THE mother of a teenage cyclist fatally injured in a road collision has made an emotional plea to other riders saying "Please don't do this to your own mums, wear a helmet".
In a statement, Maxx Church's mother, Nikki Blount, said she would "rather you looked like an idiot than look like Maxx did when he died in my arms".
And she said she had read every message of support she and her family had received since the tragedy and that they had been "a welcome distraction to losing my baby boy".
Eighteen-year-old Maxx, of Wolfa Street, died after the bike he was riding collided with an Audi A3 at the junction of Abbey Street and Mercian Way at 6pm on Tuesday.
He sustained serious injuries and died in the Royal Derby Hospital.
Ms Blount said: "I am completely overwhelmed by the number of messages I have received, and the kindness of everyone's words is a huge comfort to me. There is no way I could reply to every single one, but I have read them all and appreciate every single word of comfort.
"Reading messages is a welcome distraction to thinking about how I feel about losing my baby boy.
"Please don't do this to your own mums. Wear a helmet. I'd rather you looked like an idiot than look like Maxx did when he died in my arms.
"My heart goes out to his poor friend, Josh, who witnessed the whole thing and stayed with him until the ambulance came, then waited at the hospital for news.
"I also want to thank all those of his friends who joined Josh to wait for news."
Ms Blount has told police she does not wish to make any further statement to the media at the moment following the death of her son.
Meanwhile, further messages of support and tribute have been paid on social media.
On the Derby Telegraph's Facebook page, Paul Hitchcock said: "I'm extremely sorry for the family.
"I live very close to the scene.
"My 19-year-old son rides to work and back every day and I cannot imagine how the family are coping with this sad news.
"That junction is terrible. I have witnessed and been involved in many near-misses and accidents.
"Please do something before we read about another fatality.
"RIP dear boy."
Another reader to leave a message was Rachel Plimmer.
She said: "RIP such a tragic loss.
"Some of the speed people drive at that junction/road is awful.
"I had a near-incident myself with a taxi driver driving straight through a red light in front of me."
And Lynne Land said: "My sincere condolences to his poor family. My daughter is 18, it's just no age."
A spokesman for Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court said Maxx's inquest was due to open tomorrow morning.
Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to call the police on 101.
