A YOUNGSTER was hit at high speed by a cyclist after trying to cross a London “cycle superhighway”.
The young boy was hit on Cycleway 3 near Buckingham Palace, Central London on Saturday after changing his mind whilst crossing and trying to run back to the pavement.
Footage of the collision was captured by an onlooker that saw the whole thing unfold as the boy and the cyclist were sent flying to the ground.
The footage shows the boy run across the cycle path safely before turning and trying to cross back over again.
Dressed in a blue top and dark tracksuit bottoms the child waltzes across the cycle path unaware of the danger he is in.
He then turns and attempts to cross back over the same path, completely ignoring the oncoming cyclists.
Wearing a high vis jacket, the oncoming cyclist, who has a green light displayed for him at the crossing, seems to be unable to do anything to prevent the oncoming crash.
As he draws near to the crossing the young boy suddenly turns and sprints, taking the cyclist by surprise.
The child suddenly throws himself directly in front of the cyclist who cannot slow down in time and collides with the naive young boy.
The two collide violently and the young lad is sent sprawling to the floor as the cyclist is knocked off his bike sideways.
The boy jumps back to his feet immediately having had quite a fright from the collision and runs quickly to his mother for a hug.
The cyclist is left to pick himself back up and go on his way with an apology from a man who appears to be the young boy’s father.
Footage of the incident was shared to social media yesterday with the caption: “Even if you have a green light, watch out for erratic children.”
The video has since received over 485 likes and more than 455 comments from social media users.
One user said: “Kids don’t have much road sense. Hopefully this boy has learnt a life lesson and won’t ever do this in front of a car.”
Another wrote: “It’s on parents to drill road safety into kids. They’re responsible in this scenario, what were they doing?”
A third replied: “What are the parents doing, no one even close to following their child as he runs out into an urban street.”
Another commented: “A major reason why more people should consider cycling over a car if they can, you are much less likely to kill people if any party makes a mistake.”
A fifth added: “I learnt after a close call that could’ve ended like this, that if you see a kid, just slow down. They’re just kids so they’ll do silly stuff like this.”
