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