MS Gong Ride: Cyclist hit by car at East Corrimal

The rider – one of 10,000 taking part in this year’s MS Gong Ride from Tempe to Wollongong – was struck at the corner of Pioneer and Murray roads just before 9am.

Truck driver Chris Lewis was stopped at the roundabout, ready to turn left from Pioneer Road into Murray Road, when the accident unfolded right in front of him.

Mr Lewis said the driver of the car, a woman, was heading west on Murray Road at the time. 

“She stopped, went to go through [the roundabout] and he’s just come through,” he said. 

“She didn’t see him, and he was going too quick.  

“The cyclist just didn’t stop, [he was] coming through at a hundred-mile-an-hour.”

Mr Lewis said the driver clipped the cyclist, a man whose age wasn’t known, and sent him tumbling onto the road. 

“She just got him on the back wheel,” he said.

“He went over and he landed about two metres in front of my truck. Lucky I wasn’t actually going through the roundabout or he would have gone under it.”

“He literally ended up right in front of the truck.”

The cyclist was uninjured. He was seen talking to police and paramedics at the scene, before pulling on his waterproof jacket and strapping on his helmet.

He later carried his mangled bike from the scene. 

Mr Lewis said he had seen multiple near misses involving cyclists on the corner while emergency services were on the scene

“They’re not even stopping, like they’re not even looking, half of them,” he said. 

“If the car is … in the right to go through the roundabout, they’re not stopping. While we were here one car locked-up because a bike’s just gone straight through.

“Doing this sort of thing [the MS Gong Ride], they need to have more people patrolling the corners, especially this one with all the trees there.”

The driver, despite being visibly distressed at the scene, was uninjured. 

Pioneer Road is being used by MS Gong Ride participants, who are making their way to the finish line at Wollongong’s Lang Park. 

Motorists are reminded a number of closures, speed limit reductions and special event clearways are in place on Illawarra roads until Sunday afternoon.

Speed limit reductions to 40km/h are in effect between Stanwell Park and North Wollongong – on Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Squires Way and George Hanley Drive – until 3pm.

A number of special event clearways are also in place until 3pm along the ride route, including roads in Coalcliff, Scarborough, Coledale, Austinmer, Thirroul, Bulli, Bellambi to Fairy Meadow and Wollongong.

The following road are closed:

BULLI

From 6am to 3pm

WOLLONGONG

From 6am to 4pm

From 6am to 5pm