A TD who was knocked off his bicycle by a motorist has posted footage showing the motorist running into him last year, and outlined how the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is refusing to prosecute the driver.
Galway East TD, Ciaran Cannon (FG), suffered a knee fracture from the collision. His injury required surgery and took months of recovery before he was back cycling
He tweeted today: “It’s time to put in place specially trained Gardai who will adjudicate expertly on road traffic violations using video evidence submitted via an online portal. This is my video evidence (local CCTV) and our DPP has decided it’s not sufficient to secure a prosecution. #RoadSafety”
He said that the identity of the driver is not in question, and the DPP has just claimed that there’s not sufficient evidence to secure a prosecution in Court.
The video shows how Cannon was cycling beside slow-moving traffic when a motorist on the opposite side of the road crossed over the slow-moving traffic to turn into a side street or entrance, but before the motorist reaches the side of the road they hit Cannon who is flung over the bonnet of the SUV and onto the ground in front of it.
The motorist stops around a second or two after making contact but that put the SUV around a car’s length from the collision point.
Viewer advisory: Video shows collision:
Originally tweeted by Ciaran Cannon (@ciarancannon) on April 6, 2022.
On June 3 last year he tweeted from his hospital bed that an “SUV driver collided with me last evening. Serious knee fracture, just out of surgery, long road of rehab ahead. He didn’t see me, came out of nowhere, focused on other cars, saw a gap, went for it, hit me. Those of us on bikes are here too, will we always be invisible?”
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Lucky he wasn’t killed. I was hit worse. An SUV driver opened her door. I hit it went over it. Concrete is very hard,believe me. I was taken to hospital by ambulance. They found that I had swollen and bruised chest and shoulder muscles. My leg had a bloody gash. I hit my head and back on the concrete. I said nothing to the driver. I asked one of three independent witnesses to call an ambulance. Next day when I went to Garda station to make formal complaint/ I gave the Bangarda the cars reg. She went inside to check its owner, came back out after twenty minutes. She said said the Gardai did not turn up. I asked why. She said, “unless it is a two car collision or , if a cyclist for example they have been killed we haven’t got the time to attend such collisions.” She said she was not going to prosecute, quote “because the woman is a very hard working professional and believes you were exaggerating your injuries. I have just spoken to her on the phone.” I took a PIAB case instead and driver refused to cooperate or contest. PIAB found in my favour. Those are the facts. Gardai are pro-driver and hostile to cyclists, particularly working class men. (until we are actually killed – perhaps, but I wouldn’t bank on that either).