Workmates share bike horror stories

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/The Press

SCARRED: Christchurch workmates has been sharing war stories and battle scars after all being knocked off their bicycles in the past year. Left to right Margaret Duncan, Margaret Dawson, Janet Abbott and Michael Collins.

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A group of Christchurch workmates has been sharing war stories and battle scars after discovering they have all been knocked off their bicycles in the past year.

Janet Abbott, Margaret Dawson, Michael Collins and Margaret Duncan all work at Christchurch's Design and Arts College.

Abbott, a weekend cyclist, was off work for three months with broken ribs, cuts and bruises and post-concussion syndrome after an accident at an intersection in Sumner in November last year.

"I have started cycling again and I'm just about where I was before, but I have not cycled properly for a year."

Unlike Abbott, Dawson has not had the courage to get back on her bike. She was knocked off when a motorist opened his car door in her path in Christchurch in July.

"I could not move. I thought everything was broken in my body, I was so sore. I have never cycled since."

Collins does not have a choice - cycling is his main mode of transport to work.

He has been hit twice by a car while in cycle lanes in the past year - once when a car failed to give way at an intersection in Fendalton, and again on Ilam Road when he crashed into a car that opened its door in his path.

Duncan, who flew over her handle bars when a car pulled out in front of her outside a kindergarten, said there needed to be a greater awareness and consideration among motorists, and more thought put into cycleways.

- © Fairfax NZ News