When he set out for a jog on a Sunday night last August, Karl Leonard never imagined he would be floored by a high-powered e-bike.
He was left clutching his smashed left foot in a desperate effort to keep it intact as bones protruded from his leg.
Leonard was running on a public footpath, shared with cyclists near Swords, Co Dublin, when the e-bike “came speeding around the corner”.
“I thought, ‘He is going to hit me’. I tried to dodge, he did too, but it was too late,” he says.
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The impact was so loud that a man who arrived at the scene told him he had heard it from inside his house and came to investigate.
Leonard was in such shock after the incident that he was initially unaware of the pain.
“You would be amazed what adrenalin can do,” he says. “I think the survival instinct kicked in, my foot was dangling loose and I was trying to hold it together.”
Stephen Dunne, the e-bike user, stayed at the scene, but was so distressed and incoherent when phoning for help that a woman who arrived took Dunne’s phone from him and gave directions to the 999 operator, Leonard says.
Fire brigade paramedics arrived and put his leg in a splint and gave him pain relief while he waited for an ambulance.
“Every time my leg moved, I could feel the bones moving against each other, it was agony,” he says.
[ E-bikes Q&A: What are the obligations and rules for using this form of transport?Opens in new window ]
Two gardaí arrived and one spoke to Leonard briefly and he says he was told that what had happened was “not a Garda matter”.
Leonard was taken by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, where he underwent a nine-hour operation to save his foot. Doctors told him his left leg was broken in seven places and he had “dozens” of smaller fractures.
After two weeks in hospital, a plastic surgeon directed his immediate discharge home to recover because he feared the open wound in his leg could become infected in hospital.
Leonard went to his parents’ home in Howth, Co Dublin, and returned regularly to hospital for specialised dressing changes and reviews.
Nine months later, the 48-year-old has not fully recovered and the leg breaks have not fully healed.
He continues to have leg and knee pain and mobility issues, all putting him at a far remove from last August when he was planning to run a half marathon.
Last Tuesday, Dunne, of Russell’s Terrace, Kettles Lanes, Drynam Hall, Swords, was fined €250 at Dublin District Court after pleading guilty to careless driving.
Leonard believes Dunne, a father of three on Jobseeker’s Allowance, is genuinely remorseful.
The plea included acceptance the e-bike was a “vehicle” under the Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended, which makes it an offence to drive a vehicle in a careless or dangerous manner.
[ Landmark case means e-bike users may be held liable for injuriesOpens in new window ]
Section 3.1 defines a mechanically propelled vehicle (MPV) as one intended or adapted for propulsion by mechanical means, including a bicycle equipped with an auxiliary electric motor greater than 0.25 kilowatts.
Users of high-powered e-vehicles don’t seem to realise they need to be insured, taxed and licensed and should only be driven on roads
Leonard claimed the specifications of Dunne’s e-bike, including having a 750W brushless motor and maximum speed of 20-25km/h, made it an MPV.
The significance of being a vehicle or MPV means the user is required to be insured.
Leonard’s landmark case has brought it home to users of high-powered e-vehicles they may be held liable in civil and criminal proceedings for any injuries caused as a result of collisions with other road users.
Gardaí took a cautioned statement from Leonard six weeks after the incident and he expected them to bring a prosecution.
The absence of progress in that regard led to his lawyers advising him to take a private prosecution before the six-month time limit ran out.
Leonard feels “very let down” with the Garda “inaction” on the matter. The District Court’s acceptance that the private prosecution was a valid one underlines that there was a clear basis to prosecute, he says.
“The gardaí did not do their job and seemed unaware of the law about e-bikes. It’s disgraceful I was left in this position.”
He says he was “very lucky” that his legal team – solicitor Lisa Daly of EP Daly & Company Solicitors, of Dublin, and barrister David Staunton – were “on the ball” because, without the private prosecution, pursuing compensation would be more difficult without proof Dunne was driving a MPV.
Because Dunne was not insured to drive the e-vehicle, Leonard intends to join the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland, which compensates those injured by uninsured drivers, to a pending personal injuries action.
There is a “pressing need” for gardaí and e-vehicle users to be properly educated about the law relating to use of e-bikes, e-mopeds and e-scooters, he says.
He has complained to Fiosrú, the new Garda complaints body, about the alleged Garda failure to properly investigate the incident and he is awaiting a decision.
“Since this accident happened to me, a lot of people have told me they know about of others involved in similar accidents,” he says.
“Users of high-powered e-vehicles don’t seem to realise they need to be insured, taxed and licensed and should only be driven on roads. Something needs to be done.”
