A driver was 80% responsible for a 2012 collision with a cyclist on North Strand Road in Dublin, while the cyclist was 20% contributorily negligent, the High Court has found. Mr Justice Barr awarded the plaintiff €48,000 after applying that apportionment to €60,000 in general damages.
The judgment, delivered on 4 May 2017, concerned a collision at about 9.50am on 5 January 2012. The cyclist was crossing the inbound carriageway through stationary traffic when he was struck by the defendant’s car. The central dispute was whether the car had entered a bus lane or a left-turn filter lane, and how the collision happened.
The cyclist said he had looked left and seen the bus lane clear before entering it. The driver said he had moved into a filter lane to turn left into Seville Place, when the cyclist appeared from between cars. Garda evidence included a notebook entry recording that the cyclist had crossed from opposite the Super Saver Shop and that the driver said he was in the left lane. The garda also testified to an alleged admission by the cyclist that he had cycled out in front of the car, but had not recorded that statement in his notes.
The judge was uneasy about the garda’s recollection of unrecorded remarks made more than five years earlier and preferred the matters recorded at the time. He found that at the collision point the lane was still a bus lane, not a filter lane. He accepted the cyclist’s account and found the driver had pulled out of stationary traffic at an unreasonable speed without keeping a proper lookout. The driver’s evidence about the damage, his speed and his actions after the collision was also found unsatisfactory.
The judge nevertheless found the cyclist’s crossing manoeuvre unusual and said it called for a very careful lookout. Although it was not a breach of the rules of the road, the cyclist had not kept a sufficient lookout. The court apportioned liability 80% to the driver and 20% to the cyclist.
No medical witnesses gave evidence at trial, though the court considered medical reports. The cyclist’s main lasting injury was a tear to the meniscus in his left knee. An arthroscopy in 2016 found a partial tear and degenerative changes; the meniscal tissue was not removed. The judge concluded that ongoing knee discomfort was likely. He assessed general damages at €40,000 for past suffering and €20,000 for future suffering. After the liability reduction, judgment was entered for €48,000. The judgment noted there were no special damages.