Cyclist pair hit by car
A twisted bicycle wheel wrapped around his wife’s head like a halo was not how David Joyce expected their sunny afternoon bike trip to end.
The experienced cyclist and wife Sirpa Lajunen were flown to Waikato Hospital on Friday afternoon after being hit by a four-wheel-drive vehicle in Poihipi Rd, near Taupo.
The collision sent the Kinloch couple flying through the air and shattered their bicycles.
Speaking from his hospital bed yesterday, Mr Joyce, 52, said he had been riding in front of his wife in the sunshine when the accident happened.
The pair were sticking to the white line on the side of the road and were as far over as possible when the vehicle hit them, he said.
‘‘All of a sudden it was like, man, we just got hit by something and we were flying through the air.’’
After regaining consciousness Mr Joyce looked over at his wife, who was nearby and had landed in a ‘‘chair position’’ with her helmet over her eyes and one of her bicycle’s wheels wrapped around her head.
‘‘The front wheel had lost all its spokes and was around her head, like a halo.
‘‘He [the driver] came over and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ and Sirpa was just screaming and screaming. I tried to get up but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t get up to get to her.’’
Mr Joyce suffered a deep gash that required stitches, as well as a badly bruised shoulder.
But Mrs Lajunen, 49, suffered more serious injuries, with five cracked vertebrae that will require surgery to insert a metal rod later this week.
Mr Joyce knows the accident could have been fatal and is thankful his wife did not damage her spinal cord.
‘‘If he had hit us smack in the middle we wouldn’t be talking, but he hit us on the right and it threw us to the left.’’
He described Poihipi Rd as narrow for cyclists, but no worse than many other New Zealand roads. He believed the crash was an example of how motorists and cyclists needed to be more aware of each other.
The ride was supposed to be only a short one, as the couple had guests arriving from Hawke’s Bay for dinner on Friday night.
‘‘They turned up at the house wondering where we were. Eventually they called the police and heard what happened.’’
Police are investigating the crash.