Mariinsky soloist in critical condition after scooter fall
mainRussian media report that the dancer David Zaleyev is in a coma in hospital after falling off his scooter into traffic.
Video of the accident show Zaleyev speeding along a pavement and clipping a pedestrian before his fall.
We pray for his recovery.
Relieved to see the pedestrian wasn’t harmed.
helmets, helmets, helmets. I hate these scooters.
In Britain they are actually illegal to use on the road or the pavement. Pity the law seems to be so widely ignored.
It doesn’t look like a “scooter” to me but something like a Segway. They are hugely dangerous. It also seems he was not in a traffic lane.
It also appears he was not wearing a helmet.
RT reports that Zaleyev was highly intoxicated at the time of the accident and, further, that he suffered severe cranial trauma and was placed into a coma. The video, while harrowing, is worth a look – you can pretty clearly see that he only slightly clipped the pedestrian (perhaps the scooter hit the pedestrian’s shoe, or maybe it was just a near miss, but the light on the front of the scooter tracks through the video and watching it in slow motion is very instructive both of how dangerous these scooters are and how recovering from even a small incident is basically impossible). It’s clear he was terribly hurt, crashing to the ground and rolling over without moving.
But he was going much too fast – probably about 18km/hr, which is the top speed of most of those scooters; and he is definitely at fault, intoxicated or not. His career is likely over.
Very sad. So often young people they they are invincible until something like this happens. He should have worn a helmet!
Let’s hope he recovers.
The issue is not really the helmet, but the fact he was: (a) drunk; and (b) travelling too fast; and (c) did not slow down when he came to another road user.