A 75-yeawr-old award-winning cyclist is fighting for his life in hospital after hitting a pothole on the North East Expressway.
What was supposed to be a normal training session for members of the Cambridge Harriers Cycling Club ended in tragedy yesterday morning when Arthur Salzwedel from Cambridge sustained serious head injuries, fractured two vertebrae and suffered neck trauma, among other injuries.
The incident happened just moments after the group of about 20 cyclists started their training session at 5.15am.
Salzwedel, a father of seven, was riding in the middle of the peloton and this left him unable to take evasive action in time, so he hit a large pothole. The accident left another cyclist with injuries to his face.
Doctors who were also cycling managed to resuscitate Salzwedel at the scene before an ambulance rushed him to hospital, where he was said to be in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
His family said they were expecting the worst. Speaking to Daily Dispatch yesterday, his son Wayne described his father’s chances of survival as “very small at this stage”.
“We are a family of cyclists. I was also training yesterday morning but I was in a small group before them.
“We saw the major pothole too, and we managed to swerve around it.
“However, it is not always possible to see such things,” Wayne said.
His brother Mike accused Buffalo City Metro of being negligent about potholes.
“We are very angry … It was early in the morning and there were no vehicles on the road so cyclists can ride in the yellow lane.
“This is a reflection of the decay in this country. There is no maintenance of these roads. If the metro had done its job – what we pay rates for – none of this would have happened. This is negligence by BCM.
“The fact that there was a pothole there is a problem on its own. It should not have been there, whether it was on the edge of the yellow lane or not,” Mike said.
BCM spokesman Thandy Matebese had not responded to Dispatch questions at the time of writing yesterday.
Concerned cyclists Kevin Vincent and Luca Fanicchi said the East London cycling community was praying for Salzwedel, who had been part of the Cambridge cycling club since 1965.
Vincent, who is chairman of the club, expressed concern about the metro’s potholes, saying Salzwedel was not the first cyclist to be injured.
“This situation is really sad. Arthur is our top cyclist and now we are worried about other cyclists. Our lives are in danger and we are pleading with the municipality to fix and maintain the roads,” Vincent said.
Pothole crash cyclist in critical condition
What was supposed to be a normal training session for members of the Cambridge Harriers Cycling Club ended in tragedy yesterday morning when Arthur Salzwedel from Cambridge sustained serious head injuries, fractured two vertebrae and suffered neck trauma, among other injuries.
The incident happened just moments after the group of about 20 cyclists started their training session at 5.15am.
Salzwedel, a father of seven, was riding in the middle of the peloton and this left him unable to take evasive action in time, so he hit a large pothole. The accident left another cyclist with injuries to his face.
Doctors who were also cycling managed to resuscitate Salzwedel at the scene before an ambulance rushed him to hospital, where he was said to be in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
His family said they were expecting the worst. Speaking to Daily Dispatch yesterday, his son Wayne described his father’s chances of survival as “very small at this stage”.
“We are a family of cyclists. I was also training yesterday morning but I was in a small group before them.
“We saw the major pothole too, and we managed to swerve around it.
“However, it is not always possible to see such things,” Wayne said.
His brother Mike accused Buffalo City Metro of being negligent about potholes.
“We are very angry … It was early in the morning and there were no vehicles on the road so cyclists can ride in the yellow lane.
“This is a reflection of the decay in this country. There is no maintenance of these roads. If the metro had done its job – what we pay rates for – none of this would have happened. This is negligence by BCM.
“The fact that there was a pothole there is a problem on its own. It should not have been there, whether it was on the edge of the yellow lane or not,” Mike said.
BCM spokesman Thandy Matebese had not responded to Dispatch questions at the time of writing yesterday.
Concerned cyclists Kevin Vincent and Luca Fanicchi said the East London cycling community was praying for Salzwedel, who had been part of the Cambridge cycling club since 1965.
Vincent, who is chairman of the club, expressed concern about the metro’s potholes, saying Salzwedel was not the first cyclist to be injured.
“This situation is really sad. Arthur is our top cyclist and now we are worried about other cyclists. Our lives are in danger and we are pleading with the municipality to fix and maintain the roads,” Vincent said.
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