Lucky escape for couple as traffic light comes crashing down

AN Omagh couple had a lucky escape at the weekend after narrowly avoiding being hit by a falling set of traffic lights during Storm Isha.

Sophie McElroy and Conan Gormley were driving home at 9pm on Sunday after Sophie finished her work as a barista. Shortly before finishing, she had received a text from her mother to take care on the roads as she had seen photos of the destruction being caused.

This decision to drop their speed proved wise as when they approached the crossroads at Grange Park, a set of traffic lights fell down… mere metres from the couple’s car.

Sophie, sitting in the passenger seat when the lights fell, said they were ‘lucky’ to have missed the falling lights.

“We were looking around at all of the branches and rubbish being spread across the road we noticed the lights were swaying more than they should.

“Next thing we saw the lights starting to tip over and we stopped the car as it fell.

“For a minute we just stopped and laughed – it was so unexpected and we didn’t really know what to do,” Sophie said.

Since Sunday night, the set of traffic lights has been moved to the pavement awaiting replacement.

“We got really lucky though.

“Had we drove any slower we probably wouldn’t have seen it but if we drove any faster it probably would have hit the car,” she added.