Hitting birds with your car

I've only ever properly hit one Pigeon. I was in the outside lane of the M11 passing a couple of trucks. The lane ahead of me was clear for about 300m and these two daft birds thought it was a good idea to land in the middle of the "fast" lane. Obviously I didn't attempt to swerve or brake sharply to avoid them. One got away, the other got as high as the top of the bonnet, where it left a nice crease, then bounced onto the top of the windscreen and over in a shower of feathers.

It was a heavy bird to leave that sort of crease in the bonnet and if I'd hit it any lower it probably would have gone right through the grill into the radiator, causing a lot of damage.
 
Nightglow said:
Didn't you pick it up:eek:,free meal, lovely roast pheasant.
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Isn't it illegal to pick your own roadkill up? Only the next vehicle can collect it. This is what i was led to believe.

Pheasants are a pain around here, loads of them get splatted on the road had one smash the window on my truck.
 
Not so good hitting them on motorbike.

Remember to duck so they hit the top of your helmet then cannon off over the top, if you dont and they hit the Visor they just smash straight through and smack you in the face in a mix of exploded bird and smashed plastic and you will be luck to escape with your life as you:

A- cant see where you are going due to having a face full of smashed plastic and exploded bird.

B- Can knock you clean off.
 
wilber said:
Isn't it illegal to pick your own roadkill up? Only the next vehicle can collect it. This is what i was led to believe.

Pheasants are a pain around here, loads of them get splatted on the road had one smash the window on my truck.
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This. It belongs to the car behind, same with deer.
 
Greebo said:
This. It belongs to the car behind, same with deer.
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Thats not correct.

You are entirely allowed to pick up accidently killed animals, unless they are tagged, in which case you must inform the police as depending on what that animal is, you will be able to claim compensation for the damage to your vehicle or have to pay compensation to the owner.

What confuses people is that you are not deliberately allowed to kill the animal with your vehicle, such as "driving Deer".

The other one that confuses people is dogs.

If a dog runs out in front of you and you run it over, its not your problem, the damage to your vehicle however is entirely the owner of the dogs problem and they are liable for any and all damages to you and your vehicle.

Run over someones cat however, and neither person is liable for anything.

Pro tip number one NEVER swerve to avoid animals, you are far more likely to crash/damage your vehicle injure/kill yourself by loosing control of the vehcile or colliding with something/one else, and little bunnies/pheasants/fox/bagers life isnt worth it.
 
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Scuzi said:
A bird's perception of time differs from a human's and as such they can react easily to events we consider too quick to react to. Birds see us coming. Birds see me coming all the time.
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I've enjoyed every one of your posts over the last day or two :D

content : I have never hit a bird with my car. I can't lift one or get any backstroke to really develop a powerful blow (Nissans are the worst) and then the birds run away too quickly anyway making the whole thing pointless.


e : kwerk banned. Interesting.
 
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I have hit a few stationary birds (sitting ducks) just standing there in the road, me fully expecting their natural instincts to kick in but I just plough into them.

Maybe my car is too quiet, maybe I drive too slow so they don't notice, or maybe I drive too fast so they have no time to react :D
 
I don't have a problem in the car but our patio windows take a right hammering from pigeons, out of 5 that hit the windows in the last 6 months, 4 died outright and one stumbled around in the garden for 10 minutes and then flew to the nearest tree :D
 
Hit birds before but the worst one was a rabbit I run over head first. It was summer and I had both front windows down... you hear two loud pops as it's lungs exploded. Should have taken it home and eaten it but felt bad.
 
I was in London once on the side of the road as a car went through a bunch of pigeons, one didn't make it. But it didn't explode, it just layed there on its side staring at me, one wing pointing vertical in the air and slowly returned to its side. Was an emotional moment for me.
 
Alz_D said:
Birds can do loads of damage -

Re: The pheasant problem - Here is a link to a pic of the damage to one of my old cars courtesy of one feathered friend. Busted grill, bumper split, busted radiator and sadly busted pheasant :(.

Warning - contains picture with dead pheasant in it. :eek:
VwXXK.jpg
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He's changing the spark plugs and oil.
 
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