A PENSIONER who believes she is lucky to be alive after being knocked down on a pedestrian crossing has urged cyclists to take extra care.

Barbara Sandford last night spoke of her ordeal after being left with internal bleeding, a broken wrist, chipped teeth and bruising after the crash.

Last week teenager Tafari Miller was fined after admitting dangerous cycling at the time of the crash in Oxford’s High Street on March 22.

Medics at the city’s John Radcliffe Hospital told 71-year-old retired personal assistant Mrs Sandford that her injuries could have been much worse.

The grandmother-of-two said: “I had a slight bleed in my head, not my brain, and my doctor said it could have been far more serious and that I could have had a stroke.

“I do realise how lucky I am. My daughter is a nurse and she has said if I had been frail I could have been dead.”

The pensioner, from Crispin Place, Wallingford, had been enjoying a day out shopping in the city and visiting The Ashmolean Museum before she was hurt.

She said: “I came out of the Covered Market on to the crossing and he was coming down the road and just took me out.

“My first recollection was in the ambulance talking to the police who were trying to call my daughter and seeing his face saying ‘I’m so sorry’.

Calling for better road safety, Mrs Sandford said: “I was a cyclist when I was younger - I’m not a cyclist anymore - and they do have a right to be on the road but I think there ought to be more awareness with cyclists that they don’t have the god given right to just go steaming off.

“There needs to be more awareness between pedestrians and cyclists.

“Cyclists don’t have insurance and I do actually have a policy which covers me if I’m knocked over by a bus or a car but I’m not covered when I’m taken out by a pedal cyclist.”

Statistics provided by research company Road Safety Analysis (RSA) showed there were 27 serious and slight collisions between pedestrians and cyclists in Oxfordshire between 2006 and 2010 and a total of 1,902 fatal, serious and slight accidents involving cyclists in the same period.

Spokesman Dan Campsall said: “Collisions between pedal cyclists and pedestrians should be recorded as a road traffic collision, but probably very few are ever recorded.”

Miller, 18, admitted a charge of dangerous cycling on Wednesday, June 6, at Oxford Magistrates’ Court and was fined £100, with a £15 victims’ surcharge and was ordered to pay £85 costs and £500 compensation.

Mrs Sandford said: “I’m just grateful that he called the ambulance and he did apologise.

“I’m pleased with the outcome of the court case because the compensation will cover my new glasses and treatment for the two damaged teeth.

“It could have been a lot worse and I’ve got no recollection of the accident.”