almost hit a dog earlier
- Thread starter kiel367
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Soldato
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- 23 Nov 2004
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Love it!
I haven't hit anything yet but whilst travelling along the M74 I've had two foxes walk out stop and turn back whilst I was travelling at around 100. That was scary as I moved the wheel a little...cars don't like sharp movements at that speed!
The other night I was only chilling doing 55 and one appeared on the road walking casually to the hard shoulder like a boss. The barrier in the middle is concrete and quite high so it was using some mad jedi mind tricks yo.
I haven't hit anything yet but whilst travelling along the M74 I've had two foxes walk out stop and turn back whilst I was travelling at around 100. That was scary as I moved the wheel a little...cars don't like sharp movements at that speed!
The other night I was only chilling doing 55 and one appeared on the road walking casually to the hard shoulder like a boss. The barrier in the middle is concrete and quite high so it was using some mad jedi mind tricks yo.
Bounced a cow of a 17ton Scania rigid a few years back, it made one hell of a mess of the front corner of the cab and trotted off!
Farmer turned up, Police etc, decided cow was ok and I sat & awaited a wrecker!
One of the most surreal moments of my HGV driving career - about 4 months after passing my test.
Farmer turned up, Police etc, decided cow was ok and I sat & awaited a wrecker!
One of the most surreal moments of my HGV driving career - about 4 months after passing my test.
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I've hit a sheep, a badger and a hare. Not at the same time (that would be awful luck), all were on the same stretch of mountain though and all did significant damage.
If I can avoid hitting something, I will. I've never really had a problem avoiding cats/dogs/etc in built up areas, it's not difficult.
If I can avoid hitting something, I will. I've never really had a problem avoiding cats/dogs/etc in built up areas, it's not difficult.
If a motorcyclist went through my back window I'd be seriously annoyed at him because he shouldn't have been sitting on my 6 not paying attention.
Soldato
- Joined
- 12 Dec 2002
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- 2,950
But you know as well as I do not everyone pays attention 100% of the time. Performing an emergency stop because of an animal is silly.
I think I'd always brake for an animal, its just a natural reaction.
The only thing I would say is that if you hit an animal never go back to see if its ok. If its suffering you will feel even worse and may even have to end its misery.
I once hit a cat on my motorbike, stopped and walked back to it. It was alive but breathing heavily so I picked it up thinking I could find its owners house only for the ******* to **** all over my leathers, jump out of my hands and leap over a 6ft garden fence.
The only thing I would say is that if you hit an animal never go back to see if its ok. If its suffering you will feel even worse and may even have to end its misery.
I once hit a cat on my motorbike, stopped and walked back to it. It was alive but breathing heavily so I picked it up thinking I could find its owners house only for the ******* to **** all over my leathers, jump out of my hands and leap over a 6ft garden fence.
Forgot to post about what I had hit. Passed in September and hit a Pigeon about a month ago, Slap bang in the middle of the bumper, Feathers everywhere in the rear view.
Friend of mine hit a stag and its antler opened his car up like a tin can, picture of it afterwords was a true mess, If there has been a passanger I think they would ahve been killed.
Friend of mine hit a stag and its antler opened his car up like a tin can, picture of it afterwords was a true mess, If there has been a passanger I think they would ahve been killed.
Animal, person, other car, debris... the reason for the emergency stop is not really relevant.
Of course it is.
Scenario 1) Child runs out in front of you. Close following vehicle behind may well run in to the back of you if you do an emergency stop. Undeniably (imo) worth stopping and causing an accident.
Scenario 2) An animal runs out in front of you. Close following vehicle behind may well run in to the back of you if you do an emergency stop. Not (imo) worth stopping and causing an accident.
Outcome 1) Don't emergency stop - kill dog, be legally obliged to inform police, have to pay for all damage to your car yourself, or claim from your own insurance.
Outcome 2) Emergency stop - dog is fine, idiot tailgater goes into back of you, damage paid for by them/their insurance. They may also learn not to drive like a ****.
I know which I'd choose.
The fact that someone behind you is driving like a moron, is not an excuse to not drive safely yourself.
People saying they never brake for animals are probably over-egging the pudding a bit.
Each situation varies. If I'm by myself on a country lane at night, and have spotted some rabbits early, I'll ease off and be prepared to slow if they shoot into the road. If I'm going more quickly down a straight and there's a car behind, I probably would only ease off.
For bigger animals, such as badgers or deer, I'll almost always brake - they can do some quite serious damage.
As a rule, I won't swerve though. If the road conditions allow, I'll position the car in the middle of the road say, if there's a deer standing on the verge looking like he might run across. When it comes to braking hard though, you don't want to be steering at all.
If someone's tailgating me, I'll already be driving more slowly to take account of the fact they're close behind - so hopefully no rear end collisions. I may show my brake lights at the first sign of an animal to give them extra warning that I might be slowing.
And to those who say you might lose control of the car whilst braking hard to avoid an animal - you're going too fast!
Each situation varies. If I'm by myself on a country lane at night, and have spotted some rabbits early, I'll ease off and be prepared to slow if they shoot into the road. If I'm going more quickly down a straight and there's a car behind, I probably would only ease off.
For bigger animals, such as badgers or deer, I'll almost always brake - they can do some quite serious damage.
As a rule, I won't swerve though. If the road conditions allow, I'll position the car in the middle of the road say, if there's a deer standing on the verge looking like he might run across. When it comes to braking hard though, you don't want to be steering at all.
If someone's tailgating me, I'll already be driving more slowly to take account of the fact they're close behind - so hopefully no rear end collisions. I may show my brake lights at the first sign of an animal to give them extra warning that I might be slowing.
And to those who say you might lose control of the car whilst braking hard to avoid an animal - you're going too fast!
This. If someone gets that close I feel they wouldn't be able to stop if I did, it's foot off the accelerator time.
Either they'll get the hint and back off or they'll get impatient and overtake - hopefully for me to pass them a few miles down the road after they've wrapped their Audi round a tree.
When I got a pheasant the other month, my girlfriend is convinced that I had a wry smile and actually sped up! I swear I came off the pedal, but I didn't consider an emergency stop as it was just after a blind corner and would have been incredibly unsafe to do so. Taking a pheasants head off is much better than braking and risking a high speed rear impact. I'm not going to smack on the breaks, just after a 50mph blind bend...
Obviously, it was a large animal that could potentially cause me harm then I would try and stop.
never hit anything in my own car, try not to, front end is pretty low to hit anything bigger than a rabbit would likely cause damage.
but over the years i have racked up a fair amount of rabbits pheasants and birds driving buses, minibuses and hirecars, in fact i took out 2 rabbits within 30m of each other on a driving detail tuesday night, when i drove back along the road about 30min later one of them was split clean in half!
i dont take pleasure in it but i'm not going out of my way to miss them.
but over the years i have racked up a fair amount of rabbits pheasants and birds driving buses, minibuses and hirecars, in fact i took out 2 rabbits within 30m of each other on a driving detail tuesday night, when i drove back along the road about 30min later one of them was split clean in half!
i dont take pleasure in it but i'm not going out of my way to miss them.