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.
And it was someone’s decision to remove these bollards.
They are fixing the Upper Glenageary road now, so hopefully they will fix this roundabout soon too.
https://roadstone.ie/glenageary-road-upper-active-travel-scheme
I notice a huge number of the basic painted cycle lane markings are currently faded to practically zero throughout Dublin – there seems to be no strategy to repaint them every few years or maintain this bare minimum of protections for cyclists.
In Rathmines at the corner of Slattery’s pub they are completely faded, and drivers taking the corner just drive right through the ‘cycle lane’. Even more worryingly the width of the cycle lane is included in the overall width of the car lane- so cars would have to drive across the cycle lane. Very dangerous road planning IMHO.
That corner is lethal. I’ve seen buses clip the kerb corner during rush hour.
This junction used to be a roundabout as a driver u only had to look right for a gap now your bamboozled by a kaleidoscope of traffic lights sending you in different directions very dangerous for cyclists safety and traffic safety in general those bollards where only an afterthought to try make safe their poor design and its imperative those responsible are held accountable.
Absolutely agree. Those responsable for creating a hotchpotch of woeful infrastructure through the country should be held to account.
Watch notjustbikes on YouTube for a look at best practice infrastructure.
As a teen I used to cycle around that roundabout with not a care in the world. Tight entry and exit points meant that motorists couldn’t zoom on any off it at speed, the 46A and other buses (think 45A at one point went along it from Upper Glenageary Rd to go left towards Kill O’Grange.) were able to go and off it too without difficulty. Some bright sparks in DLR decided “flow” was all-important when the golf course was built on – resulting in the current garbage that is unsafe for everyone except possibly articulated truck drivers wanting to proceed with “flow”.
It is terribly sad and ironic that it has taken a vandal, who removed the bollards, and the death of someone riding a bicycle for the council to realise that flexible sticks are zero protection for bicycle users and other vulnerable road users.
Curbed segregated tracks etc… coupled with best practice traffic calming measures as part of an integrated network of cycling infrastructure, will dramatically reduce the numbers of deaths of and serious injuries to vulnerable road users.