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2024 Giant TCR Advanced Pro 0 AXS - riding 4.jpgroad.cc tech editor Mat Brett seriously injured in cycling incident
Following an incident on Monday while out on his daily lunchtime ride loop our friend and colleague Mat was badly injured on a country road near his home.
After being treated for almost three hours at the scene by paramedics Mat was airlifted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol where he continues to receive ongoing and extensive treatment for multiple serious injuries.
Everyone at road.cc and our sister sites, off.road.cc and ebiketips is sending positive thoughts to Mat and his family. We know road.cc readers and other members of the cycling media and wider cycling industry will want to too.
We are all profoundly shocked that something like this can happen to such a strong and skilful rider and all-round exceptional human being. But of course sometimes stuff just happens even to the best of us.
As some of you will have noted we used the word ‘incident’ in the headline and we did so deliberately. At this stage it seems Mat was the victim of pure bad luck on a road he’d ridden down hundreds, if not thousands, of times before, but we don't have all the details. Should any further details emerge that change that reading of the situation we shall report on it.
Currently we’re just thinking about Mat recovering, but as you can imagine his absence will affect how we work in the coming months. Despite what some may think road.cc is not put together by a cast of thousands, but by a fairly small group of people in which Mat has a big role. He’s been tech editor at road.cc for 15 years, setting the tone for our tech coverage and the benchmark for its quality. Luckily for us he’s also super-organised and he’s helped put together and mentor a strong team. His byline will still be appearing on new stories in the coming days.
Get well soon Mat!
Update, 04/07/2024: Since publishing this article, Wiltshire Police has issued a witness appeal regarding the incident. The full appeal from Wiltshire Police is copied below.
We are appealing for witnesses following a collision between a cyclist and a vehicle in Coulston near Westbury.
On Monday, June 24, at around 2pm, a cyclist, a man in his 50s, collided with a Nissan Navara travelling in the opposite direction on an unclassified road at the junction with Church Lane.
The cyclist suffered significant injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening and was taken to hospital for treatment.
No arrests have been made.
If you witnessed the incident, please contact us on 101 quoting reference 54240073904.
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63 comments
Still a lot to make roads safer.
Having quite literally been left for dead by a hit and run motorbike rider, unconscious with 3 broken ribs, lung damage and relatively minor damage around my eye (thank you helmet), resulting in over a week in hospital on a cocktail of painkillers causing both vomiting and constipation and weeks of sleepless nights on a sofa once I got home, I feel at least some of Mat's pain.
All the best for a speedy recovery.
Really sorry to hear this. Get well soon Mat.
Dreadful news for Matt and it must be a shock for all of the team at road.cc and elsewhere. Thoughts are with you all.
Is there any update on Mat please?
We have all experienced this: the pickup, Transit, other white van, multi-tonne Panzer enclosing yummy mummy and offspring or whatever hurtles towards us on a narrow road, doesn't slow down at all and bullies us off the road. If you don't get out of the way quickly enough they hit you, and in all probability drive off secure in the knowledge that they can always claim to be unable to remember the incident or to have been frightened by cyclists during childhood, in the unlikely event that they're caught
Possibly this location?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iWumLZnNmc7rJpzt5
I hope the police have already been down there knocking on doors asking for CCTV / Video Doorbell footage.
All the best with your recovery, Mat. Hope to see you back producing content soon.
So what does that police statement even mean? Was there a driver involved in the collision, or was the Nissan under the command of its electronic Propilot? Did the driver remain at the scene, or are police looking for the driver? The cyclist "collided with" could be read to mean Matt ran into the truck as some here have suggested ( ie. "it's easy to go wide round the corner if you haven't scrubbed off enough speed.") But is that the case? The sentence - "collided with a Nissan Navara traveling in the opposite direction" - also suggests a head-on collision, meaning both the Nissan and Matt would have to be on Church Lane or the unclassified road. My experience with junctions, however, is that most collisions at junctions result from someone pulling out in front of someone else. So if this was a head-on, why mention the junction at all? It just confuses what little information is provided. Hoping Matt a speedy recovery, but your police statements in the UK are as bad or worse than those here in the U.S.
Get well soon, Mat!
Hi everyone, thanks for all your kind thoughts and messages of encouragement. They mean a lot, genuinely.
I'm back at work today for the first time since the incident, nearly four months later. I'm doing alright.
Good to hear you're on your way back!
Thanks for asking - we should be in a position to provide a proper update soon with the permission of Mat's family, but for now we've updated this article with a witness appeal from Wiltshire Police.
Cheers
I frequently cycle down that road, in both directions. Coming from Coulston towards Marston is pretty much all downhill to that junction, and some of the road is very narrow indeed.
As you can see, at that spot there is a 90° left-hand turn, and it's easy to go wide round the corner if you haven't scrubbed off enough speed.
Obviously we'll need to wait for more details before jumping to any conclusions (especially if Mat was coming up the hill towards Coulston) but I can well imagine how a collision could occur there.
It's not a 'statement' it's an appeal for witnesses which is quite deliberately not saying what they think may have happened. Not least because they need witnesses before they can come to any conclusion themselves, and even if they did have a view on what happened they can't say for legal reasons.
Welcome back Mat.
Great to see you made it.
Visibility on that corner looks very poor, especially if the hedgerows and verges are as overgrown as they are in my local area at the moment.
No conclusions should be jumped to, but it's important that all the evidence that can be aquired is gathered. We know from previous incidents that the police don't always go as far as they could have done in looking for CCTV.
We know from previous incidents that the police don't always go as far as they could have done in looking for CCTV
What I know from previous experience of incidents is that the police are desperate to avoid anything like evidence, especially photographic evidence, so that they can move to the 'our thoughts and prayers' stage as quickly as possible and get it all over with. I think they'll be working as hard as possible to ensure they're not burdened with any CCTV.
Welcome back, hope the healing continues well and ends with a full recovery.
Quite understand if you don't want to, or can't, talk about it, but I'm sure many of your well wishers would be interested to know if any action has been taken against the driver in the incident.
Exactly!
Welcome back Mat, hopefully you are doing OK.
Wonderful news Mat - delighted you are on the mend.
Keep strong
Take it easy and don't work too hard
Horrible news.
First and foremost wishing him a good recovery. Keep up the good work!
All the best Mat. Hope you make a strong recovery
I'm sorry to hear this: best wishes to Mat for a full and speedy recovery.
awful news. heal up Mat.
My best wishes !
Mat was the second cyclist air lifted to Southmead hospital in two days.
What rotten luck for both of them (driver arrested in the first incident) and wishing them both a good recovery.
I'm sorry to hear this. I hope you make a full recovery, Mat.
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