Cowies Hill cyclist recalls nightmare crash

COWIES Hill resident Robert Brien, who took advantage of idle time during load-shedding, went on a training ride on his bike along Josiah Gumede Road and had an unfortunate accident caused by a pothole.

Brien said he left his home around 18:00 after putting his 92-year-old dad down for a nap on Monday, November 21.

“I went out for a quick training ride on the fairly level section of the Pinetown main road, Josiah Gumede Road.”

On his fifth lap, disaster struck, and he hit a very narrow pothole right next to a manhole cover situated outside a car dealership. Travelling at a speed of over 40km/h, Brien’s bike was brought to an immediate stop, and he proceeded to fly over the bars, sliding for many metres along the road, dragging his bike with him.

As cyclists use cleated-in shoes, Brien said he stayed attached to his bike which took a fair amount of damage.

He said that if it were not for his helmet, he wouldn’t be here to tell the tale.

The 60-year-old, who took up cycling at the age of 54 and fell in love with the thrill of riding, said that he remembers the jolt of the bike hitting something, and the next thing, he was suddenly at home, not knowing how he got there.

Suddenly feeling the pain and seeing bleeding roasties, he realised that he had been in a bad accident.

“I went downstairs and discovered my triathlon/time-trial bike stacked next to my other bikes and the doors all locked and in order. I guessed that some Good Samaritan must have brought me home.”

He has since discovered that the car dealership had a video surveillance camera pointed towards the road, and the camera picked up the entire crash, showing the fall and him sliding many metres along the road.

In the video, the Good Samaritan, who must have seen the entire crash with his car headlights, is seen proceeding to assist him, separating him from his bike, then moving him off the road to a safer position.

“I still do not have a clue who this kind person is and would like to meet him to thank him.

“My doctor told me how amazingly lucky I was to have had such a severe accident and not to have seemingly broken any bones. A fall like this normally will break collarbones and shatter arm bones if those parts of the body break the fall,” said a surprised Brien.

“I believe that wearing arm protectors (thin, nylon sleeves) stopped me from losing skin off my right arm, which seems to have taken the full impact of the fall,” he added.

Brien’s arm is presently hugely swollen with dark red bruising and minimum mobility.

What upset Brien is that this pothole wasn’t seen by the municipal workers and repaired.

“It seems to be such an old hole that it has grass growing inside it. It is totally unfair that main roads are not repaired and made safe for cyclists. We already take our lives in our own hands by just venturing out onto our roads today, so why do there have to be hidden dangers that a car would simply roll over but would stop a bike in its track and throw its rider off with a great possibility of causing his death?

“Why must we have a statistic of a cyclist being killed, or almost being killed, to get someone to fix the potholes or holes that develop around manhole covers? This fall is going to cost me greatly in recuperation time and expenses to replace my damaged equipment and bicycle parts,” said Brien.

He appeals to the municipality to create bike-user-friendly roads as there are very few of them.

“We also have a right to use the roads – with the state of the economy, riding a bike saves commuters financially and saves the environment with no harmful fumes emitted,” he said.