Animals on the road.

It's almost as if they think they own the place.... B)

 

MURDERER!!!



J/K. I'm sure you have just had a run of bad luck.

 

When I was a teenager, just learning to drive, I once hit a kitten. I was so upset because I am a cat lover. As I was crying, telling my dad what happened he said "That's ok honey, I hit a chicken today." A chicken?!?!? :blink: Who hits a chicken?!? And that was supposed to make me feel better how???

(love my dad and wish he were still here....)

 

You must be driving a few hundred yards ahead of me because I seriously think I've seen more dead animals on the roads in the last few days than normal. I saw a squirrel and two possums splayed out on the road this morning. Cut it out!

I think it might have something to do with Spring, since the animals do like to come out and do stuff. I don't know if you're driving 60mph down winding country roads, but if you are, maybe you can be more careful

 

3 billy goats, 6 roosters, and a dolphin. What a dolphin was doing crossing the road, I will never know, but he didnt make it

 

Hm, try having a run-in with a deer...the front end of my Olds was slightly damaged smacking one in the rear a few years back while trying to bolt across the street.

As much deer roadkill I have seen out there recently, they cause tons more damage to cars (and trucks) than smaller animals do

 

My Prius and I hit a cat the other night. I was driving home from work just after 01.00 am along a country road. It was dead straight and there was no other traffic. No houses. Just trees and fields on both sides. I saw the cat from some distance. It was sitting on the right side of the road looking my way. I pulled to the left to make a safe passing. But the cat did not jump out of the road on the right side as I approached. It jumped in front of me. I felt two distinct bumps as my wheels ran over something. I pulled over, turned and went back, feeling terrible. I am a cat owner myself, and generally have a great affection for all creatures.



The cat lay in the road, as it was resting. Head up, looking at me, and looking undamaged. No blood, but I felt no relief.

- Its back is broken, I thought. I will have to end its pain.

I pulled out my cell phone, knowing no other thing to do than calling the police for help. Me killing an animal with my two hands and nothing more in the darkest of night? No way.

I got out and moved towards the cat to take one more look, before calling 02800 (Norwegian non-emergency police number).

And then. The black and white cat turns its head at me as I approach. Gets up on all four legs. Shudders for a second or two, and starts moving away from me - slowly and with a limp. It disappears into the ditch, heading for a farm house some 100 yards away. Should I have followed it home, knocking on their front door and waking somebody from their sleep: - I just ran over your cat with my car...?


I did not make that house-call.


Maybe I did not deserve this, but the cat did - maybe. Nine lives, etc. etc. It must have grasped the situation in the last fraction of a second before it was hit, and actually turned around in mid-air and jumping away from the danger - as I most certainly ran over one of its legs. If I had run over anything else but the lower part of a leg - or maybe I just ran over its tail (?) - I do not think it would have been able to walk away from the scene. And there were absolutely no dents or damage to my car, making a minor hit even more likely.


I drove the rest of the way (about 10 km's ride.. ) a bit slower and a somewhat more reflective than usual. It could have been worse. Hitting a moose or a deer would have been serious damage...


I got home without any further incidents and put my Prius to rest in the driveway. As I unlocked the front door of my house, my own cat came rubbing his head against my leg, knowing nothing at all about what I had been doing. Just waiting to get inside and get fed...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grotto @ May 24 2007, 06:08 AM) [snapback]448899[/snapback]</div>

Oh the humanity!. So cats arent ok, but bugs are!! What kind of person are you to judge the lives of others!.

:lol:

 

This is why I will NEVER allow my critters to roam free. I have two cats that live indoors and that's where they will remain.

And yes, I came with in a "hares breadth" (ha!) if hitting a rabbit this morning. Stupid thing jumped out directly in front of me and somehow made it. Same thing happened with a coyote a couple months ago.

 

A young lady up here was driving home on the back roads in a snow storm one night and bumped over something in the road. She wondered what it was, so she stopped and backed up, bumping over it a second time. When she got out she realized that she had run over her dad, twice! He had passed out walking home from drinking in town. Amazingly he wasn't seriously hurt. I suppose the snow let him sink in and distribute the car's weight.

Another drunk was staggering down the two lane state highway where it passes through the reservation. It was dark and snowing hard and a state snow plow came whipping down the road; Bam! the next thing the guy knows he's in a pile of snow over the edge of the road. He too walked (or staggered) away without serious injury. If you are lucky enough to keep your feet out from under the blade, you have a fair chance of being tossed aside in one piece.

Deer are the main problem here. Smaller animals are also common, but cause less trouble. Turkeys are everywhere. There was a collision with a bald eagle a few weeks ago. Once in a while someone hits a bear, which is never a good thing. We have had quite a few puma (cougar, mountain lion) sightings, but no collisions. I had one run in front of our car; talk about low and fast. Oh, I forgot ducks, geese, and swans. You don't want to hit a swan. They are big and mean. Yesterday we had a family of geese walk through town. I looked out my window and saw them walking through the gas station on the other side of the street. They didn't buy any gas; I think the prices were too high. Maybe they were taking the kids on a field trip.

Years ago, Mad Magazine had a guide for identifying wildlife by the sound made when you drive over them at night (turtles go "pop, pop, pop"). We might need a copy of that for this thread.

Tom

 

I watched a little white fluffy dog get run over. I watched it die. One moment it was alive, the next....not.

It had somehow gotten away from it's owners. It was a busy intersection but there were apartments and malls close so who knows where it came from. I do know it was terrified, running this way and that. Someone was trying to get it out of the road. I stopped my car and tried to coax it.

But the light turned green. A car sped through the intersection and right over the dog. I thought maybe the dog would duck or something because it was so small. But the speed of the car rolled the dog over and over. I'm sure it broke it's neck. It was awful. I'm sure the poor terrified thing never knew what happened.

I feel sorry for the owners but I also blame them for allowing their little dog to get loose. He had no street smart skills whatsoever.

I do think that Norwegian cat was trying to commit suicide and then changed it's mind at the last minute. So like a cat.

 

I almost hit what looked like a 20 lb possum the other day. I can't imagine what the repair bill would be for that.

Note to Self:
Must install snow blade to front of Prius in the morning.

 

When it comes to avoiding hitting animals on dark roads, HID headlights are critters best friend. I can see cat and dog eyes glow from blocks away.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ May 24 2007, 08:10 AM) [snapback]448961[/snapback]</div>

are you serious? or is that a joke post?

never ran over anything myself. Came close once when a stupid squirrel decided to run in front of my car, then stop in the middle, change it's mind....run back the other way 2 or 3 feet....then change its mind again. Had to brake pretty hard.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nark @ May 25 2007, 05:30 AM) [snapback]449677[/snapback]</div>

Serious. It's completely true.

Tom

 

True story: I almost bought it in my younger years trying not to squash a possum (or some other animal that looks like a huge rat with an albino face).

Schedule:
Work my 8-9 hours @ Bell Labs
Rush home to get something to eat
Rush back out to take my 3-4 hours of courses at the university (40 minute drive)
Rush to girlfriend's house (~1 hour drive)
Commit various lewd and lascivious acts
Leave girlfriend's house ~2-3AM to get home for my 3-4 hours sleep
Repeat.

This kind of schedule doesn't make for alert drivers, even given the energy of youth. Coming home from said girlfriend's house one night, I must have nodded off for a few seconds (I hope!). When I woke, I was headed directly for aforementioned rodent-like critter. Instinct takes over, so I slam on the brakes and swerve hard to the left (not much traffic on the road at that hour) to avoid killing it and the ensuing bad feelings. Probably not a bad move if you're in a Corvette. Really, really, bad move if you're in a 1984 Nissan Sentra (base model) which had the handling characteristics of a large slug. I 360'd twice (still amazed I didn't roll it, must have been enough dew or moisture on the road to permit easy sliding) and wound up off road between two large trees, unhurt, car undamaged. Once my heart rate dropped back down into triple digits, I vowed then and there not to ever again risk my life to avoid hitting an animal. I still veer and brake to try my best to avoid an animal, but I like to think that I may have more to offer the world than some rodent.

Time will tell.

 

So far just a squirrel. We were coming back from a 4-wheeling trip on a dirt road and one dashed out in front of me and changed it's mind a few times. The truck behind me CB's and said "yep, you got him." I felt horrible.

Anyone else notice the Prius to be especially bird friendly? One flew into my path the other day and the steep rake of the winshield gently nudged it over the car and it kept flying. I don't think it would have fared as well with the 4Runner.

Eric

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grotto @ May 23 2007, 04:33 AM) [snapback]448005[/snapback]</div>

Not recently. The incidents are all BP (before Prius). At not remembered dates, birds have flown into my grill. I could do nothing to avoid them. Between 25 and 30 years ago, while driving on a country road (probably 40-45 mph) I saw a kitten to the side of the road swatting at a butterfly, when I was almost to it. The butterfly flew into the road and the kitten followed. I wasn't able to avoid it. Possibly just too surprised to react.

Two (or has it been three) summers ago, while driving south through Wyoming (just a few miles north of Casper) I hit an antelope (okay, not technically an antelope, but a pronghorn). I didn't even see it until it was sliding over my windshield. I was traveling at 70 mph (the legal limit there), was keeping a close eye on the road and to the side, and it appeared from the side of the road without me even knowing it. It took out my hood and radiator. The car was technically totaled by the insurance company, but I had it repaired anyway. It was a '90 Ford Taurus wagon. There was grass all over the windshield and top of the car.
Needless to say, the antelope didn't survive that experience.

In talking to the highway patrolman, who came to do the accident report, he seemed to consider it "par for the course".

Dave M.