An intellectual property data analyst, said to have undertaken a kamikaze-like manoeuvre while cycling behind a bus, has lost a €60,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court and ordered to pay Dublin Bus’s legal costs of more than €15,000.
Dismissing Badr Ben Taller’s personal injuries claim, Judge Terence O’Sullivan said Mr Taller was guilty of negligence. He told defence solicitor Gerard O’Herlihy that Dublin Bus driver Declan Murphy could not have been expected to anticipate Mr Taller’s sudden swinging out in front of him from behind another bus.
Judge O’Sullivan, himself a keen cyclist, said Mr Taller (38) was extremely unlucky as two other buses had been blocking the cycle lane at Custom House Quay, Dublin, causing him to cycle around a moving bus that he had been following.
In a collision with an oncoming bus, Mr Taller had suffered a fractured knee bone as well as significant injuries to his shoulder and chest. He had been taken to the Mater hospital, which he left on crutches following treatment.
“Clearly when buses pull in and are blocking cycle lanes it creates problems for cyclists who have to try and get around them,” Judge O’Sullivan said. “I accept the bus Mr Taller was following was coming slowly to a halt and he had put out his right arm to indicate he was going round it.”
The judge, however, held that Mr Taller, of Melville View, Meekstown, Dublin 11, was then cycling at an angle towards the oncoming bus which had been unable to avoid hitting him during the split-second manoeuvre.
“This was a head-on collision and when you collide with a bus you are always going to come off second best,” Judge O’Sullivan said.