Cyclist struck by car, breaks leg
A Brisbane cyclist who suffered a compound fracture of his femur after being hit by a car, has posted the vision on YouTube.
Craig Cowled, was cycling on a busy Brisbane road before a white Jeep sideswiped him and knocked him from his bike.
Mr Cowled, who was sporting a GoPro camera attached to his helmet, can be heard screaming in pain as he is struck.
"Footage shows what happened to me on Tues morning 30 July 2013. I suffered a compound fracture of my right femur (up near the hip). Still can't walk," he said in his accompanying post on YouTube.
"After I got out of hospital, I contacted the police 3 or 4 times to offer my statement," Finally got a call back from the constable who told me that I wasn't required. The driver admitted fault and was ticketed for a traffic offence."
Mr Cowled was fuming about the nature of the infringement issued to the driver, believing they got off far too lightly.
"For some time, I was willing to give the driver the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he might not have seen me," he wrote.
"When I got the police report, however, it was very clear that he had seen me and still thought to overtake me without changing lanes.
"What is really annoying about this is that the left lane had to merge about 50m ahead. What was this guy thinking? He had to merge with the traffic in the adjacent lane anyway. To add insult to my (very significant and painful) injury, the police chose to issue the driver with a ticket for "Following too closely"!!!! WTF!!
"He wasn't even following me when he hit me. He was overtaking! Talk about inadequate enforcement of the law!"
The father of three is still on strong medication to manage his constant pain and it remains a possibility his injuries may never fully heal.
He has sought legal advice and hopes the Commissioner will investigate police handling of the matter.
