NZ singer in major cycle crash

Don McGlashan. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi singer Don McGlashan has three broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a punctured lung after crashing into a car door that opened in front of him as he was cycling home.

The singer was riding along Valley Rd, off Dominion Rd in Mt Eden, late on Monday afternoon when he was "doored".

In a coincidence, Dominion Road is the name of one of his big hits with the Muttonbirds.

"I was coming back from the supermarket with a load of groceries on my back on my bicycle. The guy in front of me opened his car door and I smashed into it," he told the Herald from his Auckland City Hospital bed.

"I was probably going about15km/h, so not too fast. But I didn't see him until I was on him, so I didn't even have time to brake.

"He'd opened his door to get out, but he didn't see me at all."

McGlashan, 52, was catapulted through the air and smashed into the road.

"I don't really know what happened after that. I think I was out cold for a while."

An ambulance took him to hospital.

"I'm not doing too well, but I'm very, very lucky that I don't have more damage," McGlashan said.

The Silver Scroll and New Zealand Music Award winner expects to be discharged today.

But his injuries could take months to fully heal, and he will spend the next six weeks with his arm in a sling.

The punctured lung should not affect his performing if he keeps doing the exercises and lets it heal on its own, he said.

Luckily, McGlashan had finished a set of concerts the day before he was hit, and did not have another set until next month.

"But I wasn't thinking about that when I was flying through the air."

McGlashan is hoping he will not have to cancel a South Island concert with his band, The Bellbirds, on April 13, but it will depend on how he is recovering.

The man who opened the car door on McGlashan was shaken up after the accident and was the first to help the injured singer.

McGlashan said it was unfortunate how often cyclists were "doored".

In November, bike rider Jane Mary Bishop, 27, was killed while cycling on Tamaki Drive in Auckland.

Glenn Hilton Becker, 36, had opened his car door and allegedly caused the British nurse to swerve into the path of a truck near Kelly Tarlton's.

This month, he will face a charge of careless use of a car causing Ms Bishop's death.

Cycle Action Auckland spokeswoman Barbara Cuthbert, a campaigner for safety improvements on Tamaki Drive, said there was a simple way of preventing these accidents - look first.

"I know so many cyclists who have been 'doored'."