Jody Kara, left, and Connor Roberston were first on the scene after a man was knocked off his bicycle by a truck on the Napier roundabout. Photo / Warren Buckland
Jody Kara, left, and Connor Roberston were first on the scene after a man was knocked off his bicycle by a truck on the Napier roundabout. Photo / Warren Buckland
Two witnesses are being praised for efforts that helped stop a truck driver seemingly unaware he had collided with a cyclist at a busy Napier roundabout.
Napier Glass employees Connor Robertson and Jody Kara were at the Hyderabad Rd roundabout, turning right, into Prebensen Dr about 3.20pm on Wednesday.
Thepair watched in horror as a cyclist and a truck and trailer, travelling in the same direction, out of Prebensen Dr, collided.
Robertson said he first saw the pair stationary and in separate lanes, "keeping to themselves".
"The truck has taken off first and we watched the cyclist clip his handlebars against the gas tank of the truck."
He said the cyclist's back tyre then went under the rear wheels of the truck and the cyclist fell off.
Police blocked off the roundabout at the intersection of Hyderabad Rd, Prebensen Dr and Corunna Bay as the serious crash unit carried out its investigation on Wednesday.
Kara said it happened in a matter of seconds.
"The thing that caught my eye was I saw him falling off the bike and realised that he was under the truck."
A truck comes around the roundabout at the spot where the cyclist was hit. Photo / Warren Buckland
The truck, believed to be carrying limestone, kept on going.
"He probably would have gone about 20m before he saw me yelling at him. I was pretty much hanging out of the window trying to get him to stop," Kara said.
During that time, Robertson was on the phone to emergency services.
"I did talk to the truck driver afterwards and he said if he didn't see me, he wouldn't have known and would have carried on because in a big truck like that he said you don't feel stuff like that because the truck is so heavy."
The accident happened at the intersection of Hyderabad Rd, Prebensen Dr and Corunna Bay. Photo / Google Maps
Kara then pulled the cyclist from underneath the axle of the rear trailer.
"He was holding his hand out to try to get out and I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the kerb on to the grass verge."
Kara took his jersey off and placed it under the man's head, while others started doing first aid and put him in the recovery position.
Robertson said when they got to the victim, he was "barely breathing".
"He couldn't speak, he couldn't tell us what hurt most, and he pretty much couldn't make a sound."
Police arrived at the scene at 3.20pm and closed the road until about 7.30pm on Wednesday.
A cyclist and a truck and trailer collided on Hyderabad Rd, Napier on Wednesday afternoon. Photo / Paul Taylor
They blocked off the roundabout at the intersection of Hyderabad Rd, Prebensen Dr and Corunna Bay as the serious crash unit carried out its investigation.
Diversions were put in place as traffic built up around the busy intersection.
The cyclist, a man in his 50s, had critical injuries and was transported to hospital by St John Ambulance.
As of Thursday afternoon, he was still fighting for his life, and in a critical condition at Hawke's Bay Hospital.
The two men hope the cyclist pulls through.
"It was pretty awful to see. I've had a sleepless night because of it," Robertson said.
