Biker fractures spine and jaw in horror pothole crash

A biker has suffered a fractured spine and a broken jaw in a horror pothole crash in Stony Stratford earlier this month. The injured cyclist also lost four teeth and had to stay several nights in hospital for care after the accident that was caused by a pothole filled with rainwater.

We have previously highlighted the dangers potholes pose to both cyclists and motorbike riders, and this accident was really waiting to happen. The size and number of some of the potholes that have sprung up from over the winter seasons is making the UK’s highways a real danger for two-wheeled road users, and this accident highlights how bad a biker can be injured by a pothole.

A fractured spine and a fractured jaw; just let that sink in for a moment…

The frame of the cyclist’s bike was reportedly snapped in half when the rider hit the pothole that measured some nine inches in depth. What makes matters worse is that the pothole was apparently inspected just three days before the crash by Milton Keynes Council, but despite their own guidelines saying that any pothole deeper than three inches must be made safe within 24 hours, the pothole remained a hazard.

Without the added protection and stability a car offers when hitting a pothole, riders of both motorbikes and pedal bikes can often end up with serious injuries from coming off their bike when a pothole is hit. In this case, a biker has fractured his spine and jaw, lost several teeth and required operations to fix the damage caused. If this case isn’t the perfect example of a serious accident waiting to happen, I don’t know what is. People often joke about pothole tripping claims, but this incident highlights the real dangers that potholes pose.

This is a serious wake-up call for councils to make sure they keep our highways safe before anyone else is seriously injured – or perhaps even killed – in a pothole accident.