The High Court dismissed Denise Byrne’s personal injury action against Azizur Rahman over a 2011 collision at the Lidl car park entrance on Dublin’s Nangor Road. Mr Justice Barr found that Byrne was responsible for the accident after attempting to use a left-turn slip lane to travel past the entrance and re-enter the bus lane.
The collision happened at about 6.15pm on 17 November 2011, in heavy traffic. Byrne was travelling west and wanted to continue to the next junction to turn left onto Ninth Lock Road. She accepted that she had entered the bus lane before it became a slip lane for Lidl. The judgment says that, once she reached the slip lane, she was entitled to be there only if she intended to turn into the car park. She did not intend to do so.
Byrne said Rahman’s car emerged from the car park and crossed the bus lane in front of her. Rahman said he had been waiting at the exit, saw Byrne approaching with her left indicator flashing, and believed she was turning into Lidl. His wife also said Byrne’s indicator was on. The judge preferred their evidence and found that Byrne’s indicator was flashing at the time of the collision.
The court considered that, in ordinary circumstances, a driver leaving private property cannot assume that an approaching vehicle’s left indicator means it will turn into that exit. But the judge found the Lidl slip lane presented a different situation: private vehicles could lawfully use it only to turn into the car park. He said Rahman was entitled to assume Byrne intended that lawful turn and was not at fault for failing to anticipate that she would cross the car park entrance and return to the bus lane.
The judgment describes Byrne’s intended manoeuvre as unauthorised and says she had a duty to take extreme caution because other road users would not know what she intended. The judge found that she created a situation of great danger and had to bear responsibility for the collision. He dismissed her case against Rahman. The judgment does not state a damages award or make any further order in the supplied text.