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news
statue-justice-old-bailey-licensed-cc-2.0-flickr-ronnie-macdonaldCyclist doored by phone-using van driver receives €30,000 in damages
A cyclist who was doored by a van driver, said to be using his phone at the time of the incident, has been awarded €30,000 in damages.
Anthony O’Flaherty, a 32-year-old soldier from Dublin, was cycling to work on 16 January 2019 when he collided with a van door which had suddenly been opened. O’Flaherty was flung from his bike onto the road, and suffered a fracture to his left wrist and abrasions to his right leg.
> Carabinieri officer in Italy almost doors cyclist – then fines him for not wearing mask
According to breakingnews.ie, the cyclist sued the van’s owner, Scotsman Robert Robertson, who O’Flaherty claimed was speaking on his phone when the door was opened.
Robertson, who had parked his Mercedes van fully on the footpath, allegedly approached the cyclist after the collision and said: “I didn’t see you. Are you okay?”
The Ayrshire native told the Dublin Circuit Court that he had not, in fact, been sitting in the van at the time of the collision, but instead had left the van’s front door and sliding door open as he stood outside. Robertson claimed that he only realised O’Flaherty had struck his van when he heard a noise.
> Police investigate as London cyclist killed after crashing into car door
Judge Terry O’Sullivan dismissed the motorist’s account and argued that if the door had been left ajar prior to the incident, O’Flaherty would not simply have cycled straight into it.
O’Sullivan said that the court accepted that an “emergency situation” had been created by Robertson suddenly opening the van door as the cyclist approached, and awarded O’Flaherty €30,000 in damages for his injuries.
“People are not entitled to suddenly open doors without first checking that all is clear,” the judge said.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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31 comments
hmm .. I got doored about 2 years ago and still have a face injury ..wonder if I can pursue that in court after 2 years since I'm still in pain to this day
Was it reported? Did the Police get involved? Drivers insurance? If it is only anecdotal, then probably not. However if there is documented evidence of this happening somewhere, speak to a solicitor and get advice.
I got less than that for losing a kidney (nearly my spleen too), 6 broken ribs and 2 weeks immobile in hospital. Took me months to fully recover.
Sometimes it can be an advantage not having a spleen: https://uss-la-ca135.org/60/1960Judkins-Knott.html
(long, but an amazing account of what happens when everything goes wrong)
Nope. No advantage having to have your spleen removed.
You haven't read https://uss-la-ca135.org/60/1960Judkins-Knott.html have you?
TLDR: Cliff Judkins fell 15,000 feet (without a working parachute) into the ocean and if he'd still had his spleen, it would have ruptured and he would have bled to death.
Was he wearing a helmet?
He didn't specify, but I guess that fighter pilots wear them. Probably saved his life
What about the weight reduction being an advantage when cycling at speed?
Good lawyers help in getting compensation. Which I found comparing myself to an aquaintance when we had very differing injuries but in the same month, a few decades ago. He had a lawyer helping, and got more than me for a few hours in A&E compared to my few days in ICU. I was not so sophisticated then - or now.
I was doored very mildly, they opened when I had almost passed, pushing me over - luckily no immediately following traffic - bent wheel, ripped trousers and a few grazes. The exceptiionally apologetic instigator paid for repair and a few pints as apology.
I hope you have really recovered.
I'm really not sure that makes it any better...
His defence was he wasn't in the van and the cyclist cycled into the van. I'm guessing he was hoping for one word against the other but the courts decided to believe the cyclist. I do wonder if the fact the cyclist was a soldier and the driver was a "foreigner" might have lent credence on one over the other.
I'm going to guess that they also found the story of the "doors being opened suddenly into the path of the rider" rather more believable than the version that I would summarise as "The rider rode into the door that was already open and visible directly in front of him"
You would expect that but apparently in Essex, it is common for cyclists to cycle into parked vans so I'm just extrapolating that it might happen elsewhere.
I have a strong inclination to believe the soldier/foreigner juxtaposition made a difference
Well, leaving a door open is just an annoying obstruction (along with the van) but it isn't directly dangerous.
I would say that it probably depends on how open. If it is a side door that is open a little bit, or a rear door that is flat against the side of the van but not secured, then it can be flung into the path of a cyclist by a gust of wind, without warning.
Good result. Which country did it happen in?
Ireland
The article states the case was heard in the Dublin Circuit Court and that the victim was a Dublin native. So I'm presuming the South of Ireland.
The civil courts have a tendency to come down hard on these cases, as opposed to the Gardai! I do see no charges were laid against the defendant for his negligence.
The "South of Ireland" isn't a country. Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland, otherwise known as Ireland or Eire.
Irish republicans don't recognise Northern Ireland as a part of the UK, and often refer to it as the north of Ireland. The republic is also referred to as the south of Ireland, implying that Ireland is made up of all 32 counties on the island.
Geographically, calling the Republic southern Ireland doesn't make any sense, given that the most northerly part of the island of Ireland, in Donegal, belongs to the Republic. More importantly, every Irish person I know objects to their country being referred to as "Southern Ireland", a name imposed by the fact that Britain still controls part of the island of Ireland, rather than its official title. I have never heard a person from the Republic of Ireland describe their country as Southern Ireland, or themselves as southern Irish by nationality.
Nobody mentioned "Southern Ireland"; big difference between "south of Ireland" and "Southern Ireland"
There is not when somebody asks "What country did this happen in?" The answer "South of Ireland" implies that there is a country called the South of Ireland, which there isn't.
Fucking hell, you could start an argument in an empty room...
By your logic, there's no country called "north of Ireland", yet that's exactly how republicans refer to Northern Ireland. The point being republicans recognise the whole island as Ireland and use the terms "north of" and "south of" to differentiate between 6 counties in Ulster and the 26 counties of the republic.
Because you're not arguing here, are you Mark? Somebody asked what country this incident took place in. Somebody replied "South of Ireland". I pointed out there is no such country as Southern or South of Ireland, simply as a matter of accuracy. The only person who decided to start an argument is you.
Again, nobody mentioned Southern Ireland other than you. It was south of Ireland. I agree Southern Ireland is an incorrect term. But only you mentioned it.
Also you say that somebody replied "South of Ireland" to the question of what country this took place in. They did not. Somebody replied "Ireland" followed by somebody else confirming more specifically that the geographic location is in the south of Ireland.
.
The only gaping flaw in your argument, as perfectly illustrated by your picture, is that the person who said "South of Ireland" was replying directly to lesterama and the question "Which country did it happen in?", not to the comment that said "Ireland". Give it up - or don't, don't really care, you've dragged on far too long already so no further responses from me.
The motorist would have been awarded an MBE in the UK, most likely 🙄
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