Cyclist left with life changing injuries after being hit head on by drunk driver welcomes Highway Code changes

A cyclist has welcomed changes to the Highway Code after a drunk, uninsured, disqualified driver crashed into him leaving his 'heart and lungs in trauma'. 

Jean-Pierre de Villiers was on the eighth day of a charity bike ride from John o’ Groats to Land’s End in Cornwall when he was hit head-on by the driver in North Devon.

The former personal trainer hopes that new changes to the Highway Code – which give greater protection and priority to cyclists – can help avoid catastrophic crashes like his own.

> 'Unfair and unjust' – Haulage trade body RHA slams Highway Code changes aimed at protecting vulnerable road users

Speaking to ITV News, he said: "It’s not even a matter of whether it’s possible, it’s already possible.

"It’s just our awareness is making us believe whatever it is that we believe. 'I should have the right of way', or 'cars should have the right of way' or ‘'I shouldn't be on the road at all'.

"This is all down to our current level of awareness and we don’t know what we don’t know so as long as we can keep raising our awareness and each other’s awareness we’re open to new things."

New changes to the Highway Code include giving cyclists priority when travelling straight at junctions .

> Cyclists to be given “carte blanche to go sailing through red lights,” apparently … except they’re not

Jean-Pierre continued: "I am grateful to be blessed to define myself and my identity as an athlete but to all of a sudden have that taken away from you because you can’t move and you can’t walk etc. was quite difficult.

"It would be for hard anyone having their own identity taken away from them and all I had to do was just use what I knew and that was day by day looking at how can I get back to the person that I used [to be].

"We had just come in to Devon and we decided to take a detour and that’s the last thing I remember."

> TalkRadio slammed for holding poll asking 'Are cyclists a danger on the road?'

Jean-Pierre was in intensive care for two weeks. He broke both legs and an arm and punctured his lung. His heart and lungs were in trauma.

Devon and Cornwall Police is trying to promote Highway Code changes through road safety partnership Zero Vision South West.

Sergeant Owen Messenger from the force said: "It’s about sharing the road and looking after each other.

"Nobody wants to be involved in a collision and there’s not one person who’s been involved in a collision that’s left home thinking 'do you know what, I think I’m going to die today'.

"That’s what’s so sad about these collisions that it’s somebody’s son, somebody’s brother, somebody’s daughter that’s involved and then you’ve got that massive impact on the family."