Seconds make difference for Corkman travelling on M8 who had near miss with golf ball

Photographer and historian Bill Power from Mitchelstown was travelling on the Fermoy to Cork stretch of the M8 motorway when a golf ball almost went through his windscreen.

Mr Power was overtaking on the stretch of road, as was the car ahead of him when a white object crossed the barrier from the opposite side of the motorway in a moment that he described as "one of those things that you just don't expect to happen."

"It crossed in front of the car in front of me, then bounced on the road in front of me, I actually thought it was going to come in through my windscreen," he told Cork's C103.

He said it then proceeded to bounce underneath his car and he realised that is was actually a golf ball.

He said that there were "literally seconds of a difference" between the ball hitting the windscreen or going underneath the car.

He said that the ball came from the right which meant that it had to come over the barrier from the opposite side of the motorway.

What puzzled Mr Power, even more, was the fact that there is no golf course nearby the particular stretch of road on which the incident occurred.

It was the next morning when Mr Power woke up that he realised that he had had a very close call.

"If it had hit my windscreen, if I was or wasn't paying attention, you can easily lose control of a car."

He put up a Facebook post describing his ordeal and was surprised at the reaction it got on the social media platform.

People began to comment about similar incidents which they had experienced on busy roads.

One commenter said that a bottle which had been thrown from a car from the opposite side of the motorway they were travelling on had gone through the windscreen of the car.

Mr Power said that some people were saying that significant damage was done to their vehicles from stones or bricks being thrown from motorway bridges.

He reiterated how the simple things that happen on the road can have huge consequences.

"It's one thing to have your car or truck damaged but the potential consequences of doing something as stupid as that is that somebody's life is at risk, several peoples' lives, possibly."

Mr Power is doing fine after the incident but can only begin to imagine the mayhem it could have caused, to himself and other drivers, as well as the damage it would have caused to the windscreen of a car travelling at 120km.

Be careful out there folks, a simple distraction on the road can be fatal.