Truck and cyclist crash seriously injures man

A 62-year-old cyclist is in serious condition after a crash involving a truck near a busy Te Rapa roundabout nearby businesses say is the most dangerous in Hamilton.

This is the second serious truck and cyclist crash in the area after a 2017 incident that killed Graeme Michael Leach.

Police confirmed a serious crash at 2pm on Wednesday, near the Te Rapa Rd, Bryant Rd and Sunshine Ave intersection.

A police statement described it as involving a vehicle and pedestrian, but witnesses who helped the man told the Waikato

Times he’d been on a bike.

Morgan Sarich works at Annex Group and said he didn’t see anything, but heard it all.

After the truck driver delivered goods for his company, she drove out of the driveway and turned left, seconds later the crash was heard.

Sarich rushed to the scene along with others.

“There was people everywhere which was good to see.”

The cyclist wasn’t in a good state when he arrived.

“The poor guy, he was trying to crawl to the curb. He had a badly broken arm, his hand was very messy, he was degloved.”

The truck driver was allegedly screaming and burst into tears when she hopped off and checked her truck.

“Quite lucky there was no one under it.” The cyclist had been wearing a helmet and was still coherent. When Sarich asked him about his head, he replied: “My head is OK, is just the rest of me not too good”.

The public bandaged the cyclist before an ambulance arrived eight minutes later, as timed by one of the employees.

The Annex Group office is located by the

Te Rapa Rd and Sunshine Ave intersection, and employees told the Waikato Times that the roundabout is “absolutely not” a safe place.

“One of the worst in Hamilton,” an employee said.

There had been many near misses in the past six years while Sarich worked there. His biggest concern is where pedestrians cross in a gap close to the roundabout.

“We’re dreading for someone to get hit there. You have to time your run.”

The Serious Crash Unit and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team are investigating the crash.