Hi Cyclists, On Sunday morning 6 March 2011 at 06:30, 4 cyclists were taken out from behind with a bakkie at Uitenhage Cuyler Manor on the R367 old road between Uitenhage and Despatch. The driver of the bakkie claim he could not see due to the raising sun and decided to move to the left side of the road onto the yellow line. He struck the four cyclists from behind. I and four other cyclists arrived at the seen of the accident a few minutes after it had happened. Lucky for us one of our cyclist were late that morning and we started our group ride later than normal otherwise we would have joined this group and then there would have been 9 cyclists involved in this accident. Only through Gods mercy was no one killed. One cyclist was kept overnight for observation because he had breathing problems but nothing broken, one cyclist had his collar bone broken, and the other two had less serious back injuries and abrasions . The unfortunate cyclists were Adiel Salie, Munier, Faseeg and Zaid. When we approached the accident seen, I had difficulty to see the commotion in front of me even with sunglasses on. This should be a warning to all cyclists that with the winter season approaching and the sunrise appearing later each morning one must take this into consideration when selecting a cycling route. It is better to be proactive and protect yourself against and accident of this nature by having a car following your from behind or start cycling a few minutes later in the morning after the sun has risen or cycle in a western direction with the sun behind you. Remember, rather be safe than sorry. Please share this e-mail with your cycling friends. Kind regards This is aroud PE. area
