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news
Katie Archibald (copyright Simon MacMichael)SUV driver pulls out of junction and crashes into Olympic champion Katie Archibald
Olympic Madison champion Katie Archibald has revealed that she was knocked off her bike at the weekend by an SUV driver who pulled out on her at a junction while she was on a training ride.
In a post on Instagram today, the 28 year old from Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, said: “Last Sunday I went flying over the bonnet of a 4x4.
“Can't say I'm loving 2022,” said Archibald, who in April broke her collarbone in a crash at the Glasgow round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup.
Speaking about Sunday’s incident, she said: “Lovely clear day but the driver who turned into me while I was riding past a T junction didn't see me. The ligaments in both my ankles aren't happy (grade 1 unhappiness in my right ankle and grade 2 unhappiness in my left) but are all still attached, and the only thing broken is my bike.
“We also think I've avoided another serious concussion, and the 3.5 ligaments in my dodgy right knee have survived, so celebrations are in order for that,” Archibald added.
In Tokyo last summer, Archibald partnered Dame Laura Kenny to Olympic gold in the Madison and also helped Team GB take silver in the team pursuit.
The reigning world champion in the omnium and European champion in that event as well as the scratch race and Madison, she has been named in the Scotland team for this summer’s Commonwealth Games, hosted by Birmingham.
Due to the lack of a suitable velodrome in the West Midlands, the track cycling events will be held at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark from 29 July to 1 August.
The Commonwealth Games will therefore see Archibald return to the venue where, last December, she sealed her victory in the women’s endurance category in the inaugural UCI Track Cycling Champions League.
Just last week, she told BBC Sport that “Everything is ticking along nicely” in her recovery from her World Cup crash in Glasgow.
“The physio gives me five stars every time. So I’m feeling really confident.”
Talking about the crash, she said: “I’d gone into that race not as well conditioned as I wanted to be. It was the final race in the omnium and I’d kind of pulled it all together.
“I started quite badly, I really didn't have the legs, but I was so happy with what I’d done and then I hit the deck and it was all over. I don't remember it. I walked off, I was conscious, but I woke up in a medical suite downstairs.
“By the time I’d come to, my mum had somehow made her way down,” Archibald added. “She had gotten herself a VIP pass and snuck past security and got herself into the medical suite.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- rileyrg 1 hour 43 min ago
Added to the liberal use of "theoritically", the repeated reference to non bike use has this tagged as one of the poorest reviews I've read.
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 2 min ago
I too watch from flag to flag but I can only do that because as a freelance writer working from home I can have it on whilst I work, I appreciate...
- Spangly Shiny 2 hours 3 min ago
The freezing of fuel duty doesn't help poor people: genuinely poor people cannot afford to run a vehicle, so the freezeing of fuel duty is no...
- biking59boomer 2 hours 37 min ago
There are too many cars on the road. Our towns and cities are just not capable of handling the huge volume of traffic that hits them every day....
- bikes 2 hours 39 min ago
You can't just turn your head around; the footage has to be very clear to have even a tiny chance of the police doing something about it.
- biking59boomer 2 hours 59 min ago
The idiot I saw today cycling whilst looking at his phone and not using his handlebars could do with a bit of Japanese law!
- Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells 5 hours 50 min ago
I'm absolutely disgusted (again) by the court's decision, far too lenient and I agree, a life ban from driving motor vehicles was totally justified...
- wtjs 6 hours 47 min ago
It's warmer up here than it was on the Whitehaven to Sunderland C2C a month ago!
- Smoggysteve 7 hours 19 min ago
There has not been much real world thought been put into the electromagnetic pedals. The idea they can just unclip after a certain cadence is...
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27 comments
And the fact this car was an SUV played what role, exactly? This sounds like driver error, pure and simple. If it was, he should be prosecuted: forced to take an eye-test, and re-take his licence - as should all drivers responsible for serious accidents.
The dangers posed by ever-thicker 'A' pillars in today's strengthened cars is coming increasingly under scrutiny. Research findings published yesterday by Autoglass warn drivers of 4x4 vehicles about the dangers of A pillar blind spots.
'A' pillar blind spots are believed to be a common cause of 'Sorry mate, I didn't see you' (SMIDSY) crashes.
Happened to me. Discovery driver pulls out in front of me. I stopped a few cm from his door. He said didnt saty sorry though more "where the bl00dy 'ell did you come from"?
To which I replied "the fact you ask that question means you were not looking properly "
He refused to admit any error claiming "you cyclists are a bl00dy menace"
"Not as much a meance as old men driving SUVs, who dont realise their faculties are failing and who've just left the pub carpark."
He drove off.
Plus the false sense of security that driving such large and often pointless vehicles give their drivers...
Widest A pillar I've ever had was on an Audi A2. Couldn't see a thing at junctions. But it's perfectly possible to position any car so that you can see clearly...and if you can't, you've got a neck you can move.
One thing I've noted over the years is that a lot of people who choose SUVs are poor drivers who are concerned over their safety and therefore buy large cars that give them the illusion of protection. The fact that sight lines in SUVs are often poor due to the large roof supports makes things worse, as does the high bonnet line that further restricts forward vision and simultaneously increases risks for vulnerable road users in the event of a frontal impact.
We're not going to agree. This was a driver issue, pure and simple. It always is. But you could always let their tyres down.....
I agree with you, it is always a driver issue; sometimes the issue is the driver not realising how the design of their vehicle increases the danger for other road users and not compensating for it.
An SUV is substantially more likely to kill a pedestrian in a collision than an ordinary saloon. If a driver hits a pedestrian, that's a driver issue. If the pedestrian dies as a result of the design of the vehicle when they wouldn't have done so if it was a different vehicle, that's more than a driver issue.
But you could always try deflecting by referencing the actions of a tiny group of childish protestors rather than address the selfishness of your vehicle choice...
I hope the public media pick this up as a story and pitch it along the lines of 'if the best cyclists in the world are in danger on our roads, it's time to take a long look at ourselves in the mirror...
Sorry I was dreaming again.. I'm quite sure that tomorrows headlines will read 'Archibald crashes for second time this year'... or maybe it'll read 'Another cyclist crashes into a car, the new highway code rules don't work'.
Suspect the headline would be 'Cyclist approaching junction too fast for conditions' OR 'Innocent SUV viciously attacked by Lone Cyclist who doesn't pay road tax' if in the Heil.
Too true. One of the trolls in the comments on the FB article is having a meltdown because it mentions that it was an SUV. Apparently that's not fair and implies that SUVs are more dangerous than other cars and the driver would have done the same in another car so the "fact" that it was an SUV is irrelevant and shouldn't be reported.
Missing the point somewhat (deliberately) as per
Not far off: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/61661522
proof that we're to accept being hit by cars as normal everyday occurrences, and to ensure we do so safely.
I thought the BBC had signed up to the guidelines to report as collisions. Obviously not.
Just because they sign up at a corporate level doesn't mean every hack dashing off an item has read or remembered them.
Don't they have some kind of editor that checks the articles before publishing them?
A fellow of another web site I'm a member of used to work on the online news content at the Beeb as the main centre used to be based in Brum. I believe, as with most other areas, large swathes of people were removed due to all the cut backs instigated to neuter the organisation. So no, they probably don't have the editorials or the training to be consitant with known guidelines.
Oh those absolute ****ers! I'm putting in a complaint (that'll show em!)
Indeed, notice where the agency lies;
How about, "both her ankles were injured by a motorist hitting her with their SUV at the weekend"?
How about a mandatory DVLA eye test for SMIDSYs who pull out from the minor road without due care and attention....
Yes, that does mean no driving until DVLA accept the test results, which is only fair while the driver could be a danger to others and themselves..
I doubt the defect is with the eyes themselves, any more than a spouse with selective hearing has anything wrong with their ears.
There was an excellent article doing the rounds explaining how RAF pilots are trained to observe taking into account the poor design of our optical system, and how to apply it to driving.
Shame his ex-colleague didn't apply his RAF training when driving over Tony Slatterthwaite.
Fair point, though it could be, and if it takes significant inconvenience to prompt driving with due care and attention, that's appropriate to the harm.
Selective attention may be accepted in a domestic situation, but not with control of tons of metal on the public highway, ref. Mobile phone regulation. Sorry mate I didn't see you, too busy posting on instatwattbook.
Apparently some selective hearing at the highest level https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/jason-kenny-coaching-laura-would-be-a...
My eyesight is crap. It's so bad that I stopped driving more than a year ago and my vision has continued to deteriorate. It wasn't a difficult decision, it was obvious to me that it's not safe for me to drive a 1.5 ton machine on public roads.
What's scary is that as part of regular testing I've been consistenty assured that my eyesight does not fall below the legal standard to drive.
Fantasising.
I really don't know what it's going to take to improve driver behaviour.
Don't try. Just take out any awful ones as soon as we can and keep 'em out of motor vehicles. Then put the rest in their own space, away from vulnerable road users. Somethink like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0yzZLVsTCE
What am I saying? People aren't even safe on motorways where they're all going in the same direction. Still, it's their choice then.