Reader letter: I was hit in Worthing by a man riding an electric bike. Why didn't he stop?
Writes Barbara Booker, of Orchard Avenue, Worthing
Crossing Wiston Avenue early on Wednesday, June 15, I heard a loud bang and found myself lying in the road, unable to get up.
I had apparently been hit by a middle-aged man riding an electric cycle which I neither saw nor heard coming.
Some people stopped and helped me to my feet, and one kindly walked with me to my home nearby.
My injuries included a black eye so swollen it wouldn't open properly, a bruise the size of a saucer on my thigh, and pain in my ribs.
I had not stepped out in front of the bike, I was over half way across the road when it hit me.
A cyclist who witnessed the collision said the e-bike had passed her at speed.
Its rider said he had sounded his bell which suggests he had definitely seen me.
Indeed, an elderly woman in a bright blue dress, making her way slowly across the road with the aid of two walking poles, would have been quite hard not to notice. So why didn't he stop?
Even assuming I had heard his warning bell (which I hadn't), did he imagine I was going to leap backwards out of his path?
Or perhaps sprint to the kerb so he could avoid hitting me?
It seems that having done his bit for road safety by ringing his bell, he just ploughed on.
Electric bikes pose more of a danger to pedestrians than non-electric because they go faster, and unlike motorbikes they are not registered or insured.
There will soon be many more on our roads.
An £8 million pilot scheme, 'Cycling made e-asy', funded by the Department of Transport, was launched recently to encourage people to try cycling with the free loan of an electric bike.
The flaw in this is that e-cyclists are not required to undergo roadcraft and safety training, or to obtain a licence.
The charity Cycling UK describes the loan scheme excitedly on its website: "You’ll be unstoppable once you’ve discovered an e-cycle".
For pedestrians, that's exactly the problem.
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