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Taxi driver who deliberately knocked cyclist off bike avoids jail

Dermott Reynolds received an 18-month suspended sentence for twice veering towards a cyclist — knocking him down the second time — following a verbal exchange about the professional driver's tailgating...

A Dublin taxi driver who deliberately knocked a cyclist off their bike has avoided jail, instead receiving an 18-month suspended sentence.

Dermott Reynolds now works for a courier company despite having pleaded guilty to one count of endangerment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in relation to the incident from September 2018, for which he was also ordered to pay his victim €2,000, Independent.ie reports.

> Motorist deliberately rams cyclist before driving off – as passenger films

The incident, video of which was shared on road.cc in 2018 and was used as evidence, unfolded at around 6am on September 20 when the cyclist – credited on the footage as José Jiménez – took issue with the driver's tailgating.

Following a verbal exchange, the driver accelerated past before cutting across the bus lane to block the cyclist's path, knocking the rider off their bike on the second attempt.

The driver told Mr Jiménez it had been an accident and drove off, seemingly unconcerned by the cyclist's assertion that the incident had been caught on his camera.

> Video: Dublin taxi driver drives on wrong side of road at cyclist

Reynolds later went to the gardaí to claim the cyclist had undertook his vehicle and verbally abused him. However, the rider's camera footage proved key, and showed the motorist twice veering towards him, knocking him off his bicycle.

Judge Martin Nolan concluded Reynolds' behaviour was "reprehensible" but concluded the driver should not be sent directly to prison for the incident from four years ago, instead deciding on an 18-month suspended sentence and €2,000 in compensation to be paid to the victim within six months.

The court heard that the former taxi driver had two previous minor convictions for road traffic offences, but the judge took Reynolds' mitigating factors — the defence counsel told the court the driver's dad died a few months after the incident and he is currently caring for his ill mother — into account during sentencing.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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12 comments

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BadgerBeaver | 1 year ago
6 likes

I've worked with Irish people in London who cannot fathom why cyclists here are "allowed", in reference to the commute, cycle boxes at traffic lights, lanes etc.

For such an otherwise progressive and often beautiful country, with a history of successful pro cyclists, it shocks me how anti-cycling the Irish are.  

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Seagull2 replied to BadgerBeaver | 1 year ago
8 likes

as someone who commutes here and cycles regularly on the weekends, most drivers are decent and respectful. The infra is slowly improving.  But in terms of enforcement , there is little to deter any driver in my view. This morning , from edge of town to my place of work ( 1 km ) , painted cycle lane most of the way, i had to go around 4 different vehicles parked up on the cycle lane ,  and this at a time when some kids are out cycling to school.  

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Secret_squirrel replied to BadgerBeaver | 1 year ago
1 like

For such a progressive and beautiful comments section it shocks me how racist your comments are.

Hint.  If you wouldnt type it if you substituted Irish for another ethnicity then its racist ffs.

For the record I lived in Dublin for 8 years and noticed no such thing.

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OnTheRopes replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
12 likes

it shocks me how anti-cycling the English are.
hmmm, can't see much racism in that myself.

I'm amazed how pro cycling the Spanish are
No, not there either.

Just an observation of atitude to cycling in different countries.

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hawkinspeter replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
12 likes

Secret_squirrel wrote:

For such a progressive and beautiful comments section it shocks me how racist your comments are.

Hint.  If you wouldnt type it if you substituted Irish for another ethnicity then its racist ffs.

For the record I lived in Dublin for 8 years and noticed no such thing.

It doesn't seem racist to me to compare attitudes in different countries. When "Irish" is used in that context, it refers to the people, political systems, laws and infrastructure, so it's not really making a statement about what you would expect from meeting a typical Irish person.

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mark1a replied to hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
7 likes

Agree, and was about to reply with exactly that.

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Secret_squirrel replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
1 like

When you generalise the behaviour of an entire nation based on no evidence but the few representatives you have met in a foreign country that seems pretty racist to me.....

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chrisonabike replied to Secret_squirrel | 1 year ago
8 likes

The Dutch are really into cycling!

Mods - ban me!

On the other hand you're correct - if I summed up a country by reference to some of its ex-pats I'd likely have a pretty distorted picture.

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brooksby | 1 year ago
8 likes

And what about a driving ban and/or a retest?? surprise

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Seagull2 replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
6 likes

Not in Ireland brooksby ,   i wish it were different, but cars rule !  All the cops drive, all the judges drive, all the lawyers drive ,  cyclists seen as pests at best , very rare to get a fair result, in spite of all the video evidence you could wish for, ref above  2  

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Simon_MacMichael replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
8 likes

No mention of a ban in either of the reports I've seen in the Irish press. I did have a quick search to see if the specific offence here carries some form of automatic ban but can't find anything to confirm that ... it appears to be at judge's discretion.

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brooksby replied to Simon_MacMichael | 1 year ago
3 likes

Very disappointing, then.

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