A Circuit Court judge has held Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, equally to blame for a city centre collision between his BMW car and a bus.
Judge Kevin Haugh heard that in the District Court hearing Bus Atha Cliath had been held 100 per cent responsible for the crash and had been ordered to pay the full £1,800 repair bill to Mr De Rossa’s car.
Mr De Rossa, of Old Finglas Road, Dublin, told his counsel, Mr Karl Finnegan, he was hurrying to a meeting for which he was late on May 23rd, 2000 and had just turned left out of Cathal Brugha Street onto O’Connell Street, Dublin.
He found his inside lane blocked by a private coach outside the Gresham Hotel and indicated his intention of turning right into the middle lane. He saw a bus in his rear view mirror and stopped when the driver gave no indication of giving way.
"I felt a tip at the back of the car and, to my surprise, after sounding the horn I saw the bus kept coming and scraped against the rear wheel arch and along the side of the car," he said.
Mr De Rossa, who told Mr James Mc Ardle, counsel for Dublin Bus, that he was himself a former bus driver, said the bus had slowed down to allow two other cars ahead of him enter the middle lane. He had to stop when the bus did not give way to his car.
Judge Haugh said he felt Mr De Rossa had taken a chance because he assumed he was going to be let through after the two cars ahead of him.
The judge said driving in Dublin was becoming so difficult that there had to be a fair amount of give and take on the part of all drivers.
Judge Haugh’s 50-50 decision means Mr De Rossa will have to pay half of the £1,800 repair bill to his car and, while granting him his legal costs of the District Court hearing, he declined to grant him his legal costs for the defence of Bus Atha Cliath’s Circuit Court appeal.