Fourteen Elite Polish Youth Cyclists Hit By Car During Training Ride
WARSAW, March 21, 2008 (AFP) - Fourteen Polish youth competition-level cyclists were injured, two of them seriously, when a car ploughed into their peleton during a training session Friday, police said.
The youths were hit by the oncoming vehicle on a main road near Kalisz in central Poland, the home of their cycling club, KTK, local police told the country’s PAP news agency.
The cyclists, aged 12-18, were all experienced riders and were in training for this year’s Polish, European and world youth championships, officials said.
None of their injuries was reported to be life-threatening, but it was not clear if or when they would be back in the saddle.
The driver of the car was believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed the carriageway, PAP said, but was not drunk.
Poland, a country of 38 million people, has one of the worst road accident records in Europe.
Every year, crashes claim several thousand lives and injure tens of thousands of people.
Safety campaigners blame a combination of bad roads and sloppy driving habits.
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