11 likes

nicmason wrote:

you mean Rospa are victime blaming. ?  who knew.

I think actually, RoSPA were making a reasonable point that you have taken out of context in order to victim-blame in a situation RoSPA were not considering.

Avatar
nicmason replied to jmcc500 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Really ? Saved my bacon a few times.

" As you approach junctions, try to see where the driver’s eyes are pointing and whether its wheels are beginning to turn. Consider how you would deal safely with the vehicle unexpectedlypulling out in front of you."

 

Whats your context then ?

Avatar
mdavidford replied to jmcc500 | 2 years ago
9 likes

"As you approach a motorway bridge, try to see where the pedestrian's eyes are pointing. Consider how you would deal safely with them unexpectedly dropping a concrete block on top of your car."

Avatar
nicmason replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
0 likes

And I expect you  can't see why some car drivers would react aggressively to cyclists. Yet you have just happily advocated something that could cause serious injury  or death.

Have a think about that.

 

 

Avatar
mdavidford replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
12 likes

If you'd have had a think about it before putting fingers to keyboard*, you'd have realised that I wasn't advocating any such thing. I was drawing a parallel between the suggestion that motorists should bear some responsibility for avoiding the wholly intentional and illegal act of dropping a concrete block on them, and your suggesting that the cyclist should have been responsible for avoiding the wholly intentional and illegal act of driving a vehicle the wrong way around a roundabout at them. Which is a much better comparison than the RoSPA advice you quoted, which is talking about drivers making misjudgements or having a moment of inattention.

[* Giving you the benefit of the doubt that you were just being hard of thinking here, rather than deliberately misrepresenting what I wrote - although, given your previous comments, I'm not sure why.]

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to nicmason | 2 years ago
7 likes

nicmason wrote:

And I expect you  can't see why some car drivers would react aggressively to cyclists. Yet you have just happily advocated something that could cause serious injury  or death.

Have a think about that.

Don't be so ridiculous, s/he did nothing of the sort and you know it.

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