He had been travelling about 45km\/h according to a speedometer, and believes he had slowed down to 20-25km\/h when passing the queued cars. Had he continued at speed, he thinks he would have been in \u201cway worse condition\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yats hit the brakes on his bike, which sent him flying over the handlebars and onto the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a car turn in. I had slowed down quite a bit by then but it was still a bit too late.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was literally like \u2018oh f***, here we go\u2019. I didn\u2019t know how bad it was going to be. I knew there was no way I was going to get out of it, it was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
The car, which had been allowed through the traffic to turn into a driveway, pulled across the bus lane when Yats was just a couple of metres away and unable to stop.<\/p>\n
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n He hit the brakes and flipped over his handlebars, tumbling on to the road and sending his bike flying. The bike\u2019s tyre broke one of the windows on the car, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t remember much of the actual impact but I hit my head on something… I must have hit my shoulder because my shoulder\u2019s quite sore.\u201d<\/p>\n Yats said the driver stopped immediately and \u201cwas really good about it\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people stopped and a lot of people were going quite hard at the driver, and he acknowledged he was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the driver gave him his details and also contacted him later in the day to check on his health.<\/p>\n Yats said in such situations when traffic was backed up, if turning traffic did not have a clear view of the lane they were crossing, they should wait.<\/p>\n Cyclists faced a \u201ccatch 22\u2033 on Ngaio Gorge, needing to strike the right balance between going fast enough that road users behind them did not get annoyed and going slow enough that they could react if someone pulled out in front of them. <\/p>\n He captured video of the crash with a camera on his bike, which he put on social media after experiencing other incidents during his commute, including one where he was sworn at and abused by drivers who cut him off on a bike lane.<\/p>\n \u201cI get the sense after a few incidents that people have this distaste towards cyclists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He wanted other road users to know cyclists did not deserve their ire.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI run a business, I\u2019m a professional, I pay taxes, I\u2019m a father… I just want to get from home to work. I\u2019m not trying to hurt anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n He has reported yesterday\u2019s incident to the police due to the damage done to his new bike.<\/p>\n Police confirmed to the Herald they are aware of the incident.<\/p>\n Cycling advocate Patrick Morgan had seen the video of the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really disturbing to see anyone have a crash on our streets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears from the video that the driver did something illegal… it\u2019s very clear that all road users have to give way according to the road rules. It\u2019s clear on the video that this driver didn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\nA car pulled across the bus and cycle lane just metres in front of Yats.<\/p>\n
Cycling advocate Patrick Morgan said all road users need to follow the rules. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n