Another cyclist, another truck, another incident - same old story on Dunedin roads. But this time it had a happy ending. Reporter Allison Rudd was there to see a cyclist's amazing escape.
I knew something was horribly wrong.
Driving to work yesterday I was startled to see a man roll on to the middle of the road from behind a large container truck.
As I ran to help, I was relieved to see he was alive and apparently uninjured, although pale and shaky. He lay on his back, rubbing a bump on his head, a cycle helmet beside him.
His bike was under the truck and, it seems, he was a hair's breadth away from being another cycling fatality.
Just eight days ago, cyclist Peter Wells was killed when hit by an empty logging truck in Castle St about 8.40am. Both incidents were on busy truck routes at busy times of the day.
The bike yesterday lay wedged against the left front wheel of the truck, invisible until I leaned over and peered underneath. I could only see part of the rear wheel and the seat - the rest was far back.
I knew the cyclist had been incredibly lucky.
An Icon Logistics container truck turning right from a freight yard into Strathallan St near Otaki St about 8.35am appears to have clipped the man's bicycle.
The middle-aged truck driver and bystanders helped the cyclist to the side of the road where he sat puffing on an asthma inhaler.
Emergency services arrived within minutes, and ambulance officers took the cyclist to Dunedin Hospital for assessment. An officer said he had apparently received only minor bumps and grazes.
Firefighters talked about how to retrieve the bike and police directed traffic and took statements from the truck driver and witnesses.
Icon Logistics manager Tony Gare, quickly on the scene, told me the driver was "very shaken".
The truck would be impounded for a safety check, but he did not think there was anything mechanically wrong with it.
