Motorcyclists Neck Cut after Hitting Kite Wire Strung Across Road

27-year-old Humayun Kobir is recovering in a Toronto hospital after receiving a serious laceration to his neck after riding into a line of wire strung across an intersection.

According to local reports, Kobir felt a sharp pain in his neck after riding through an intersection on his Suzuki GSX-R on Aug. 27, his 27th birthday. Kobir was able to bring his Gixxer to a stop and flagged down another motorist. Kobir was taken to hospital where he is currently in stable condition, though he is having difficulty speaking.

CTV News reports Kobir struck a kite string that was strung about five to six feet off the ground across the road to the street light post.

"With him riding a bike, I thought it would definitely be very serious. But this is pretty serious too. It was a pretty deep cut," Kobir’s brother, Suleyman Kobir told the Toronto Star. "If it was a few inches closer to the middle part of his neck, he could have had his (head) cut off."

The area is popular with kite flyers, and with strong winds blowing through Toronto thanks to Hurricane Irene, there may have been several kite flyers out that day. Because of the height the wire was strung, police are treating the incident as suspicious, though they haven’t ruled out the possibility it was an accident.

A man who hands out newspapers near the intersection told CTV News he had seen a group of teenagers horsing around the area with kite string recently.

Editor’s note: As readers may know, I live in Toronto and I am familiar with the intersection, and this news is particularly distressing to me.

The Warden Ave. and St. Clair Ave. intersection is a fairly busy area through the week. Though it was no doubt much quieter on a Sunday afternoon when the incident occurred, I can’t see how the wire could have been there for too long before Kobir struck it. The intersection is by a large public transit station, though buses aren’t usually routed to pass through where the string was hanging.

Because of the heavy winds and popularity of kite flying in nearby parks, I can understand why police cannot rule out the possibility this was a freak accident, but if they can confirm there was malicious intent, I hope police will catch the people behind it.

[Source: Toronto Star, CTV News]