• A New Year’s Day bike ride took a dramatic turn when a cyclist spun 180 degrees in the air after an SUV driver pulled into his path in Clover Park, Auckland. 
• The cyclist later confronted the pensioner driver at her home, asking for more than $12,000 in damages to the custom-built road bike and posting footage of both the crash and the confrontation online. 
• The SUV’s driver, Mele Kauvalu, says she looked but didn’t see the cyclist, can’t remember if she indicated and doesn’t know how she’ll pay for the repairs if a Disputes’ Tribunal case finds in favour of the cyclist, who also reported the incident to police. 

A cyclist captured in startling video footage flipping 180 degrees over his handlebars after being cut off by an SUV later confronted the driver at her home, demanding she pay more than $12,800 in repairs for the uninsured custom-built $20,000 road bike. 

Driver Mele Kauvalu – who is also uninsured – told the Herald she looked but didn’t see the cyclist before pulling out, but couldn’t remember if she’d also indicated. 

The dramatic New Year’s Day incident happened as she was leaving her priest’s home in South Auckland. 

“They want me to pay the money. I don’t know where the hell I’m gonna get the money … they may have to take it off my pension every damn, bloody fortnight”, the Ellerslie grandmother said of the damages claim now going before the Disputes’ Tribunal in late March. 

The cyclist, a Wellington-based road and traffic safety engineer, was the second rider in a single-file group of four on Boundary Rd in Clover Park just after 8am when, he claims, Kauvalu pulled her black 2022 Mitsubishi ASX out from its parking spot without warning. 

“I was forced to brake, and as my brakes locked up … I flipped 180 degrees in the air and landed on my back, nearly breaking my neck in the process.” 

The man, who didn’t want to give his full name, was riding at a speed of 30-35km/h at the time of the crash, which was captured on a fellow cyclist’s camera and later shared on social media. 

A screengrab of a fellow cyclist's camera shows the Wellington cyclist halfway through a 180 degree flip during the New Year's Day incident in Clover Park, Auckland. Photo / Screengrab via YouTube 

The crash left him with heavy bruises, grazes and in shock, forcing him to take a week off work to recover. 

But it could’ve been worse, the cyclist said. 

“My helmet saved my life … it has a massive dent on it. It could’ve been a fatal accident.” 

Police are investigating the incident, including a claim Kauvalu left the scene after the collision, they said today. 

Kauvalu says she got out of her vehicle but left soon after because the cyclist didn’t appear injured and she didn’t think she was involved. 

“Police have since received additional information to assist our inquiries”, a police spokesman said. 

“We are in the process of speaking with the registered owner of a nominated vehicle.” 

Meanwhile, the cyclist lodged a Disputes’ Tribunal claim for $12,805 repairs to the bike, including $3800 for the buckled carbon wheelset, $3290 for damage to the carbon fork/frame and $2100 for the damaged carbon PM crankset. 

His $599 ABUS Gamechanger helmet and $699 Garmin Edge 530 GPS bike computer were also damaged, along with the rear derailleur, left shifter and handlebar, and it would cost $360 in labour for a mechanic to replace parts on the damaged bike, he said. 

The cyclist landed on his back after the crash in Clover Park, Auckland, but his helmet also took some impact – saving his life, the man says. Photo / Screengrab via YouTube 

Asked why he was uninsured, the cyclist said the bike was built just before Christmas and he’d “barely had a chance to ride it, let alone specify it on a contents policy”. 

“Insurance is primarily useful when you are at fault for something. Its secondary purpose is for when your property is damaged … in this case ... [Kauvalu] is 100% at fault,” he claimed. 

A Disputes’ Tribunal claim was the “logical method to recover my loss”, but he also hoped she would be charged by police. 

Footage had also been posted online of the cyclist and his cousin confronting Kauvalu at her home the following day, telling her she’d “almost killed” him by pulling out without indicating. 

“No, I didn’t hit him. He bumped into my car”, Kauvalu replied in the video. 

She was also told the bike repairs were $12,000. 

“Twelve thousand dollars? How the hell?” Kauvalu replied, moments before the video cut off. 

“There’s no damn way I’m gonna end up bloody paying that.” 

She “can’t believe I didn’t see anything coming” when checking behind her before the incident, Kauvalu told the Herald. 

“I wasn’t in a hurry or anything, because we’d just visited our priest on the first day of the new year, [which we do] every year. 

“I just looked and [it] was clear for me.” 

The cycling group pictured in this video screengrab which also shows the black SUV as it is pulling out of street parking before the crash. Photo / Screengrab via YouTube 

Asked if she’d indicated, Kauvalu said she couldn’t remember but conceded the video footage – which appeared to show no indication – was “probably right”. 

“If I don’t indicate and it caused it, then I suppose I feel responsible.” 

But on the day she believed she hadn’t done anything wrong, stopping and getting out of the SUV after hearing screams, and then asking a woman on the other side of the road if she’d hit someone. 

“She said, ‘No, no. He just stopped … [pushed] down on the brake and fell'.” 

Kauvalu then left without speaking to the cyclist because he didn’t appear injured, was with others and she didn’t believe she was at fault, she said. 

“I thought, ‘I didn’t hit anything’.” 

She questioned why the cyclist was the only one in his group to fall, and said she’d pulled out slowly, and the bike and her SUV hadn’t come into contact. 

Police had since contacted her, but the 68-year-old knew little more than that. 

“They sent me something. I have to go to a tribunal or whatever you call it.” 

She wasn’t insured because she couldn’t afford it, said Kauvalu, who retired from her job at a pharmaceutical factory aged 67. 

“When you get paid $700 a fortnight, it comes today and is gone tomorrow.” 

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.