A personal injury case was lost by the driver of a Dublin Bus notwithstanding that the youth dashed out in front of him.
The Supreme Court ruled that the driver was 70% liable notwithstanding the fact that once the injured 12 year old boy stepped off the footpath the bus driver reacted immediately and with “commendable alertness” and did what he could to stop the bus.
In the original High Court decision of Mr Justice Kevin Cross held that the bus driver was distracted for a number of seconds by a conversation with a passenger and did not see the boys for a number of seconds after they had come into view. The Supreme Court concurred and found that the bus driver was not alert to the potential hazard unfolding as he approached the boys on the pavement and thus was not able to anticipate or take appropriate steps to minimise the consequences of the potential hazard.
The Supreme Court found in this case that the critical question was not whether the driver was alert when the child ran out but if he was alert on the approach to the junction where he first observed the boys and, if so, alert to the possibility of an incident due to evidence the boys were acting “boisterously”.
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