Judges have become a nightmare. You can never anticipate what they are going to do.
Take this sweeping generalisation, substitute the word cyclists for judges, and you have the considered judicial pronouncement, delivered in the Circuit Civil Court on Monday, of Judge James O’Donohoe, presiding in a case relating to a cyclist who suffered a brain injury when he and a motorbike collided.
The judge concluded that the injured cyclist was mainly responsible for the crash, which took place in darkness early on a September morning in 2020, and in which he suffered 12 other soft-tissue injuries.
Of course judges’ perspectives are informed by their own experiences and backgrounds, but it is hard to see how random generalisations such as Judge O’Donohoe’s are helpful to anyone, least of all the judicial system itself.
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Cyclists can be careless and some are disinclined to always abide by the rules of the road. But drivers can often be reckless, too, paying little heed to cyclists and other road users . The advent of electric bikes and scooters has added another group of users to roads that are already congested and simply do not have enough room.
Motorists may complain – and sometimes they are right to. But it is cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians who are most exposed on the roads. The number of cyclists killed in 2025 – 14 – was the highest since 2017, while the number of motorcyclist fatalities, at 30, was the highest recorded since 2007. Meanwhile, 41 pedestrians were killed, more than one in five of total road deaths.
Ireland’s city streets are not built for sharing. Progress has been made with cycling and walking infrastructure, but too often cyclists are still left to battle with cars, buses, taxis and trucks for scarce road space.
Pedestrians, meanwhile, must cross the battleground at inadequate junctions and often feel exposed. Investment in proper infrastructure is essential.
A culture of blame is not the way forward. The terrible statistics for 2025 – with 185 deaths on the road – need to bring road users together in seeking solutions, not drive them apart.
There are some basics for cyclists – including proper lights, visible clothing and a helmet. The Green Party’s Ciarán Cuffe, responding to the judge’s comments, said cyclists did not want to be lit up “like a Christmas tree.” But better this way, surely, than being invisible. Proper and powerful lights are freely available. There is no excuse for not wearing a helmet.
But Cuffe is correct when he points out that drivers also regularly break the rules of the road and that as traffic volumes build up, cycling feels increasingly dangerous. Add in a few clearly aggressive drivers and it is cycling itself that is a nightmare. For too many, it can be perilous.
