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news
Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)Cyclist in hospital following hit and run by driver who had failed to stop for police
A cyclist is in a serious condition in a hospital in Birmingham after he was knocked off his bike by a motorist whom police believe had failed to stop for traffic officers shortly beforehand.
The driver did not stop after the collision, and West Midlands Police have launched a witness appeal to try and trace the motorist.
The incident happened at around 4.30pm on Sunday 7 January on Moorside Road, Yardley Wood, close to the junction with The Centreway.
Officers believe that the car involved was a Ford Fiesta which had been followed by police in the minutes before the collision, with the driver failing to stop when officers indicated to do so.
A Ford Fiesta, believed to be the one involved in the collision, was found in Hornby Grove, Yardley Wood, at approximately 7.30pm on Sunday evening.
Chief Inspector Gareth Morris of West Midlands Police said: “While our focus is on finding out who was driving the car, our thoughts are understandably with the young man who has been seriously injured and his family and friends who are understandably very upset."
No arrests have been made as yet and police say that the cyclist, a 19-year-old man, remains in a serious condition in hospital.
Police have asked anyone with information to contact them on 101 or alternatively the charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Because the driver of the car believed to have been involved did not stop for officers shortly beforehand, the issue has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, formerly known as the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
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
- ktache 1 hour 42 min ago
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
- mctrials23 2 hours 38 min ago
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
- David9694 2 hours 46 min ago
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
- David9694 2 hours 50 min ago
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
- Adam Sutton 3 hours 35 min ago
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
- mark1a 3 hours 44 min ago
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
- Dogless 4 hours 53 min ago
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
- mattw 7 hours 33 min ago
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
- tubasti 7 hours 50 min ago
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
- FionaJJ 8 hours 16 min ago
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...
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17 comments
To be fair, the police are consistent in that they spare no expense or resource investigating ANY incident...providing the injured party is a member of the police.
Or somebody famous or someone that actually has money like some Lords or MPs who sit in parliament for a few hours a day and walk out after falling asleep halfway through and pocket £300.
There are ways of clawing the money back but the rich won't like it. God forbid they might starve if you cut even an iota off their fat salaries, and fat pension pots. Same goes for the NHS. Get rid of all these managers on huge salaries that don't actually do much and the government could save a lot of money
Indeed, an armed robbery is probably treated very differently to a normal robbery. In the cycling sense just because you weren't killed this time doesn't mean they're not armed to do so the next...
Policing in this country is run exactly the same way as the NHS. Completely reactionary and working to a triage system, so that only the most serious offences are acted upon.
Its not that Police are bad, or incompetent its simply down to resource and budgets.
We all need to complain and make as loud a fuss as we can, to change the status quo... and we also need vigilante activity to continue to grow... maybe then situations will change.
To us its absolutely obvious that simply dismissing these serious incidents that for reasons of good fortune did not have tragic outcomes is utterly ridiculous. Nothing out there suggests that when getting away with committing these offences, perpetrators make any effort to rvise their driving. What seems to be clearer is the driving behaviours that cause these incidents are likely to be repeated... therefore the 'by the grace of god' stance so often taken by the authorities will be condemning someone else to a far more serious outcome.
Unless there's multiple names on the hire agreement it should also become very easy.
Which one of you was driving the car?
- Don't know
Did your wife drive at any point?
- Yes
Well she is being charged with TWOC, shall we add the dangerous driving to her punishment or do you want that one?
I was knocked off my bike by a driver who had neither driving licence or insurance. Provided full details to the Met, including a photo of her passport and a video, and the Met have done nothing. Waste of time reporting it. Someone else was knocked off in near enough the same place last night.
On the upside, the car itself was insured and so the insurer did pay for new wheels - thanks to advice recieved on here, for which I am most grateful.
Seem happy enough to persue prosecutions for people saying nasty words on Twitter though.
Hurt someone's feelings - jail.
Hurt someone's body - nothing.
I get a vibe of double standards quite often from the various police forces up and down the country. When it comes to public image they are quite happy to run an 'operation close pass' style scheme for a day, but when you actually approach them and ask to take action on dangerous driving its like extracting teeth to get the police to take things seriously. As soon as they find out you are on a bicycle and not in a car its a different story. Its even more disappointing when people are left injured and simple enquiries aren't made that could make the difference.
Hope the rider makes a full recovery and isn't put off cycling.
I was lucky but also my awareness/ability to almost steer clear saved me from a worse impact. The sick thing is the driver initially stopped and came over to say sorry but as soon as another driver called to get an ambulance (i was prone on my back) he was off. No-one got the plate no.
Old bill were worse than useless, it was me that identified cctv in the areas he must have driven down but they didn't bother checking them and no-one got back to me for over a month, apparently they'd written the wrong address down or rather read the 5 as a 6 in the address box because the officer couldn't write properly.the same officer at the scene that basically victim blamed me for having a grey jacket even though I had good lights, even though the roundabout was well lit, despite the reflectives on the jacket and the clear sight lines.
I got away with a sore back for a few days and a grazed arm/leg but in escaping he drove over my night-time riding goggles.
No advice to point me toward MIB or anything, nothing in the local papers or onlune requesting info. I guess the fact I wasn't seriously injured was a factor for them but the difference between slight injuries and death with regards a motor vehicle hitting you is mostly down to chance/luck.
This happens to a police officer and it's all hands to the pump and pretty much atrempted murder charge.
I hope they spend more effort tracking down the scumbag and he gets just desserts
Thats the problem with police these days. They wont launch a serious investigation unless youre dead or waiting for death. There has been many occasions where this has been proven. I saw a video on youtube where a young man had his life absolutely ruined by a driver who hit him when he was on a roundabout and didnt stop. I think he said the impact almost snapped his spine in 2 or 3 places. Luckily he had an action cam at the back of his bike that was recording but the police failed to prosecute as (A)It was a hire car (B)they couldnt see who was behind the wheel at the time and both passengers wouldnt say who was driving at the time (C)Police were incompetant and didnt bother chasing up paperwork that was sent out to the car rental firm and also the people who ran him over and failed to stop...
Each case is allocated a certain number of police time and resources or a 'case worker/detective' who should be chasing up all the leads and requests for information. But this one didnt do it and as result. the case worker ended up running out of time before he could get anywhere with the case. They couldnt prosecute the driver for attempted murder or dangerous driving but they got him for some small petty misdemeanor instead and he walked out of court the same day after paying the fine. The driver in question had a history of driving offenses that were on police record but not one thing was done about him.
The victim tried for a private prosecution but that never got anywhere either. Police are just useless everywhere it seems.
If neither passenger would say who was driving, prosecute them both (obstruction of justice?). Or even for the traffic crime: collective responsibility, innit?
I'm not sure if it's the same incident RoubaixCube is referring to and if not then there's one I remember that sounds very similar. Again the driver wasn't identified on camera and the registered owner (or person on the hire car agreement) who was in the car at the time, failed to identify the driver (either himself or his wife).
The penalty for failing to identify the driver is 6 penalty points and up to a £1000 fine. Compare this to the possible sentence for dangerous driving and failing to stop for an accident and you can see why they did it. For me, a simple solution would be to make the penalty/sentence for failing to identify a driver the maximum possible penalty/sentence possible based on the crime committed by the driver they failed to identify.
I'm sure all of this will be fully taken into account in the second part of the forthcoming review of road law and cycling, right after the first part where they just criticise cyclists and make cycling more difficult and dangerous.
Yeah right, of course it will.
Thats what should of happened but didn't. The police ran out of the allotted time used to investigate the case so it was closed and not taken further
Wait, so as long as I drive a hire car and wear a balaclava while driving, I can basically do what I like on the roads?
Depends how incompetent everyone is. The hire firm took their time sending back their data on who had hired the car on that day. And even though the police knew who the passengers were and sent a form for them to fill out, they claimed they lost it. They couldn't identify who was behind the wheel from the footage but it was clearly a silhouette of a man rather than his female passenger. But if the police cant clearly see the persons face. They cant prosecute which is stupid...
Slightly OT, a few years back I had a hire car (well the passenger) lean out his window and spit liquid all over me. It was only when I reviewed the footage which clearly showed his face that I realised he'd spat the liquid so it couldn't have been toxic :-o The police gave me the exucse though that as they couldn't see the drivers face they couldn't take it any further