A shocking viral video of a teenager cycling into the path of an oncoming car is circulating social media.
The short clip of Park Street Lane, St Albans shows a 14-year-old boy playing a dangerous game - he is doing a wheelie on the wrong side of the road before car smashes into him and flips him over the bonnet.
The footage was released by the boy’s mother, Lesley Hooper, and she said he is not badly injured, escaping with just a few bruises.
She said she wanted to warn other parents about the game before someone is seriously or fatally hurt.
Anecdotal evidence from residents around St Albans on Facebook seems to indicate it is not an isolated incident of the game.
On the Facebook group All Things St Albans Lisa Carroll said she is surprised no-one has been hit sooner: “They purposely intimidate drivers; doing wheelies straight at oncoming cars, happened to me several times in How Wood.
“Would like to hope this will make them think twice now but the level of audacity I’ve seen I highly doubt it.”
A secondary school nearby, Marlborough Science Academy, has released a comment following the incident.
Headteacher Annie Thomson said: “Road safety is something we take very seriously at the school and we talk to students regularly about how to keep themselves safe on their bikes and travelling to school.”
Insp Adam Such, from the St Albans Safer Neighbourhood Team, said they have spoken to the boy: “The boy involved lives in Borehamwood and I can confirm that local Safer Neighbourhood Team officers made contact with the boy and his parents to give him words of advice around his behaviour.
“We have the full support of the boy’s mother in sharing the footage as part of educational visits in schools, which we will be looking to support Borehamwood officers with in the near future.”
Adding: “We will not tolerate this type of behaviour in St Albans and I want to take this opportunity to make it very clear just how dangerous these ‘pranks’ can be. Luckily in this instance, the boy was not seriously hurt but there is a very real risk that this practice could have tragic circumstances if it goes wrong.
“I can imagine the driver of the car involved got a real fright, and now the nights are drawing in now it will be harder for motorists to see cyclists if they are not wearing reflective clothing.”
He urged parents to warn their children away from this behaviour.
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