A WORCESTER councillor has called for more to be done to protect cyclists after he was knocked off his bike and ended up in an ambulance.
Cllr Matthew Jenkins, who represents Worcester-St Stephen at Worcestershire County Council, said he has been hit by a car twice in the past eight months while cycling.
He believes ‘the car is still king’ in Worcester and has called for Worcestershire County Council to push for ‘significant infrastructure’ to change this before someone is killed or seriously injured.
He said in his most recent incident last Wednesday, he was turning right from Spetchley Road into Nunnery Lane when a car also turned right and went straight into the side of his bike.
He added he ended up on the car bonnet and then on the road, and he suffered injuries to his elbows which has put him out of cycling action.
Now Cllr Jenkins has called for the authority to look towards introducing more cycle lanes around the city- but he fears those at County Hall are too concerned with pleasing drivers to consider narrowing the roads for cars.
He told the Worcester News: “I keep raising this as an issue and the county council keep telling me they are making progress, but this progress is so slow.
“I have been knocked off my bike twice in less than a year having never had any issues before, but I was very lucky.
“As a cyclist, you’re taking your life into your own hands if you go onto the roads.
“Something has to change before something worse happens, someone could be killed or seriously injured unless we do something.”
This week, hundreds of new Beryl bikes for hire were introduced across the city.
One of the new parking bays is mere metres from where Cllr Jenkins was knocked off his bike.
He said the Beryl bikes were a brilliant idea but added if incidents kept occurring people in Worcester would be put off using them.
A Worcestershire County Council spokesperson said: “We are delivering against our priorities and as part of this we are creating a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) for our main towns and Worcester City during 2023-24.
“As part of this delivery, we are working with Worcester City on delivering new routes funded through the Towns Fund, as well as supporting the bike share project, Beryl Bikes.”