Cycle lane bollards removed and dumped in a garden ahead of fatal crash in Dublin — IrishCycle.com

Cycle lane bollards were removed and dumped in a garden just months ahead of the fatal crash when 22-year-old Greta Price-Martin was killed after a truck hit her bicycle on April 24th 2024.

Google Street View shows the bollards in place sometime in November 2022, and a log released under Freedom of Information legislation has a resident recounting that the bollards were removed “approximately one month before Christmas.”

Such bollards are seen as a traffic-calming measure, as they direct motorists to slow down before turning and avoid them from merging into the cycle lane ahead of where it is necessary to do so.

The young woman was a student and was cycling to work at around 8am when the collision happened. Price-Martin was from Templetown in Co Louth and lived in Dun Laoghaire while attending the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT).

The collision happened as the truck driver and Price-Martin entered a five-way junction from Mounttown Road Lower. The other arms of the junction are Upper Glenageary Road, Oliver Plunkett Road, Kill Ave, and Highthorn Park.

Locals and campaigners expressed concern as to why plastic cycle lane bollards at one of the corners where the fatal crash happened were removed or damaged. IrishCycle.com then requested information on the missing bollards at the junction from Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council under the Freedom of Information Act.

The council part granted the request, only removing the personal information of the member of the public who reported the bollards dumped in their garden. The bollards were recorded dumped after the resident reported them to the council on January 3rd, 2024.

The council added a note: “Please note that the Council did not remove bollards at this junction.”

The reporting log, released under Freedom of Information Acts, said: “The caller rang saying that 14 bollards were installed outside his home by the Council as a traffic calming measure.”

It added that, according to the resident, “Approximately one month before Christmas, the Council dug up some of the bollards. Somebody removed 7 or 8 of the bollards and dumped them over the boundary wall of the caller’s garden. The bollards are currently stuck in the caller’s bush.”

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council are progressing with the DLR Central project, which will see the junction fully redesigned with a segregated cycle path and extended footpath around the location of the collision. The project was approved by councillors in 2022 and is expected to start construction this year.

Dash camera footage has been summited to the Gardaí.

After the collision, a Garda spokesperson called for any witnesses to contact them and anybody with footage to make the footage available to them. Anyone with any information or footage is asked to contact Dun Laoghaire Garda Station on 01 666 5000, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.