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Cambridge kerbed cycleway (picture via Cambridgeshire County Council)Cambridge cyclist broke hip after crash he says was caused by protected cycle lane kerb
A cyclist in Cambridge broke his hip after his bike “went from underneath” him when he clipped a kerb on one of the city’s protected cycleways – and was left lying on the ground in the rain for three and a half hours until an ambulance arrived.
The incident happened on a new protected cycleway on Arbury Road on 1 November, reports Cambridge News, with the cyclist, John Whittaker recounting how he had to move out of the bike lane because of a parked van.
Unlike kerbing on many protected cycleways in cities such as London which are several centimetres in height, the ones in Cambridge are almost flush with the main carriageway, sloping towards it at an angle of 45 degrees.
The 67-year-old, who was on his way home from work, crashed as he attempted to ride back into the cycle lane. “I’m convinced that part of the problem is the new kerbing between the cycle paths and the road,” he said.
“With it being wet – and there being the leaves and mud that tends to be on Cambridge roads due to roadworks – as I tried to go up that kerb, I didn’t have a steep enough angle of attack, so my tyres lost traction and that was it. The bike just went from underneath me.
“I know other people who have said it’s a heck of a steep curve and they’ve been worried about it too.
“Some people have said even in the car, you can feel that kerb.”
He continued: “I can understand why it might be there for safety reasons, to give guidance to where the cycle lane is and where it is not.
“But maybe all the materials and debris on the road make it actually quite hazardous.”
After crashing, he tried to ride on, pedalling with one leg, but when he stopped five minutes later and put his other leg to the ground, it gave way and he fell off his bike.
He was told it would take five hours for an ambulance to arrive. While he waited, passers-by including a doctor and a former nurse stayed with him and police officers gave him a space blanket.
After three and a half hours, an ambulance arrived and he was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, where he underwent a hip replacement the following day, staying there for a week while he recovered.
Mr Whitaker said: “All those good people stopped and helped me out for hours. I have no idea who they are and I’d just like to say thank you for all the help you gave me.”
A spokesman for the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) commented: “The new Arbury Road scheme is used by hundreds of cyclists every day to get around the city quickly and easily on their bicycle.
“Like many cycle lanes across the country, the cycle lane uses the innovative ‘Cambridge kerb’ to improve safety for cyclists by ensuring motorists get immediate feedback if they stray into the lane.
“We are sorry to hear of the cyclist’s injuries and wish him a speedy recovery.”
The East of England Ambulance Service has apologised to Mr Whittaker for the length of time he had to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
A spokesman said: “We understand that these situations can be stressful for patients and their families and again, we are very sorry.”
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
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Mathematically 3 times less than 5 could be anything less than 15. eg 3 times 4 is 12 or 3 times -6 is -18.
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18 comments
Last road crash I had was also caused by what turned out ot be a 1" high raised bit of tarmac in a new housing estate on the approach to a pedestrian refuge.
At that time of the morning, in flat light, it didn't look any different in height to the rest of the tarmac and there is similar elsewhere locally where there is no height difference.
It was just enough, given the angle of attack, to take the front wheel out from under me.
Tried complaining to both the council and the estate developers and quickly realised I wasn't going to get anywhere, so gave up, as I was only mildly grazed.
Council palmed it off on the developers, who promptly blamed 2 parked cars for forcing me to run wide and therefore put me in contact with that bit of road. Apparently, they've sent out lots of letters to the new residents that they shouldn't park on that bit of road. So that's all right, then.
Stitched up tights and jacket and everything else healed up fine, apart from the scrape on the left shifter.
if it weren't for all the people other than those on bike not wearing helmets then there would be 160,000 more bed spaces within the NHS every year and a lot more ambulances available, don't understand why there isn't a law for them to be on everyone's bedside cabinet to put on before getting out of bed with an 'NHS penalty' for not wearing, #everylifematters
The problem isn't the Tories, it's a finance problem created from over 40 years ago, underfunding infra of all types through inadequate taxation and retirement ages that should have been changed with the times. People want more (from the NHS) and yet don't want higher taxes, look at many other European countries, significantly higher taxes and have lower retirment ages and better standards of living.
Fraud within the NHS is also a massive problem that has been on the increase that has a direct effect on healthcare, £1.3Bn due to criminal patients, NHS staff and businesses that overcharge or don't provide services/goods as paid for.
Also deliberately self inflicted injuries/hospital treatments should be looked at with more scrutiny, this must cost the NHS an absolute fuck ton of money to deal with that again has a direct bearing in beds, ambukance/paramedic availability!
I sometimes think that those causing others harm should be charged directly with the costs to NHS, given the harm motorists do currently just through KSIs and minor injuries the burden on the NHS could be alleviated massively if the tin canners were curbed!
Well, yeah, social care and other services have been gutted and the NHS left to pick up the slack.
What doofus thought a slightly raised curb which represents a hazard to cyclists and no barrier to cars, or in this case the van that trundled over it to park in the bike lane, was a good idea?
Either segregate the infrastructure or don't. All this titting about in the middle creates only confusion and additional hazards at great expense.
Even a full sized kerb doesn't actually stop the cars, as we all know...
But I do agree with your second point - if you're going to do it, do it properly
I think it's just the cars developing some rudimentary intelligence and not going where the drivers want them to. I suspect that they're beginning the inevitable robot uprising with stunts such as this: https://qns.com/story/2019/12/11/man-dies-of-injuries-after-being-pinned-between-two-cars-parked-in-jamaica-nypd/
Closer to home, here's a nice pic of some driving in Bristol City Centre:
2_Car-2.jpg
I expect they were following google maps where it showed to take the train for stage 2 of the journey.
OMG "one of the cars was accidentally started with a remote. The vehicle began to roll forward and pinned Kosanovich between both cars." However was a vehicle with such a possibility ever allowed onto the roads? Given how often mobile phones 'pocket dial' and the well-known rule that if something can go wrong, it will, did no-one foresee this, or did the manufacturer decide that they could make more money in sales than they would lose in compensation? And what is being done now to withdraw all vehicles with this fault? No, I thought not...
The vehicle in question was a 2002 lexus with an aftermarket remote start fitted.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50756243
How the actual f*** can it take an ambulance 5 hours to arrive? A broken hip could potentially be fatal due to the number of blood vessels in and around it! Ah, yes, Tory Britain. That's how.
I wonder if the call handlers expect certain words in the description of the problem, when deciding how to prioritise the ambulance. And clearly, "I fell off my bike" puts you to the bottom of the queue.
(Five hours, though? Bl00dy hell!)
My brother works for the ambulance service, and from what he's told me their scripts would identify a risk of broken bones, if the patient didn't out and out tell you. More likely the ambulances were queued up at hospitals waiting for a bed to put their casualty in or waiting to be cleaned and tidied up after the last trip. Never mind the fact that they are woefully short of ambulances in the first place.
OK, I didn't know that. I've never had to actually call an ambulance, and had assumed that their scripts were a bit a more inflexible than that.
To me, the real failure of government is in not creating the joined up systems that prevent waste of resources. It isn't even about just throwing more money at the NHS although this of course is the measure by which the government seems to be judged.
For example, the number of front line ambulance crews being called out to pick elderly people off the floor because the care home does not have the proper equipment and won't train their staff to do it. Or the number of mental health related call outs which each cost more than a proper course of treatment. Or call outs to the homeless who really just need some basic care and shelter. The cost of a front line ambulance for a single callout could provide food, shelter and assistance for months. Or the number of NHS beds being utilized by people who should be in social care.
A lot of the problems are caused by misuse of the service, by which I mean official body X attempting to transfer costs to the budget of body Y regardless that the net cost to the taxpayer is far higher.
I fear that last point might transcend politics, in that it's hard to envisage any system or form of organisation in which it won't happen. It's down to flawed human-nature.
When private companies have tried to organise themselves with internal markets in the hope of achieving greater 'efficiency', that has been the inevitable result, with different parts of the business screwing each other over.
Please bear this in mind when you vote today. I try to avoid party politics on forums that are not political but the fact is that the Tories are bad news for people who do not have the money to pay for private health care, private schools for their children and who care about the environment. They are creating a widening two-tier system of those who have and don't care, and the rest of us. As for their policies for investment in cycling, walking and public transport - they couldn't care less.
Perhaps cars and vans parking in the cycle lane might be the real source of the problem rather than the kerb.
Is this profile of kerb usual? Is it used in cycle friendly places like Holland and Denmark? If not, someone should explain why it is used here.