Meath motorcyclist 'cheats' death after collision with deer

Louise Walsh

A lucky motorcyclist believes he cheated death after his bike hit a deer, which jumped out in front of him while he was driving on a main road.

Cathal Finegan doesn't know how he survived the collision which occurred while he was travelling to work at about 6:15pm last Thursday on the main R147 Navan to Dunshaughlin Road in Co Meath.

The 49-year-old engineer with Intel walked away relatively unscathed from the incident, although he has to have an MRI scan for his neck and back pain.

The deer, which caused extensive damage to his bike, bounded away from the scene but Cathal believes the animal has to be badly injured.

Cathal, who lives in Navan, says he was travelling at about 80km/p/h and luckily there were no other vehicles directly behind him when the incident occurred.

"When I'm on my bike, I treat every car like it is going to murder me so I'm always very wary on the road," he said.

"I was moseying along a sweeping bend in the road and I saw something in my peripheral vision. Suddenly a deer jumped out in front of me, stopped and looked into my headlamps.

"I braked so hard that the rear wheel of the bike came off the ground and my whole body lifted off the bike. I was just holding onto the handlebars.

"I heard a crunch as the bike hit the deer and I heard the deer let out a cry. I careered into the ditch.

"Everything happened so fast but yet it all seemed to be in slow motion."

"That road is usually busy at that time but it was quiet enough that day. There was a car quite a distance back. If it was close to me, it would have ploughed into me."

Cathal reckons his childhood skills at BMX stunts helped him to stay on the motorcycle and control it, helping to possibly save his life.

After the accident, a few people stopped to help but in a state of shock, Cathal decided to ride the bike back to his girlfriend's house, about four kilometers away in Dunshaughlin.

"It must have been shock. All I could think about was getting to work. When I got to my girlfriend's house, the reality set in and I began to hyperventilate. I still can't sleep and keep getting flashbacks."

Incredibly just a few days earlier, he had made an appointment to write his will and was wearing a heavy metal t-shirt with the band name Obituary on it when the accident occured.

"I really do think I cheated death. I don't know why I survived that accident and how I wasn't thrown over the handlebars. One of the men who stopped to help me told me I should buy a lottery ticket because I was that lucky."

Cathal now is urging Meath County Council to erect signage along that stretch of road to warn other motorists of deer in the vicinity.

"Forewarned is forearmed and signage might make motorists more alert and cautious when driving along that route."