Student cyclist killed in tragic accident
A student cyclist was killed in a collision with a rubbish lorry yesterday morning. The cyclist has been confirmed as a student at Worcester College. The crash happened at the junction of Parks Road and Holywell Street, near The King’s Arms pub, at 9.50am. After attempting to resuscitate him, paramedics pronounced the cyclist dead at the scene soon after 10am.
Fifteen traffic-accident investigators were present at the scene, and the junction was cordoned off for several hours while the accident was investigated. The driver of the rubbish lorry was arrested on the scene. Sgt Peter Jell, of Bicester traffic base, said, “At 9.50am, a collision occurred between a dustcart and a pedal cyclist at the junction of Holywell Street and Parks Road. “The cyclist has died as a result of the injuries he sustained.
The driver of the dustcart has been arrested and has been taken to St Aldate’s police station to assist with inquiries. “There were quite a number of witnesses at the scene, and we are collating their accounts. Window cleaner Gordon Sims, 35, was working at Wadham College in Parks Road and witnessed the accident.
He told a reporter from The Oxford Times, “The dumper truck was coming down past Blackwell’s to turn left to go past Wadham College - I don’t know where the cyclist had come from but he went straight under truck. “The truck was not going very fast. Whether he went under the front wheel or back wheel, it dragged the bike behind.” The Oxford Student spoke to a student from Wadham, who witnessed the accident. The rubbish lorry had driven down Broad Street to turn left onto Parks Road.
The collision pushed the cyclist under the lorry. The Oxford Student spoke to another eyewitness, a first-year student at Queen’s College, who passed the scene just seconds after the collision. He said, “I saw the remnants of the bike under the truck that had hit it. A couple of paramedics were administering CPR, but by the time I’d locked my bike up outside the New Bod, they’d stopped and put a blanket over the body”.
A second year student at Wadham said, “The whole area was cordened off so I couldn’t get back to college. “The poor guy had a blanket over him. The lorry was three or four metres along the road, and you could see the mangled bicycle with its front wheel bent.” Several students have voiced concerns about the safety of the Parks Road junction. The Wadham second year said, “It’s such a dangerous crossing because you never know which way to look.
“It’s really quite deceptive because you think you’re safe - you’re near the Bod and there’s not much traffic on Broad Street or Holywell Street. I think sometimes people are a bit more relaxed about the roads there than they should be. I know I have been in the past. “At the end of the day it’s a fourway junction and it’s clearly very dangerous.” A second year from Balliol agreed, “There must be something that the Council can do to make the junction easier to negotiate.
“I’ve always been terrified of that spot, even when I’m on foot. “What happened today just proves how dangerous it is. It’s such a tragedy.” In 2004, first-year St Catherine’s student Emilie Harris was killed under the wheels of a single-decker bus on Cowley Road. It was revealed in a court hearing in March 2006 that the driver of the bus involved in the accident was talking to a colleague when it occurred.
19th Apr 2007