Cyclist hits back at ‘keyboard warriors’
A CYCLIST hit by a car in Dunedin yesterday has defended herself against ‘‘keyboard warriors’’ blaming her for the incident.
Claire Harvey (39) was biking north on SH1 past Queens Gardens with her husband yesterday morning, when she was hit by a car.
The car pulled into the Leviathan Hotel car park in front of the cyclists.
Mrs Harvey said yesterday she did not have time to stop, and hit the back of the car ‘‘before somersaulting through the air’’.
Emergency services were called at 8.20am.
She was treated by St John for about 25 minutes before being taken to Dunedin Hospital ED.
The driver of the car, also female, was visibly upset.
Later in the day on social media one commenter said ‘‘cyclists shouldn’t be allowed on the roads’’.
Others questioned whether the cyclists were wearing hivis.
Mrs Harvey said both she and her husband were wearing highvis clothing and had lights on at the time of the crash.
She said the ‘‘keyboard warriors’’ did not know all the facts.
‘‘My husband and I were in the bike lane and the car turned straight in front of us both to go into the car park.’’
She had no broken bones, but thought at the time her neck was fractured, she said.
She thanked emergency services.
‘‘I also hope the driver of the car is OK. She was incredibly upset by what happened as well. Noone wants these things to happen, so we all need to take care out there.’’
Two police cars and an ambulance attended the scene and the road was down to one lane for a time.
The crash occurred on a stretch of the road where the NZ Transport Agency is extending protected cycleways.
Two weeks ago it urged drivers to be careful there as cars were destroying temporary protective bollards separating the cycle lane and road.
An NZTA spokeswoman said yesterday’s incident seemed unrelated because the car was turning into a car park.
It was the second moderate crash in Dunedin in two days in which a cyclist was hit by a vehicle.
A cyclist suffered a broken leg after being hit by a car in Stafford St on Wednesday morning.