DRAMATIC video shows a cyclist thrown head-first across the bonnet of a car in an accident caused by atrocious parking.
Richard Hardy overtakes a van which has parked on the wrong side of the road near a junction – and collides with another vehicle turning right.
Richard himself narrates over the clip, captured on CCTV, commenting at the moment of impact: “That’s not cool.”
Remarkably, Richard escaped without serious injury following the accident in Hurst, Berkshire, but his bike, helmet, glasses and satnav were all wrecked.
After posting the footage of Wednesday’s collison on social media, most viewers blamed the van driver.
Richard uploaded two separate clips to a Facebook dash cam group – the first showing the Mini driver pulling out of a car park behind the shop.
While the video shows the driver pulling up to the car park exit, Richard can be heard saying over the clip: “This should be good evidence, she hasn’t got any indicators on.”
He adds: “She did admit actually, that it was her fault.”
As the black mini starts to emerge from the car park exit, the driver still hasn’t put any indicators on and can be seen pulling out into the road to the right.
The second clip shows the full incident from the perspective of the road, and begins with the driver of the white van getting out after parking on the street – facing the wrong way.
Richard can be heard saying: “He’s to blame, that guy with the white car.”
As the van driver disappears, the black mini can be seen pulling out into the road behind another red car – despite the view of oncoming traffic clearly being blocked by the white van.
Within seconds, Richard appears cycling down the left hand side of the street – and within seconds has flown onto the bonnet of the mini.
The cyclist is hurled across the bonnet and debris from his bike can be seen flying into the road. As Richard watches the moment of impact he says: “Yeah, that’s not cool.”
Speaking today, Richard said: “I didn’t see her until she pulled out. I had reacted but had no time as she drove towards me on the wrong side of the road.”
Social media users were quick to comment on the post, and discussed who was at fault for the accident.
Chris Hoyle said: “Van parked on right hand side of road facing oncoming traffic played a huge part in this. You could say the cyclist should have seen the Mini behind the van but I’m not sure.”
Gary Cormack added: “The van driver is in the wrong stopping there. The Mini maybe could have crept out slower, and the cyclist if thinking ahead you would have thought would have anticipated that something could appear as he’s having to cycle in the middle of the road. Think this is a tricky one to sort out. All to take some blame I think.”
Mike Thornton suggested: “The white van man is the problem here. Had he been more considerate he would not have caused the problem he did. As a technicality should his insurance not cover the accident his parking caused?”
Steve Burnell commented: “This is very sad, accidents happen, I am just glad all walked away.”
And Slasg Agnew said simply: “I blame human error.”
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “To confirm, from our perspective no one was reported or arrested and motorist and cyclist exchanged details.”
