SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — A bicyclist is in critical condition after being hit by a car in South Salt Lake.

“The bicyclist was in the northbound lanes of 500 West and he turned right onto 3900 South simultaneously with a pick-up,” said Sgt. Melody Cutler with the Unified Police Department. “For some reason, he turned, went right in front of the truck and hit the side of the car, which launched him into the air, causing some severe head injuries.”

She said the cyclist is a man in his 40s. She said his is in extremely critical condition at the hospital. She added the driver of the car was cooperative and had no reported injuries.

“In this circumstance, we’re extremely lucky that there was surveillance video caught so we saw exactly what happened,” Cutler said.

Matt Van Lenten saw the scene of the crash Wednesday during his commute to work.

“I saw a bicycle that was just in pieces all over the road with a pink backpack laying in the middle of the road,” he said.

He said it was hard to see. He’s a cyclist, too.

“It’s getting more and more dangerous riding around the city,” Van Lenten said. “I don’t even go out very much anymore, just because there’s been a lot of pedestrian and cyclist accidents over the last few years. It’s like every week, you see more.”

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, the number of pedestrian fatalities continues to climb.

Van Lenten said he’s had his own scary experiences.

“There was some really hairy times of people pulling out in front of you — not just that, but a lot of broken bottles and things like that on the side of the road that you need to avoid,” he said.

Officers called Wednesday’s collision unusual.

“Really unusual circumstances where it’s an odd thing to see, that for some unknown reason in the road, decided to turn left into other vehicles that he would’ve known were there because he had been stopped right beside them,” Cutler said.

The Unified Police Department’s reconstruction team is investigating the cause of this crash.