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Damage to windscreen after police officer driving on wrong side of road hits cyclist (Jack Smith)Police officer who crashed into cyclist was driving on wrong side of the road, watchdog confirms
A police officer who crashed into a cyclist, seriously injuring them, was driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the collision, a police watchdog has confirmed.
The crash, which led to the cyclist being treated for “non-life-threatening” injuries at a major trauma centre, took place on Wednesday 17 January at around 10.30pm, on London’s Bethnal Green Road, close to the junction with the A107 – the same stretch of road where a teenage girl was also struck by the driver of a police van at the start of January.
According to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), last Wednesday’s collision occurred as a police officer was responding to an emergency call and driving on the wrong side of the road, where they hit a 36-year-old cyclist, who smashed into the vehicle’s windscreen.
The injured cyclist was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to hospital, while the officer’s vehicle and windscreen were seriously damaged by the force of the collision.
“We can confirm that we have received a mandatory referral from the Metropolitan Police Service following a road traffic incident involving a marked police car and a cyclist in Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 on Wednesday 17 January,” an IPOC spokesperson told This is Local London.
“The collision took place at around 10.30pm when the car was responding to an emergency call and was driving on the wrong side of the road.
“The cyclist was given first aid at the scene and taken to hospital where they were diagnosed with non-life-changing or non-life-threatening injuries.
“We are currently assessing the referral to determine what further action may be required from us.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed to road.cc that enquiries are ongoing as part of an investigation into the crash.
“Officers alongside paramedics from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) attended the scene, the 36-year-old man’s injuries were assessed and were confirmed as non-life-threatening or changing,” the spokesperson said.
“Enquiries into the circumstances of the collision are on-going. The Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed.”
Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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7 comments
At least some justice is being done.....
I was hit by a car head on, on my side of the road, whilst overtaking outside a school and junction.
I was embedded in the windscreen too, on the passenger side.
The police failed to properly investigate, the CPS say there is not enough evidence and my lawyer does not have anyone competent to do a proper analysis or computer based simulation to demonstrate the dynamics of the collision.
All in all, a failure of the 'system' to deliver justice.
The driver is known 🤔.
Even when responding to an emergency call, I'm pretty sure the police driver is supposed to watch what's going on around them and not just presume that everyone will leap out of their way long before they reach them.
They are. I have first hand experience of traveling in a vehicle on blue lights and the driver will be constantly on the lookout for other road users. We are taught not to bully or expect other road users to move out of the way and to expect the unexpected as people react strangely when they encounter blue lights.
I prefer to allow the investigation to take place and evidence to be gathered rather than guessing what may or may not have happened here.
I am just grateful that the cyclist seems to have got away with relatively light injuries given the seriousness of that impact. I wish both them and the driver involved all the best. Driving on blue lights is a difficult job and an even harder job to do well.
Trying to work the physics out here.
Assuming that the images are that of the car involved in the collision...
How does the passenger side of the windscreen get a head or shoulder size creater ... when the car was being driven on the wrong side of the road?
The cyclist was in primary position?
The driver swerved even further right when they suddenly noticed the cyclist?
Perhaps the cyclist was approaching, or waiting to make, a right turn so was over in the right hand side of their lane?
Or perhaps he saw the car coming straight at him on his side of the road and thought he had a better chance going round the outside?