Offaly man warns of road danger posed by foxes

An Offaly motorist has said he is facing a repair bill of between €2,000-€2,500 after a fox dashed out from a ditch and collided with his Toyota Avensis.

Pius Luby of Rahan was driving from Clonmacnois with wife Ita to his home last Sunday when the fox attempted to cross the road – too late for Pius to avoid him. He is telling what happened so other motorists can be alert to the danger of a similar episode happening to them.

"It was about around a quarter to six as I came near the two towers at Lough Boora," said Pius this week.

"This fox came out at speed and hit the wheel of the car and the wing on the passenger side at fierce speed. He hit it a fierce thud.

"I didn’t get out to look because it was too dark, but I came home anyway and the bit around the wheel is all broke off, and the bumper is cracked and the spotlight is gone."

He hit the car with such force that Pius was relieved that he had both hands on the steering wheel at the time, and thus was able to keep the vehicle under control.

Pius, who is retired from his work as a credit controller with Industrial and Domestic Furniture (now Glenwood) in Tullamore says it is not an experience anyone would want to endure: "I want to highlight the danger because people don’t know the danger there," he told The Offaly Independent.

While Pius drives that road quite often, he never noticed foxes on it before and so the day after the collision, he went back with his son-in-law to check if there was much indication there of a den, and they found evidence indicating that there were plenty of foxes: "We could see where foxes were coming out of the left hand side: there’s tracks all around there.

"The fox [who hit me] was dead in a drain, stretched out. I’d killed him.

"I never saw such a big fox in my life."

Pius has concluded that the foxes cross the road to go over to Lough Boora and they come back in the evening.

"They could easily cause an accident darting across," he said, adding that while he wouldn’t be nervous of foxes, the powerful one who hit his car would be strong enough to kill a sheep.