THE 11-year-old boy struck by a car in a hit-and-run at a Bendigo roundabout says the car came within one foot of completely running him over.
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Blair Hinton was trick or treating for Halloween in Kennington at 5.20pm on Tuesday when he attempted to cross Somerville Street on his bicycle near the roundabout with Condon Street.
A white sedan cut across a lane of traffic turning from Condon into Somerville street and collided with the side of Blair and his bike.
The car drove over the back wheel of the bike and continued along Somerville Street without stopping, leaving Blair on the road.
Blair said it all happened quickly.
“I saw the car just a bit, I heard it coming at the last second,” he said.
Click the video below to see the footage:
“The car hit my leg, that’s where the big bruise is from.
“I’m really sore in my leg, having sharp pain. It’s really starting to hurt now.”
Blair said there were multiple people in the car.
A car pulled over and a woman helped him from the road, before another driver briefly followed the offending vehicle in an attempt to get its registration details.
The driver of another car provided Blair’s mother Amanda Franks with dash cam footage of the incident, which has since gone viral on social media.
Blair was taken home and handed his mum a stack of contact details and business cards from people who witnessed the incident.
Ms Franks said they were trying to get help from the community to find the perpetrator, but did not expect the massive response.
When asked what she would say to the driver, Ms Franks was reluctant to swear.
“I’m at a loss for words. I don’t have anything nice to say, so I don’t want to say anything at all to them,” she said.
“In an ideal world they would hand themselves in. But when you’re facing the repercussions of what you’ve done, I don’t expect them to come forward.
“People were fantastic at the scene.”
Police are investigating the incident.
The footage was provided to Ms Franks on an iPad, and she recorded it using a phone to track the movements of the white car.
EARLIER: FOOTAGE of a driver fleeing the scene of a collision with a child on a bicycle in Bendigo has angered a local cycling group, which described the incident as “unacceptable”.
Dash cam footage was posted on social media showing the driver of a white car turning from Condon Street into Somerville Street from a roundabout when the car collided with the side of a bicycle.
The driver accelerates along Somerville Street without slowing down while the child was left on the road.
Bike Bendigo’s Rob Kretschmer said it highlighted the vulnerability of cyclists on the roads.
“It’s unacceptable to leave a crash like that,” he said.
“When you’re on a bike you’re always vulnerable, and all road users need to think about how we can protect one another.
“It’s hard to fathom how something like this could happen.
“With the trend of more and more drivers using dash cams, incidents like this are increasingly getting picked up.”
The mother of the child posted the video footage on Facebook on Thursday, hoping to track down the driver of the car.
She thanked passers-by who stopped to assist, including one male driver who provided the dash cam footage.
A woman stopped to help the child off the road, and another man followed the car briefly and obtained a partial registration number.
A high school student also ran over to lend assistance.
The mother confirmed her son sustained a bruised leg and avoided serious injury.
Police are investigating the incident.