MEMBERS of a bike club have spoken out after a horrific crash at the weekend when a motorist was thrown through her windscreen after it is believed she swerved to avoid cyclists.

Members of the Bristol South Cycling Club were taking part in a time trial along the A419 towards Swindon on Saturday evening when the incident happened.

It is thought that the woman driver was in collision with another vehicle after passing the cyclists – leaving her with serious injuries after being crushed under her car.

Organiser Paul Jones has said that all too often cyclists get the blame when accidents occur when, in fact, they follow very strict safety rules during such trials.

He said: “I’m not about to apportion blame, I guess from my perspective we weren’t at fault – and it’s quite important bearing in mind the detailed level of scrutiny the sport faces and the complex risk assessments we undertake before allowing riders to race on dual carriageways.

“A competitor was ‘brushed’ by a car – it made contact with his leg at high speed, and the car swerved outwards on realising what was happening, into the fast lane, whereupon a serious collision happened with several cars involved.

“It was a traumatic experience for all involved and our thoughts are with those injured.

“As cyclists it raises a question regarding the safety of cycling as a sport, and this is once again being debated among the fraternity.

“As the organiser of the time trial, I would like to point out that there were individual riders on the road during that evening, but there were no groups, furthermore, riding in a group is against the rules of the sport, it simply does not happen – on rare occasions there may be two riders in close proximity while one passes the other.”

Mr Jones said that each rider on the carriageway had a luminous number on their back and that the entrances and slip roads to the carriageway were signposted with warnings and there were marshalls in place.

The woman was airlifted from the scene, while two other occupants of the car went to hospital by road ambulances following the incident just before 7.30pm.

She was subsequently flown to Great Western Hospital by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance suffering multiple injuries, although these are not thought to be life-threatening.

The passengers’ injuries are also not thought to be life-threatening.

Vince Almond, the GWAS officer on scene, said: “It was quite a difficult scene – the car ended up quite a distance from the carriageway, stopping against some trees.

“A lot of kit had to be carried to the patients, who then had to be brought back to waiting ambulances.

“While the most serious patient was trapped under the car, she was fully conscious and alert the whole time, and able to talk to crews.”

None of the cyclists or occupants of the other car were injured.