The High Court apportioned liability for a 2015 collision at the junction of Brookvale Road and Eglington Road in Dublin, finding the driver 40% responsible and the injured cyclist 60% responsible.
Mr Justice David Keane found that Jennifer McPartlin negligently failed to keep a proper lookout as she entered the junction, while Pat Deegan recklessly cycled through a red light at a pedestrian crossing immediately beside it. The court held that both acts were proximate causes of the accident.
The collision happened at about 8.20am on 18 May 2015. Deegan was cycling east along Eglington Road when McPartlin, approaching from Brookvale Road, began turning right. Her car rolled over Deegan’s left foot. He suffered a fragmented fracture of his left tibia and fibula, underwent surgery the next day and was off work for three weeks. The judgment said he had largely recovered.
The parties had agreed damages of €50,000 and special damages of €1,600. The issues for trial were whether McPartlin was negligent and whether Deegan contributed to the accident. The judge said the parties would be heard separately on appropriate ancillary orders; the judgment did not make those orders.
Deegan said he had been cycling in the cycle lane and stopped in a yellow box junction when McPartlin’s car blocked his path. He denied running a red light. McPartlin and several defence witnesses said the crossing lights were red. The judge preferred the evidence of Shona Darcy, an independent witness, who said Deegan continued through the red light while she stopped.
The judge rejected the defence engineer’s view that a driver could proceed from the yield sign if the nearby pedestrian lights were red and the road appeared clear. A red light did not remove the driver’s duty to watch for traffic on the main road, including cyclists, he said. McPartlin had wrongly assumed the red lights meant there would be no traffic between the crossing and the junction.
On the balance of probabilities, the judge found that Deegan swerved out of the cycle lane into the yellow box as McPartlin’s vehicle moved across his path, then stopped and put his left foot down. The judge could not say whether Deegan’s front tyre contacted the car before he stopped, but said that uncertainty did not affect the outcome. The car rolled onto his foot before McPartlin became aware of him.