Emmanuel Inguanez suffered a broken pelvis after a hit-and-run incident off St Paul’s Bay. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

When Emmanuel Inguanez set off on his regular 64-kilometre bicycle ride last week little did he know that he would end up in a hospital bed with a broken pelvis.

Although many people scurried to help the cyclist, the vehicle that knocked him off the bicycle kept going

For the past six years, 66-year-old Mr Inguanez has been cycling from Attard to St Paul’s Bay and back, twice or three times a week.

On Wednesday, he was returning home at about 8.30 a.m. when he was thrown off his bike near the St Paul’s Bay roundabout. Although many people scurried to help the cyclist, the small commercial vehicle that knocked him off the bicycle kept going on its way.

Mr Inguanez was driving to the leftmost side of the road and wearing full cycling gear “and thank God for that”, his son, Alexis, said.

The vehicle hit Mr Inguanez on his right hip. He was knocked off the bike and he hit his head on the pavement. Luckily, the helmet took the blow – and cracked – but he did not suffer any head injuries.

However, on impact, Mr Inguanez’s hip crushed his pelvis in three parts, leaving the cyclist in agonising pain.

Mr Inguanez was immediately taken to hospital where he will spend some four weeks in bed. After that, he will be kept under observation for a week as he gets back on his feet with the help of crutches. He will then have to go through three to six months of physiotherapy.

Alexis Inguanez, 32, would like the hit-and-run accident to serve as an eye-opener. “There needs to be more respect for cyclists on the roads. Cyclists do not have airbags,” he said.

A major concern for cyclists is when large vehicles get too close by pulling in too soon after overtaking them, trying to beat them to junctions or overtaking just before a bus stop.

According to observations by the Bicycle Advocacy Group, in the first quarter of this year, there were, on average, more than 240 near-misses per 1,000 kilometres on Maltese roads. About 43 of these were defined as incursions, similar to Mr Inguanez’s incident. Among the near-misses was the case of a bus driver who “bullied” a cyclist along the Marsa priority-vehicle lane.

Alexis Inguanez said that, although more people were taking to the streets on their bikes and more cyclists were using the highway code, it remained difficult to cycle on Maltese roads.

He called for more adequate bicycle lanes and urged drivers to respect cyclists and to look both ways, especially to the left at incursions.