Guilford County, NC -- A bicyclist struck by a car Saturday morning remains in critical condition at Moses Cone Hospital.
Troopers said that 39-year-old Ross Hiller was riding on Lake Brandt Road, near Scalesville Road in Summerfield when he was hit around 11am.
The driver of the car that struck Hiller, Amy Byrd, told investigators that she was blinded by sunlight and had a sneezing episode as she crested a hill. She said the sneezing fit caused her eyes to close and she hit Hiller from behind.
Hiller was taken to Moses Cone Hospital with injuries to his head and injury to his vertebrae.
Under North Carolina law, bicycles have the same rights to the road as cars do, and drivers are required to share the road with bicyclists.
Collisions between cars and bikes is unfortunately a common occurrence on the roads of northwest Greensboro, as a bicyclist was killed less than a mile away from the place Hiller was hit two years ago.
Alan Thomas often bikes along Lake Brandt road, and was hit by a car in early November. Thomas was on the way back from the grocery store when he says, "all of a sudden, wham, I'm laying on the ground, and there is a car still going, didn't even stop."
The driver who hit Thomas said he was distracted while changing the radio station and didn't see Thomas on his bike.
Thomas wants drivers to know that his bike, "is my automobile, if I do anything, I do it on a bicycle. I go to the movies, I go to the store, I commute to and from my job."
As for drivers who feel annoyed by bikers on the roadways, Thomas tells them to think of it this way, "when they get hit by an eight-teen wheeler truck and it says 'it's my road, you shouldn't be on it,' maybe they'll understand."
Jeff Morrison, Sales Manager at Performance Bicycle, talked to News 2 about what bicyclists and drivers should do to make sure both share the road safely.
Morrison said bicyclists should wear reflective clothing and always have a blinking light so that drivers are aware a bicycle is on the road.
He also said, "a big factor is weather, early morning and late afternoon, when the sun is coming up and the sun is going down, that causes glare on drivers and can lead to collisions."
The bottom line, Morrison said, is to be aware there are bicycles on the road, and as long as drivers and bikers look out for each other, both drivers and bicyclists can stay safe.