By MELISSA MEEHAN
Cyclist sent flying over bonnet in U-turn hit-run smash…
NEEDING more than 30 stitches to mend a gaping hole left in his leg wasn’t exactly how Brendon Miton thought he would begin the new year.
He didn’t think he would be hit by a car while riding his bike and left on the side of the road in Olinda on New Year’s Day either.
Mr Miton was riding downhill along Olinda – Monbulk Road in Olinda not long before 9.30am when he noticed a car suddenly pulling into the left hand shoulder of the road without slowing down before swinging the car into a U-turn in front of him.
“I flew across the bonnet of the car and landed on the other side of the car,” he said.
“The car then backed up and drove around me and took off.”
A keen cyclist, Mr Miton revisited the site of the crash on Friday, but admits he won’t be back on the bike for a while yet.
He still needs crutches to walk, his leg still is still badly bruised and swollen.
“I’m lucky to be alive,” he said.
“I would have ended up 20 metres from where I was hit. It’s a good advertisement for people to wear a helmet, that’s for sure.
“I just can’t believe that someone could drive off – he would have seen me, I flew across his bonnet.”
Mr Miton said he was able to get a description of a car, a red Toyota camry wagon, and gave the registration details to the police.
But the owner of the car has told police he wasn’t driving and didn’t know who was.
“I didn’t see the driver, but I know that was the car,” he said.
“So I’m hoping someone saw the driver, who it was, or whether they noticed them driving erratically before or after they hit me.”
Bruised, in pain and on the side of the road, Mr Miton said he was appreciative of a passerby who pulled over to offer him a lift home shortly after the accident.
Belgrave police confirmed they were still investigating the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
