Judge clears cyclist who knocked woman unconscious of causing serious accident
Ray Managh
A cyclist, who knocked a woman unconscious after colliding with her as she stepped off a bus, has been cleared of all responsibility for the accident or having caused her serious injuries.
Judge James O’Donohoe, who last week branded cyclists in Dublin as “a nightmare,” decided on Thursday that Dublin Bus, whose driver allowed the woman to alight at an undesignated stop, was 100 per cent liable for the accident.
Barrister Susan Lennox, counsel for 39-year-old office administrator Ciara Murray, told the Circuit Civil Court that Dublin Bus had joined cyclist Marcin Sroka as a third party to Ms Murray’s €60,000 personal injuries claim, alleging he was to blame for having caused the accident.
Ms Lennox, who appeared with Naomi Bourke of Margetson and Greene Solicitors, said all parties, prior to the hearing, had agreed medical reports relating to Ms Murray’s injuries and had valued her damages, should she win, at €25,000, which Dublin Bus will now have to pay together with everyone’s legal costs.
Following the hearing, John Hennessy, of Hennessy Perrozzi Solicitors, Swords, who represented Mr Sroka, said it was absurd that Dublin Bus should have, in the circumstances, joined the cyclist as a third party to Ms Murray’s proceedings.
The court heard that when the bus arrived at Ms Murray’s stop in Santry on the Old Dublin Road shortly after 8am on September 20th, 2021 there had been two other buses stopped nose to tail and her bus had pulled into line third in a queue and more than 30 metres back from the designated stop.
Ms Murray, of Ashley Avenue, Swords, Co Dublin, said she had been on her way to work and had just stepped off the bus after the driver had opened the doors. She had been struck by the cyclist, Mr Sroka, of Boroimhe Birches, Swords, and knocked unconscious. She had been sitting on a grass verge when she recovered consciousness and had been taken to Beaumont hospital by ambulance.
Medical reports revealed she had suffered concussion and severe neck injuries. She had suffered from headaches and had been left with scars on her hands.
Sean Coleman, of Arthur McLean Solicitors for Dublin Bus, told Judge O’Donohoe buses regularly stopped in line at bus stops to allow passengers alight, and CCTV showed Ms Murray stepping onto a pedestrian-cyclist joint-use path and being hit by Mr Sroka’s bike.
He said it had also revealed that a pedestrian had stepped off the path onto a grass verge due, obviously, to having noticed Mr Sroka approaching and just a split second prior to his colliding with Ms Murray.
He said an expert witness had calculated that Mr Sroka had been travelling on a downhill gradient between 30 and 34 kilometres an hour immediately prior to striking Ms Murray.
Mr Coleman submitted that Mr Sroka, a sound engineer with DCU and who denied speeding, had to bear a major level of responsibility for the accident. Mr Sroka told the court that, even if he had been travelling at only 10 km an hour, he could not have avoided hitting Ms Murray.
“The moment she stepped off the bus I had no chance to stop,” Mr Sroka said.
Bus driver Larry Curran told barrister Pat Purcell, counsel for Mr Sroka, he was not at the designated stop when he had opened the doors, something that would often be demanded by passengers in a hurry to work when a bus stopped just short of the stop. He had checked his mirrors and had not seen any cyclists on the path.
Judge O’Donohoe said expert forensic engineer Barry Tennyson had made it very clear there had been breaches of the code of practice for Dublin Bus drivers, and Mr Curran had himself accepted he breached the code by stopping at an undesignated stop.
Mr Coleman was granted a stay on the court’s finding to facilitate consideration by Dublin Bus of an appeal to the High Court.
