Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
CYCLE LANE BOLLARDS were removed from a road and dumped in a garden in Dublin, weeks before a fatal crash at the location in which a 22-year-old woman died.
Greta Price-Martin was killed after a truck hit her bicycle on 24 April at the junction of Glenageary Road Upper on Dublin’s southside.
Around 14 bollards had been put in place at the busy junction as a traffic-calming measure to direct motorists to slow down before turning and stop them from merging into the cycle lane too early.
However, a local resident contacted Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to say that a number of the bollards had been uprooted and thrown into their garden “approximately one month before Christmas”.
The bollards were still missing from the junction at the time of the crash, and had not been replaced as of today.
It is not known who the person was who removed the bollards, or why they did it.
The information came to light as a result of a Freedom of Information request by IrishCycle.com.
Locals and campaigners had expressed concern as to why the plastic cycle lane bollards at one of the corners where the fatal crash happened had been removed or damaged, which led to the Freedom of Information request.
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 on 3 January 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 [note: it was not the Council who removed them]. 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.”
Greta Price-Martin was a student and was cycling to work at around 8am on the morning of 24 April when the collision happened. Greta 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 Greta entered a five-way junction from Mounttown Road Lower. The other arms of the junction are Upper Glenageary Road, Oliver Plunkett Road, Kill Avenue, and Highthorn Park.
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.
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council is 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.
This article originally appeared on IrishCycle.com and is republished with permission
So the bollards were removed in Nov 2023 by some amadan.
Reported in January by a concerned resident, and the council couldn’t complete the complicated task of replacing the bollards, mitigating the risk at the dangerous junction 4 months after reporting , 6 months after it occurred.
Poor woman. Such needless loss of life on Irish roads. We all need to take collective responsibility and cop on.
Seriously what use are plastic bollards to protect vulnerable cyclists, poor young woman
@Terry Molloy: Drivers see the bollards and should take heed and slow down for cyclists or pedestrians but in this case some headcase removed them resulting needlessly in a young womans death
@barry williams: The article suggests the bollards were ‘dug up’, which requires a lot of effort, and equipment, far more than simple removal.
And time.
There seems to be more to this than meets the eye.
@Jimmy Wallace: If those bollards were in place then the vehicle would have had to strike them – possibly causing damage to the vehicle – to also collide with the cyclist.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: If they are like the ones I’m thinking of, they are flexible when hit and spring back upright afterwards causing no damage to any vehicle. They unfortunately can be screwed out of the ground easily and this used to happen in my local area where young lads would be messing with them at night. They are better than nothing, but no substitute for proper segregated off road cycle lanes which actually protect cyclists and encourage cycling in any countries which have them.
@Terry Molloy: Sad reality is that some drivers are more concerned to avoid scraping their paintwork off a fixed object than to avoid a cyclist. Studies show them slowing down more for bollards than pedestrians/ cyclists
@Longlin: Thanks Longlin.
@Terry Molloy: read what Barry said Terry – they work just understand that..far far better to have them at junctions like that than not…
Large trucks have to drive over these plastic bollards on some roads when turning.
No accountability yet again for our “public servants” who will, yet again, skip off without answering any hard questions.
These cycle lanes are a nightmare where Safety has not been prioritised
Please let the person who removed them get the Karma deserved
have your say