Irish Independent<\/a>. However, the court also heard that dash-cam footage from the\u00a0motorcyclist,\u00a0Mark Finnegan, also\u00a0revealed evidence of negligence on his part, and the judge accepted that the motorbike rider beeped his horn but failed to reduce his speed to a level where the collision could have been avoided.<\/p>\nJudge James O’Donohoe reportedly told the court he was entitled, as a motorist who uses Dublin’s roads, to take judicial notice of his own experiences, the judge telling the hearing: “Cyclists have become a nightmare in Dublin.”<\/p>\n
“You never know with cyclists what they are going to do or anticipate what they are going to do,” he continued.<\/p>\n
In a statement provided to road.cc this afternoon, Cycling Ireland expressed disappointment at the judge’s remarks, arguing “words matter” and “risks\u00a0framing vulnerable road users as a problem, rather than people”.<\/p>\n
Ciaran Cannon, President of Cycling Ireland, said: “It is disappointing to hear cyclists spoken about in this way. People who cycle are not an abstract group. They are parents, students, healthcare workers and older people simply trying to get home safely. They deserve to be spoken about with fairness and respect.<\/p>\n
“Words matter, particularly when they come from figures whose role is to be fair and evidence based.\u00a0Language that risks framing vulnerable road users as a problem, rather than people, can unintentionally contribute to misunderstanding and hostility.<\/p>\n
“If we want safer streets and roads, we must focus on what actually saves lives. We need to see lower speeds, better design, consistent enforcement, and a culture of mutual respect.\u00a0Cyclists are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for dignity, safety, and fairness.”<\/p>\n
The Irish Cycling Campaign also said\u00a0it is “deeply concerned” by the judge’s comments and suggested they “risk\u00a0normalising hostility toward people who choose to travel by bike”.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the campaign group’s chair Neasa Bheilbigh\u00a0said the “sweeping” remarks “reinforce\u00a0dangerous attitudes toward a group of road users who are among the most vulnerable”.<\/p>\n
“This case should not be used to generalise about cycling in Dublin or elsewhere,” the campaign group’s chairperson said. “The real and ongoing safety crisis on our roads is reflected in rising fatalities and serious injuries, overwhelmingly linked to motor traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Likewise,\u00a0\u00dana Morrison from the Dublin Cycling Campaign appeared on morning television to call the remarks “really inappropriate”.<\/p>\n
“It reinforces a dangerous attitude towards a group of road users who are one of the most vulnerable on our roads,” she said.\u00a0“Especially with an increase in deaths and serious injuries over the past year.”<\/p>\n
The case concluded with Mr Giurgila’s damages being significantly reduced, the judge reducing his\u00a0\u20ac50,000\u00a0damages for the brain injury to\u00a0\u20ac10,000 and applying 80 per cent reductions to the soft tissue injuries as well, leaving the rider to receive\u00a0\u20ac17,628.<\/p>\n
Legal representation for the motorcyclist and AXA Insurance cross-examined the cyclist and highlighted that he was not wearing a helmet or hi-vis clothing at the time of the collision, and did not have lights on his bike. It was also highlighted that Mr Giurgila had not signalled before moving out of a bus lane.<\/p>\n
However, barrister Emmet Carty, representing Mr Giurgila\u00a0made the point that the motorcyclist’s dash-cam footage suggested negligence on their part, although the lawyer accepted there was evidence of contributory blame on the part of his client.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Cycling Campaign has accused a judge of “language that risks normalising hostility towards people who choose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-407180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}