Sharp rise in Deer Collisions
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Why are deer‑related collisions spiking in County Kerry?
But first this morning, garages in County Kerry are reporting a spike in deer related collisions, with some garages dealing with up to three on a weekly basis. Something my next guest has personal experience of after she collided with a deer while driving on Saturday night. Gillian Hughes joins me on the line. Gillian, good morning to you.
Good morning. How are you?
Uh I'm very well and thankfully uh you are hopefully none the worse for your experience. But could you tell tell us about what happened to you on Saturday evening, Jillian?
Okay, so uh I was in Calorgan dropping off my son to a disco. Uh he's only twelve and I was on the way home, so I was going from Calorgan to Killarney. And um just before Boverbridge, the locals will know where I'm talking about, a place called Bellymalis, there's a straight section of road and there was a bus coming against me and I knew there's a line of traffic after the bus and Next thing I saw I I could see deer running but I was very the bus was nearly had nearly met me and the deer ran across in front of the bus and I knew I was gonna hit it, you know, I knew the speed I was going. I wasn't quite in the speed limit, maybe about eighty kilometres per hour. But I knew I was gonna hit it, so I kind of I just did right.
I knew it was I knew I couldn't swerve and 'cause I had the ditch to my left and the bus in my right. So I said, Right, I have to hit it. So I did and I knew I probably guessed I was gonna kill it. So I hi I did hit it. It was a real bang and I actually thought I thought the deer was down under the car and I slowed down and I pulled in about a hundred yards on and I just pulled in and my husband was with me in the passenger seat. So I asked him to get out 'cause I was just I I didn't know I was afraid to get out. I didn't want to look. Um Yeah, so I could see in the rear view mirrored the bus had stopped too. So I got an answer chuck.
It sounds like it and and you were in a position, as you say, you couldn't swerve, you'd no option but to hit the deer. Uh the deer was dead, I presume.
Yes, the deer was dead, he was, because he he like so I hit him with the front corner of my car and he can't and then I bounced him under the bus.
How did Gillian Hughes’ Saturday night crash unfold?
So the poor deer, it was it was absolutely awful. It was yeah.
Yeah, it's very upsetting. Um now yourself and your husband, neither of you were
w
were injured, I think, but um the car what was the damage to the car like?
The car was destroyed. So I actually why I thought the deer was under the car is because all tearing and you know, I could hear it against the road. So um the car has gone to the garage, but I got my coat yesterday so it's six six thousand five hundred and eighty, I think, to repair it. Uh so it it looked horrible, you know, 'cause it got the front uh the front bumper, you know, the fr underneath the light back along the door. Yeah, it was destroyed. Yeah.
Jillian, this is a I mean obviously a very um shocking, a very uh traumatic incident for you. Uh but it's more so because um twenty years ago uh your family suffered a tragedy not dissimilar.
That's right. Yeah. So my younger sister Paula, she was twenty three, it was in June uh twin uh two thousand six, so it was a lovely summer evening. And she had gone out for the night and she was driving home uh from Killarney and outside what was then known as the Sixty Seconds, it's a shop. Uh she was coming around um a at bins, not a particularly bad bend. Uh we found out after she was driving about forty five miles per hour at the time. And there were two deer and she swerved. She she met the deer obviously, she swerved, she recovered, but there was a second swerve again and this time she went in over the ditch and unfortunately Paula lost her life and she was only twenty three.
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. That must have been devastating for for the entire family. Yeah.
You never get over it, no.
No. Yeah. And and the fact then that you had this incident on on Saturday night, Gillian, it must have brought it all back to the entire family.
What family tragedy does Gillian recall that mirrors this crash?
Well it really did because I suppose uh the conversations for afterwards were all, you know, if you know, don't swerve, don't swerve, you know.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why are deer‑related collisions spiking in County Kerry?
0:00–1:57
2
How did Gillian Hughes’ Saturday night crash unfold?
1:57–3:45
3
What family tragedy does Gillian recall that mirrors this crash?
3:45–5:32
4
How significant is the rise in deer accidents according to RSA data?
5:32–7:28
5
What pilot schemes is Kerry County Council testing to prevent deer hits?
7:28–10:14
6
How do the detection‑and‑alert systems work on the N70?
10:14–12:14
7
Why are repair costs from deer collisions so high for drivers?
12:14–14:05
8
Could the increase in electric vehicles worsen deer‑collision rates?
14:05–16:15
Speakers
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