Published: Monday, 8th September, 2008 1:54pm

‘Cycle helmet saved my life’

by Lucy Crossley

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Life saver: PC Bell and his cycle helmet which was smashed in the crash.

A POLICEMAN who lost a leg in a road accident has revealed how a cycle helmet saved his life.

PC Martin Bell, 46, was knocked off his bike in October by a speeding van driver and suffered numerous injuries including a large cut to his head and serious damage to his right leg, which had to be amputated below the knee.

Speaking on Friday after driver Ryan Cox, 30, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, PC Bell said had it not been for the helmet he was wearing at the time of the crash he would have died.

PC Bell, who lives in Binfield and works for Thames Valley Police in Windsor, said: "It was my cycle helmet that saved me.

"I actually smashed the driver's windscreen and was then thrown onto the roof of the van - if I hadn't been wearing that helmet I wouldn't be here."

PC Bell only returned to work full time last month and his recovery process has been a long one. He still has whiplash-like pains in his neck and numbness in his hands.

He said: "A lot of people have said to me ‘you must have been devastated when you woke up in hospital', but I wasn't really.

"I woke up and took stock of all the bandages and the missing leg but the only thing that went through my head was ‘crumbs', I thought ‘I have lost a leg but I can get a prosthetic one."

Bracknell Magistrates Court heard how Cox, of Thorpe, Surrey, was travelling at 54 mph when he hit PC Bell.

He was cycling at Harvest Ride in Warfield, on his way to work at 6.50am on October 22 last year. Cox had accelerated in an attempt to overtake PC Bell but when the cyclist veered to the right he was struck by the Vauxhall Astra van.

PC Bell said: "I do feel sorry for Mr Cox because he has had to live with this for the last 10 months as well.

"He must have gone through quite a traumatic experience."

Cox also pleaded guilty to using a vehicle without an MOT certificate, using a vehicle with defective breaks and using a tyre with insufficient tread - but none of these were a factor in the accident.

He was fined £570 and given nine points on his licence for driving without due care and attention along with £250 each for the breaks and tyre charges.

Cox also had to pay £300 costs and a £15 surcharge imposed by the government. As he already had points on his licence for speeding he is now banned from driving for six months.

Chairman of the Magistrates bench Brian Griffin said: "Mr Cox didn't need to speed up on over taking and only moved partially to the right."