Residents in Dolphin’s Barn have pleaded with Dublin City Council to implement urgent safety measures after a cyclist was crushed by a lorry at a junction where another woman died two years ago.
On Monday afternoon, a woman was seriously injured when her bicycle was in collision with a four-axle highway maintenance lorry, which was turning left at the junction of Dolphin Road and Crumlin Road across Camac Bridge.
Gardaí said the collision occurred at approximately 12:25pm and the cyclist, a woman in her 30s, was taken to St James’s Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Photographs from the scene show a bicycle crushed between the first and second sets of wheels on the left-hand side of the lorry. Gardaí said investigations are ongoing.
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The incident occurred at the same junction where a woman died on November 6th 2023, after a collision with a lorry. Josilaine Ribeiro, a 36-year-old carer from Brazil was on her way to work on a Monday afternoon when the incident happened. She was taken to St James’s Hospital with serious injuries and was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later.
In the months following Ms Ribeiro’s death, the council placed several bollards and planters along the edge of the cycle lane to protect the space from encroachment by vehicles. However, the barriers end at the bridge.
Last August, Dublin city’s first static speed camera came into operation on the Crumlin Road just south of the bridge. The location was chosen by gardaí following an assessment of long-term speed and collision statistics.
“The location was selected based on fatal and serious injury collision data from the last seven years and speed data, as well as feedback from stakeholders,” gardaí said.
However, the Calm Crumlin Road community group stated that the junction required a comprehensive safety upgrade.
“This is the only bridge yet to be upgraded along the canal. A fourth crossing and full safety upgrade were promised after the last fatality,” the group said. “Despite the new speed camera, this junction is still impossibly dangerous and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.”
The junction is scheduled for upgrade as part of the BusConnects project. However, the group said the work needed to be progressed immediately.
“The apathy on the part of Dublin City Council is absolutely sickening,” said one member of the group.
Dublin City Council has not responded to queries.
Speed surveys on Lower Crumlin Road and at the bridge over the Grand Canal at Dolphin’s Barn, undertaken as part of the University College Dublin WeCount Traffic Impact data project in the six months before Ms Ribeiro’s death, found more than 100 cars an hour were breaking the 50km/h speed limit.
On average, over the course of a day, 83 cars per hour travelled at speeds of more than 50km/h, 22 cars exceeded 60km/h and nine cars every hour were recorded speeding at more than 70km/h.
