Motorist in Offaly narrowly avoids serious accident with two deer on busy road

An Offaly motorist came with inches of a serious crash being caused by two deer on one of busiest roads in the county on Saturday night. 

The motorist was driving from Tullamore to Birr when the near miss occurred. 

According to the motorist he was driving on the N52 around Mucklagh when two deer darted across the road.

He told the Offaly Express, "It happened between the bridge over the road and the turnoff for Mucklagh on the way to Birr. It's not an area you'd be expecting deer as there are no trees and no warning signs.

"I was tipping along at 100kph when one deer darted out from my left, the Mucklagh side. I swerved left to miss it as it ran across the road but as I did, another deer darted out from the same side. I saw the whites if its eyes and I wrenched the wheel right. I think it must stopped because I somehow missed it. If it had kept running the way it was, I surely would have hit it and I dread to think what would have happened to the deer, to the car and probably to me."

Other motorists have not been so lucky with incidents with deer on roads in the county becoming more prevalent with calls having been made for a cull to be carried out. 

Wild deer numbers throughout Ireland have risen sharply in recent years, which has been exacerbated by the reduction in hunting and deer management activity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The high deer numbers are linked to Bovine TB outbreaks in many herds of cattle, bringing devastation in their wake. Overgrazing by deer is also a serious pressure and threat for native woodlands across Ireland.