Cyclist who survived hit-and-run in Cromwell says they are disgusted'

Otago Daily Times

31 Jan, 2022 08:11 PM2 mins to read

All Colin Reece felt he could do when he spotted the ute cut a corner and barrel towards him was brace for the inevitable impact. Photo / Supplied

All Colin Reece felt he could do when he spotted the ute cut a corner and barrel towards him was brace for the inevitable impact.

The 63-year-old was cycling back on a morning paper run in Cromwell about 7.30am on January 23 when he decided due to a lack of traffic to eschew the cycle trails and ride on the road.

What was to follow at the intersection of Shortcut and Partridge Rds was not what he had bargained for.

"The woman [driver] cut the corner completely. She came on to my side of the road.

"They didn't see me, they were [heading] straight for me, they couldn't have done a better job if they tried."

Reece said the best he could muster was to try to position himself above the bullbars of the utility, described by police as a metallic blue Ford Ranger, double cabbed with alloy bullbars and off-road tyres, and hope for the best.

"I went over the top of the ute.

"The last thing I remember is the crunching of the bike under the wheels."

When he came to, people were asking if he was all right.

He would go on to discover his bike was smashed in three pieces and the driver of the ute had failed to stop.

"I flew through the air with the greatest of ease. A witness saw the ute speed away."

Reece credited his level of fitness for allowing him to come through the incident, in which he suffered multiple fractured ribs and extensive bruising to much of his body, and lost a "chunk out of my head" after his helmet hit the road surface and broke into several pieces.