Professor injured in crash on Northwestern Cycleway wants new speed limit for e-bikes

Monday, 17 June 2019

A university professor has called for e-bikes to be regulated on a 'lawless' cycleway after a head-on crash left him with a brain injury.

Anthony Hickey was cycling on Auckland's Northwestern Cycleway when he collided with an e-bike on May 14.

The Auckland University professor feared he'd been paralysed by the impact, which left him suffering from back pain and severe headaches.

He later tried contacting Auckland Transport on multiple occasions, to ask for improvements, regulation on speeds and power levels of e-bikes and scooters using the cycleway.

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Following the head-on collision Hickey was unconscious for around half an hour.

'When the accident happened, I was riding down west on the cycleway and a guy on an e-bike was riding uphill, at speed, on my side, we collided with each other and I was knocked unconscious by the force of it.'

When Hickey woke up, he was in Auckland Hospital with his tearful wife, unable to move his legs and in intense pain.

Some of the bruising on Hickey's back following the accident.

'I thought I was paralysed,' Hickey said.

A CT scan showed while Hickey wasn't paralysed, he did have a subarachnoid hemorrhage - a bleeding in the space between the brain and the tissue covering the brain.

Almost five weeks later he still isn't feeling back to normal and has had issues getting back to work and concentrating.

'My work has suffered as a result of the accident, and my wife and two sons almost lost their dad.'

Hickey believed the crash could have been avoided if there was better visibility on the cycleway, along with more regulations on what was allowed to travel on it.

'There are issues, which I've seen a few times, where people on e-bikes and e-scooters, are overtaking regular cyclists in a dangerous way.

'The cycleway has now become a road where self-powered cyclists are once again treated as a nuisance - in fact, it's worse than a normal road because it's lawless and unregulated.'

Signage was needed on the cycleway stating what power levels e-bikes and e-scooters could have to ensure none that were too powerful were on there Hickey said.

'There needs to be rules and monitoring, as well as controls enforced on speed, sticking to the left and visibility.'

Until changes were made Hickey said he didn't feel safe cycling there anymore.

'I'm reluctant to go back, which is sad, because when I first heard about the cycleway I was really happy, I hadn't felt like I had a safe place to ride my bike after one of my colleagues was killed on the road.'

AT spokeswoman Joanna Glasswell said it was investigating signage options for the path following the incident to remind people to take care on the hill near the rainbow section.

It was apologetic to hear of Hickey's accident.

'We ask that everyone takes care, stays to the left, and makes space for people walking.'

She said the rules for where e-bikes could be ridden were set nationally.

'We expect everyone using our shared paths to take care and be mindful of other users.'

No other complaints had been received regarding the same stretch of path.