Paramedics treat cyclist sprawled on car roof after collision near Wollongong

Paramedics had to treat a cyclist with a suspected spinal injury on the roof of a car following a crash near Wollongong this week. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

Cyclist Peter Franc had to be treated on the roof of a car after a collision on Thursday morning. Picture: Charlie Coquillard

There was no time to waste and suspected spinal injuries meant moving him needed preparation, so when a Sydney cyclist ended up sprawled on a car’s roof after a collision, that’s where he was initially treated

Keen cyclist Peter Franc, 40, from Petersham in Sydney’s inner west, set out before dawn on a “bucket list” cycling trip to Melbourne, planning on biking his way down the east coast.

Paramedics — including one off duty — treat cyclist Peter Franc as he lies on the roof of a car. Picture: Charlie Coquillard

Mr Franc is loaded into a helicopter to be flown to hospital. Picture: Charlie Coquillard

But at 8.15am on Thursday, less than two hours after bidding wife Emma and their two-year-old daughter Anika farewell, Mr Franc saw his life flash before his eyes after he says a car turned across his bike’s path on Lawrence Hargrave Dr, in Wollongong, T-boning him.

“I was headed down a hill, one car was turning right but then another car followed and didn’t check to see if I was there … I knew we were going to collide, it was too late, just a case of picking a side with less impact,” Mr Franc said.

“Everything slowed down, I hit the car and somehow ended up on the roof while he was still driving … everything was in white and black flashes, then I passed out.”

Mr Franc will have surgery for a spinal fracture.

The cyclist had two hours earlier farewelled wife Emma and daughter Anika, 2, before he and the car collided.

Mr Franc hit the left side of the car and rolled across the windshield before ending up on the roof.

The car, a small blue SUV, stopped shortly down the road before videographer Charlie Coquillard, who was following Mr Franc’s ride to film it, called an ambulance.

Mr Coquillard snapped a series of confronting images as the 40 year-old was treated on the car’s roof, including by a passing off-duty paramedic in a singlet.

He was flown to St George Hospital, where he will undergo surgery for a spinal fracture and further fractures to his right leg and wrist.

“I’m alive, but I remember when I woke up on the roof I kept asking the driver, ‘why didn’t you stop, why didn’t you stop?’,” Mr Franc said.

Wollongong police are ­investigating the incident.