Irish cyclist who ran red light awarded €20,000 after motorist hit him and then drove over his foot

An Irish cyclist has been awarded €20,000 after a judge ruled he was 60 per cent responsible for the collision that resulted in a motorist driving over his foot. Bike shop director Pat Deegan had gone through a pelican crossing on red before being hit by Jennifer McPartlin as she turned onto the road.

The Irish Times reports that Deegan was riding to his business in Sandymount, Dublin on May 18, 2015, along Eglington Road, Donnybrook, when he was hit by McPartlin who had pulled out of Brookvale Road.

McPartlin’s car then rolled over Deegan’s foot causing a fracture to his left tibia and fibula, which required surgery.

Deegan sued McPartlin over the incident with the parties agreeing the level of damages should be €51,600.

Deegan said McPartlin pulled out of Brookvale Road onto Eglinton Road without warning, hitting him as he waited at the edge of a yellow box for traffic to move on.

McPartlin said she slowly emerged from the junction to give herself a better view of oncoming traffic and that another driver had signalled for her to pull out.

She said Deegan had gone through the pelican crossing on red, which he denied.

Another cyclist told Ireland’s High Court that the lights at the pelican crossing were red and that she had stopped to allow McPartlin to pull out.

Justice David Keane concluded that McPartlin had assumed that if the lights were red, there wouldn’t be any traffic coming from that direction and hadn’t looked.

He said while this was understandable, it was incorrect and the assumption, “could not operate as an alternative for the strict requirement upon a motorist at a yield sign to keep a proper lookout for traffic, including bicycles, on the main road.”

Preferring the evidence of the second cyclist who he said was “a disinterested witness,” Keane found that on the balance of probabilities, Deegan had gone through a red light and continued on to the Brookvale Road junction.

Deegan was awarded €20,640 with costs to be decided later.