The High Court found Dublin Bus and its driver liable for 70% of the fault in a 2009 collision that left a 12-year-old boy seriously injured in Bray. The boy was held 30% responsible because he ran across the road.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Kevin Cross on 24 April 2013, followed a hearing limited to liability. The boy, who could not give evidence because of his injuries, sued through his father and next friend. The parties agreed that the court would decide responsibility for the collision; the judgment did not assess damages.
The collision happened on Herbert Road on 4 February 2009. The boy was visiting from Spain with classmates attending an English-language school in Bray. After the group encountered older local youths on a nearby green—who, the court heard, had previously confronted them verbally and brandished hurleys—the boy ran diagonally across the road. A Dublin Bus vehicle approaching from behind struck him.
The driver said he saw the boys near the junction shortly before the collision. The court reviewed footage from three cameras on the bus and evidence from passengers and experts. It concluded that the boys were visible several seconds before the boy stepped into the road, and that the driver did not notice them until about a second beforehand. The judge found that a conversation with a passenger, or its lingering distraction, had taken the driver’s attention from the road.
The court accepted that once the boy ran in front of the bus, the driver had no opportunity to do more than brake, steer towards the road’s centre and stop. But the judge found that, had the driver seen the group earlier and noticed their unsettled movements, he should have slowed by braking, moved the bus towards the centre of the road when safe, and sounded the horn. The court held the defendants negligent for failing to keep a sufficient lookout and respond sooner.
The judge also found contributory negligence. He accepted that the boy faced a real emergency because of the earlier threats, and that being unfamiliar with Irish traffic moving on the left was relevant. Those circumstances did not excuse his decision to run across the road. The court apportioned fault 70% to the defendants and 30% to the boy, directing that any damages be reduced by 30%.