Struck teen now too scared to ride

Cieran Phillips, 18, was struck by a car going 80km/h on Clive's Main Rd last week. Photo / Warren Buckland

Cieran Phillips says he will probably never cycle on the road again, after he was hit by a car going 80km/h in Clive.

It was the second instance of a cyclist being hit by a car on Clive's Main Rd in just two weeks.

The 18-year-old caregiver said he had taken all the precautions before setting off for work about 5.45am last Thursday - he was wearing a helmet and high-visibility gear, and his bike was equipped with lights. "And I still managed to get hit by a car," he joked yesterday.

He was riding on the cycleway through Clive, about 100m from the wool scour, when a car hit him from behind. He believed it had been cutting a corner when it collided with him.

The impact broke his ankle and left him with grazes all over his body. But the adrenaline kicked in and he was able to walk to the ambulance, with blood dripping down his face. He spent four days recovering in hospital.

Returning home this week, he is having difficulty sleeping and is taking a lot of medication for pain.

He said he found it hard to believe it was possible for cars to hit cyclists on the main road.

"It's unbelievable cyclists can get hit on an 80km/h zone - it's ridiculous. There's a massive amount of people cycling these days, and it's just off-putting. I'll probably never cycle again on the road, it was very traumatic."

Mr Phillips' mother, Clive real estate agent Pauline Bowden, was also left shaken by the incident, saying it was "a bit of a heart-stopper" when a police officer appeared at the door with her son's mangled bike.

"Drivers need to realise how fragile cyclists are and, first and foremost, are people," she said.

On Tuesday evening, a 31-year-old woman was knocked off her bike on the same stretch of road. She was travelling towards Hastings when a car pulled out of Williamson Rd and struck her. The driver of the car had stopped at the stop sign, looked right, and pulled into the traffic, not seeing the cyclist.

Police constable Wayne Stewart said it was the fourth accident he had attended in the past three years in the region in which a driver had not seen a cyclist.

The cyclist was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital and discharged later that night.