The High Court has dismissed Peter Duffy’s action against Patrick Lyons over a 2014 collision between Duffy’s electric bicycle and Lyons’s car at the junction of Crumlin Road and Rafters Road in Dublin 12. Mr Justice Barr found that Duffy’s failure to yield and to look for oncoming traffic predominantly caused the collision, and that Lyons had no chance to avoid it.
The accident happened at about 9.15pm on 8 September 2014. Duffy was crossing Crumlin Road to turn right into Rafters Road when Lyons’s car struck the bicycle. Duffy said he had seen the car some distance away before turning. He accepted in evidence that he did not look left again as he crossed the road and that the impact came shortly after he crossed the centre line. Lyons said Duffy emerged between vehicles in slow or backed-up traffic and into the car’s path.
The judge accepted that Duffy had been wearing a high-visibility vest, but found that he had no lights on his bicycle. The judgment said his lack of a helmet did not cause the accident, though the judge considered it relevant to Duffy’s care for his own safety. The court also noted that Duffy had not said he signalled his right turn.
The judge found that Duffy entered the far carriageway in one sweeping movement and was struck about 1.5 to 2 metres beyond the centre line. On the evidence about the crossing time, reaction time and stopping distance, the car was probably about 15 metres from the junction when Duffy crossed the line. The judge concluded Lyons had almost no chance to stop.
The court preferred Lyons’s account that traffic on Duffy’s side of the road was backed up or moving very slowly and that Duffy emerged between vehicles. It found Lyons was not negligent and had no chance to avoid the collision. The action was dismissed. The judgment records that special damages of €2,200 had been agreed, but makes no award because the claim was dismissed.