While driving have you ever hit,a dog,cat,squirrel

Davey Jones

Davey Jones

Well-known Member
Location
Florida
I remember,driving on my way to work about 20 years ago,
seeing a van smashed up against a tree.
I parked since I was not allow to proceed further by police.
I walked over to look and the scene sickened me,the driver was kind of squashed by that big tree and still in the seat dead.
I asked "what happened?"
Seems this driver was trying to avoid hitting a dog and lost control.
As a result of seeing that I vowed NEVER to suddenly turn my steering wheel to avoid hitting ANY animal especially if I have passengers in my car.
So YES I have hit quite a few animals on the road and always stop to see if i can do anything about the injured or dead animal. The police are always called and always they say "ok,you can go since this wasnt your fault,we'll call the animal control"
So today when I drive the teenager gal places and any small animal that runs in front in front of my car I have repeatly told her "if you scream,thats OK but If you grab this steering wheel you're sitting in the back seat forever.
The way I look at it my life and my passengers come first not the animal.
 

I didn't drive so fast in animal-infested areas that I ever hit anything except maybe a few ants that were running away from home. I saved my high-speed runs for the highways.
 

Yes, and I agree not to swerve, but it's just reflex reaction you have to control. I hit a dog once that ran out into the road from some bushes that were close to the road. It happened so fast I didn't have a chance to swerve. He was a large hairy dog and was lying in the center line with his head tucked under his shoulder with blood coming out of his nose. The lady in the car behind me stopped also and said if I hadn't hit him she surely would have. To everyone concerned the dog looked dead, so I walked over to him and grabbed his tail to pull him off the road. That dog jumped straight up and ended in a sitting position, which scared me s**tless...He sat there for a few minutes and then got up and ambled off the road and disappeared into the bushes on the opposite side of the road. The owner showed up shortly after that. I guess someone knew who owned the dog and alerted him. I always wondered if the dog made it.

I also hit a kid once, or I should say he hit me. He was with several other kids running down the shoulder of the road. I saw them and slowed down, thankfully, because as soon as I got even with them one kid, about 5 years old broke from the group and ran into road, hitting my car square in the passenger door. This time I did swerve and a guy riding a motorcyle in the oncoming lane layed the bike down in someones front yard to avoid a head on. The kid was lying in the road bleeding from his head, I thought he was dead. I was so upset a lady that lived nearby came out with a valium and a coke for me. The ambulance arrived and scooped him up and off they went. Needless to say I was a blubbering, hysterical nervous wreck. The police officer told me to go home and they would come by later and take a statement. I was not cited as there were enough witnessed to know what happened and the large dent in my door pretty much told the story.

I called the mother later that evening to see how the kid was and she said he was okay, home and was to rest for a while and watch for a concussion, no serious injury apparent. I was a nervous wreck all night and the next day I went to the store and bought coloring books, crayons, etc to keep the little bugger busy while he supposedly recuperated.

When I got to their house which was a ramshackle place at the end of a gravel road with a bunch of little kids hanging around the yard, I knocked on the door and when the mother came, holding an infant on her hip and several other kids peering out from behind her I gave her the stuff I brought and asked if I could see the kid. She peered out over my head, looking down the road and said..."Weelll, yeaaah, buuutt...he's out playing somewhere."

Ya gotta be shittin' me..the kid almost got killed yesterday and you don't know where he's at again? About this time she pointed down the road and said, "Oh, there he is". I turned around to see this kid running down the street toward home with his head wrapped in a big white bandage like a turban, the end of it trailing in the breeze like a fugitive shoplifter from a middle east market.

I was, needless to say pissed to think that I had not slept a wink all night worrying about this kid and the mother obviously had so many I doubt she would have missed him unless she took a head count.

About a month later I got a call from the mother making noise about me paying the ambulance bill and some doctor bills. I told her I would call my lawyer and get back with her. He said not to pay anything, since I wasn't at fault I wasn't liable. I called her back and told her what the lawyer said and never heard another word from her.

Wanna hear about the deer I hit and killed a month after we moved here? No damage to the vehicle and happened so fast no time to swerve.

Two no swerve accidents, and one swerve accident that could have killed a motorcyclist. I'm lucky!

They say things come in three's and I've had mine!
 
Here in Florida Ive had close encounter from armadillos to alligators but the snakes for some strange reasons seem to slitter away fast without getting hit.
I cant wait till I hit my first dolphin.:)
 
IN queensland, Australia it is a sport to drive in the night & see how many Cane Toads you can run over!
They are a poisonous Pest, which need to be exterminated!:bump::bump::bump::bump:
 
re:
Ya gotta be shittin' me..the kid almost got killed yesterday and you don't know where he's at again? About this time she pointed down the road and said, "Oh, there he is". I turned around to see this kid running down the street toward home with his head wrapped in a big white bandage like a turban, the end of it trailing in the breeze like a fugitive shoplifter from a middle east market.

These are the type of Moms that alway tell their kids to "go out in the street and play,will ya."
 
No, but once on a busy highway coming home from work, I saw a poor little rabbit that was hit and dragging himself across the lanes toward me, his back legs were dragging, and his big eyes showed nothing but fear (or shock). I was very upset as I watched through the rear view mirror all the vehicles behind me, swerving to try to avoid him. I prayed that a big semi would just do him a favor and run him over again, put him out of his misery. :( Had some close calls with deer running across the highway, but lucky no collision yet...knock on wood.
 
I've been extraordinarily lucky too considering the amount of cars written off by hitting roos at night around where I lived. I've had a couple of close calls, one leaped high enough to clear the car right at windscreen level and all I saw was a streak of grey passing before my eyes. No time to swerve with roos they appear at top speed and at right angles. They are total psychos near roads and into or under the car before you can react. You can't slow down to avoid impacts as it's the highway and doing under 100kph will get you run over by a following semi. Many rural vehicles have bull bars to take the brunt of them but tourists and those of us in sedans get wiped out with alarming regularity.

I had a pedestrian run into me once. I was stopped at the lights and a jogger ran straight into the passenger door. All I saw of him was a sweaty belly pressed against the window. He just swore and jogged off again so dunno what his story was!

A little kid on a bicycle came out of a steep driveway like a launched rocket straight across the road just a few metres ahead of me once and missed certain death by inches and about 1kph less speed than I usually drive at. I shook for an hour after that one!

The only thing I hit was a hare. I was driving a Beetle at the time and it kind of rolled up the bonnet bounced off the windscreen and fell off.
I backed up a bit and got out to see the damage in time to see it hopping off the road so no mess to clear off the road at least and no blood on the car. It got lucky I wasn't in a truck.
 
It was about 5:00pm on a summer afternoon when we (my wife and I) were on the highway near our house coming home when a grey wolf suddenly appeared in front of my truck..
I was driving a Jeep Comanche (pick-up) at the timed was doing about 100kms (60 miles)..
I hit the wolf with my right front bumper right on his head.. The head almost exploded.. The animal flew onto the side of the road on the shoulder.. I turned around and went back to the animal but I didn't get out of the truck in case it wasn't fully dead and it could lunge at me..
It had NO head left.. I called the highway crew to come and pick up the road kill..
By the time they got there, the animal was almost devoured by eagles and other birds.....
 
I've never hit anything or anybody but like the rest of you, have had some very close calls. Last year my son was on his way to the airport with his girlfriend dropping him off for his flight when a big buck ran into the car. I went and picked them up and I've never seen so much damage. The whole front of the car was a mess, windshield totally gone and a couple of young people terrified. The car was written off and the highway crews picked up the deer but it was very lucky the antlers didn't actually stab one of them.
 
Steve said:
By the time they got there, the animal was almost devoured by eagles and other birds.....
Click to expand...


Here in Florida we have the most ugliest birds Ive ever seen,turkey vulture, but they do a terrific job of cleaning up all the road kills and other dead animals, I love these guys.

 
Shipper said:
Last week a tree rat (squirrel) ran out in front of me. I swerved but missed him. Probably the same one that chewed the handles off my garbage can and the clips on my pool pump. Of course, it could have been the one that chewed the insulation on my RV power plug; or the one that chewed the covers on my water meter. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll get lucky.
:p
Click to expand...

He might also just be the one that buried the nut that turned into that beautiful oak tree that you enjoy the shade from in the summer ... :eek:
 
Shipper said:
I wished they were oaks, but they are pecan trees that produce a bumper crop of tree rats. Besides the squirrels you have to dodge the branches that breakoff in the wind and put up with the whirly bird seeds in the Spring.
Click to expand...

Ah, okay. But then don't you get to munch on the pecans? Or do the squirrels beat you to it?

I used to love playing with those whirley-bird seed pods - ah, the simple joys of life! :D
 
Shipper said:
Last week a tree rat (squirrel) ran out in front of me. I swerved but missed him. Probably the same one that chewed the handles off my garbage can and the clips on my pool pump. Of course, it could have been the one that chewed the insulation on my RV power plug; or the one that chewed the covers on my water meter. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll get lucky.
:p
Click to expand...


I agree!
 
1309772963_squirrel_crosses_race_track.gif
 
Moose.jpgMissed a Moose in Machias, Maine
In 1978, at night... by about 4 inches... saw him in the headlights, then his nose... in the side window.
My guess... 9 feet long and 1300 pounds.
Ya don't forget things like that. :rolleyes:
 
This guy didn't miss.

Don't blink.

The variety of attention focusing fun things encountered on outback road trips.


...and if you're still awake,the amazing outcome of a roo sustaining more damage than a motorbike! Luckiest rider alive.
Bet you don't see what happened first time! They come in so fast at right-angles you don't get time to swerve.

 
The tree rats here are very destructive. Dig up bulbs you plant and eat them, go in your attic and tear up stuff, go in your storage barn and do the same, eat all the fruit off your trees, eat up your tomatoes, if you have nut trees they eat up all those too. People that feed those things are idiots. They can also carry rabies. I hate them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top