Joyriders flee car crash
A Ballygarvan resident has said he is “baffled” as to how nobody was seriously hurt in the most recent of a series of joyriding incidents in the area.
Dave Egner and his wife Kate were in their home in the Farmer’s Cross area of Ballygarvan near Cork Airport when they heard a series of loud screeches coming from the road behind the house.
At approximately 9pm, a car traveling at high speed clipped a ditch and overturned while attempting to take a 90 degree turn.
“Sometime around 8.30pm we heard three or four loud screeches from them doing handbrake turns around the corners,” Mr Egner told the Cork Independent.
“Then at around 9pm we heard another big screech and my wife said we should call the police. Then about five seconds later we heard another screech and then a big bang and smash,” he added.
Mr Egner said that by the time he and his wife reached the overturned vehicle, two of its three occupants had got out and the third, who was the driver, was struggling to escape the vehicle.
Mr Egner said: “We ran out and my wife rang 999. Initially we thought we'd need an ambulance. Once they got out, they tried to right the car but they couldn't.
“Then they saw my wife was on the phone and they ran off. They made it about a hundred yards down the road and then hopped the ditch and ran off across a field.”
According to Mr Egner, a neighbour managed to get a photograph of the three men before they left the scene. The photo had been sent to the gardaí.
Mr Egner said that since the lockdown the road has become very busy with walkers, runners and cyclists and that it was extremely lucky that nobody was badly hurt.
“My kids were out in the garden until about an hour before this happened,” said Mr Egner.
“The driver only had about 100 yards of speed before the turn, but if they were coming the opposite way, and they had 200 or 300 yards, then the car could have completely flipped and potentially gone over the ditch and into the garden,” he added.
The incident is the third to happen in the area since Christmas, and residents have been voicing their concerns to the authorities.
“I'm constantly on to my local councillor to get speed bumps put in. This road is off the beaten track and there is little garda presence. A neighbour of mine has been onto the guards numerous times. This is an ongoing situation,” said Mr Egner.
Gardaí attended the scene and seized the vehicle which had no tax or insurance. As of yet, no arrests have been made and a garda investigation is ongoing.