Avoided a fox on the road, but then hit a sheep

The charge sheet against a 27-year-old man reads like a small adventure story. After more than 100 metres of driving through a meadow and a collision with a sheep, his journey ended up in front of the Public Prosecutor.

It must have been quite dark at 1:50 in the morning on October 2020 when the 27-year-old Bulgarian was driving along the Sihlbruggstrasse in Baar towards Sihlbrugg. As he reached Lüssibüel, he saw a fox in the road, and, as he tried to miss it, a spectacular ride began.

According to the charge sheet of the Zug Prosecutor's Office, he drove onto the oncoming lane after his evasive manoeuvre, and then over the edge of the road into the adjacent meadow, where he continued for more than a further 100 metres parallel to the road. During this time, his vehicle collided with two boundary posts, as well as a wooden fence and a grazing fence, without him braking.

Sheep hurled 30 metres through the air
During his wild ride, the man also collided with a sheep, which was thrown about 30 metres through the air beyond the impact, and was seriously injured. Without stopping, the driver steered his car back over both lanes of the road and the adjacent pavement, and then crashed into the embankment in the woods. According to the charge sheet, he then drove "the badly damaged, no longer operational vehicle" a few hundred metres to a parking lot, where he parked. Without securing the accident site or taking care of the injured sheep or contacting the police, the man then left the area. He didn’t return to the scene of the accident until about 45 minutes after the arrival of the police.

A number of violations
The driver will now be charged with gross violation of the traffic rules ("The driver must always control the vehicle in such a way that he can comply with his duty of care (SVG Art. 31, para. 2)", non-compliant behaviour after an accident (SVG, Art. 51, paragraph 1 and 3), violation of the Road Traffic Act (SVG, Art. 29) and the Animal Welfare Act (Art. 4, par 1.b). The prosecutors found him guilty on all the counts on the charge sheet.

The 27-year-old driver was sentenced to a penalty of 60 daily rates of CHF 140 each, a connecting fine of CHF 2,100 and a transgression fine of CHF 600. The penalty was pronounced conditionally, with a probation period of two years.

The charge sheet does not indicate whether the fox that was standing on the road could have been the cause of the accident, nor whether it was injured or killed in the evasive manoeuvre – or simply disappeared into the night.