A cyclist remains in critical condition at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre after three of them were reportedly struck by a vehicle while riding on the Sir George Walter Highway yesterday morning.
Ghere Coates, Sean Wetherill and Andre Simon were rushed to the hospital with multiple injuries after a man driving a Toyota Vitz struck them.
Eyewitness reports suggested that the unidentified driver struck the first cyclist in the vicinity of Dee’s Service Station then drove off, injuring two more cyclists just a few yards away before driving off and crashing into a nearby lamppost near Furniture Gallery.
Following the tragic chain of events, an urgent call for B negative, B positive, O negative and/or O positive blood donations for Simon was made as he underwent emergency surgery yesterday.
However, police have not yet released the identity of the driver, or whether the driver is in custody, or any other official information surrounding the incident.
Meanwhile, President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation, St Clair Williams spoke to Observer at the hospital yesterday, confirming that he received information about the accident around 7 am that yesterday morning.
He expressed that what happened was “extremely sad” for local cyclists and regional ones as well, as he received many calls from people in the country and around the region about the situation.
Williams said that earlier this year in January, the cycling federation continued to advocate for safer roadways and demanded more respect for road safety rules. His pleas followed calls from several cyclists for greater consideration from drivers.
“The way in which the motorists move along the highways here in Antigua and Barbuda; just to give us that courtesy as we continue to ride and to train, those of us who are doing it for fitness purposes or health purposes, [they ought] to give people the opportunity to do that on the roadways.
“It is unfortunate to see what took place [yesterday]. Again, it is still under investigation, so I don’t want to go into what happened or what didn’t happen, so we continue to appeal to all the motorists out there with respect to the cyclists, not only the cyclists from the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation, but persons who are out there riding bicycles in general,” said the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation President.