Hares, Birds & Animals with a Death Wish

Savman

Does anyone know what the craic is with these pesky creatures running/flying out in front of you when at speed, in the last while I've had a psycho bird on the M1 fly into the windscreen @ 120kph, a hare playing chicken with me on a back road (his remains are now somewhere under me car ) and a bunch of out of control farm animals running amok on another back road with me cruising around 100kph.

All I can say is scary stuff :eek::eek::eek:

Are you s'posed to swerve/brake to avoid or do you just accept the inevitable and hit the stoopid things? I'm not talking built-up areas where you should be leaving enough time to stop for anything, I'm talking specifically about empty back roads and motorways where you'd be inclined to switch off to potential hazards until one nearly ends up on yer bonnet in a matter of milliseconds and you've nearly caused a major crash...

Thoughts please...

Gatster

Dunno, but if you hit a badger/sheep/deer etc. your car will take a pounding, presuming your not in something 4x4-ish with a bullbar...

Savman

Aye I dread that prospect...:eek:

comanche

It all comes down to self preservation. Are you going to swerve for a rabbit, cat, vermin (winged and non winged) - risk losing control hell no!

Serve for a cow, horse, donkey - hell yes! Just like being in a head on collision with another car!

And if it big enough to roll up and come thru the windscreen swerve.

Having said that if you are going slow enough to avoid hitting animals I do tend to do it (unless vermin)

Rovi

Here's an article from The Nenagh Guardian a few years ago-


The '4 Faults' bit was added by some comedian at my brother's workplace :rolleyes:

green-blood

my father tells a great story about when he was taxi-ing, one morning about dawn he droped a fare off and spotted a fox on the verge eyeballing him, he pulled away and the fox started walking along beside him keeping eye contact, he sped up a bit and the fox cantered a bit quicker and the fox was trotting along staring him eyeball to eyeball until............it ran straight into a tree..

my father says he nearly crashed he was lafing so hard

Savman

Rovi wrote:

Here's an article from The Nenagh Guardian a few years ago-


The '4 Faults' bit was added by some comedian at my brother's workplace :rolleyes:

Sweet lord :eek::eek::eek:

Savman

comanche wrote:

And if it big enough to roll up and come thru the windscreen swerve.

Thing is, it all happens lightning quick and knee-jerk reaction is to brake until you realise its a Hare or whatever. I don't think I'd be of the "ah its only a hare" approach while I squish it to Hare Heaven...

jayok

Are you s'posed to swerve/brake to avoid or do you just accept the inevitable and hit the stoopid things

Don't know about Irish law (it probably isn't written) but in the UK the guideline is not to swerve, just hit them. TBH it makes sense, but when your driving it's hard not to brake to avoid them!

mikedragon32

I'm not talking built-up areas where you should be leaving enough time to stop for anything, I'm talking specifically about empty back roads and motorways where you'd be inclined to switch off to potential hazards

It seems to me like you drive like an idiot. No wonder you keep hitting things, if you are inclined to switch off to hazards.

Clearly if, as you say, you're driving at 100kph, you are driving in excess of the speed limit. At the most, the speed limit on roads such as you describe are 80kph and as others have pointed out on boards before, you should be driving at speeds which suit the roads. It's a limit, not a target.

If you continue to drive in such a manner, no doubt we'll be reading about you in the morning papers, and you're folks will be telling us on the news how you're not another statistic, you're their son.

mike65

Hmm switching off is not clever on back-roads in fact thats the dumbest thing one can do. You switch off on Motorways!

What I want to know is why does an animal sit happliy at the side of the road until you approach then run across the road!

Mike.

Savman

mikedragon32 wrote:

It seems to me like you drive like an idiot.

Well it wasn't long before the "Holier than thou" posters would emerge. :rolleyes:
It seems to me you post like an idiot. But that kind of discussion doesn't get anyone anywhere does it? Stoopid comment :rolleyes:

No wonder you keep hitting things, if you are inclined to switch off to hazards.

Like wild animals running out in front of the car? How exactly do you prepare for this kind of driving? Drive @ 30kph on all non-national roads? Or try to anticipate which bushes are more likely to house such creatures? Stoopid comment #2

Clearly if, as you say, you're driving at 100kph, you are driving in excess of the speed limit. At the most, the speed limit on roads such as you describe are 80kph and as others have pointed out on boards before, you should be driving at speeds which suit the roads. It's a limit, not a target.

Thanks for that Gay Byrne! Although I could go on about driving on empty roads etc, I will concede that speeding -in most cases- is indefensible. Nothing else to say really.

If you continue to drive in such a manner, no doubt we'll be reading about you in the morning papers, and you're folks will be telling us on the news how you're not another statistic, you're their son.

So, by reading one single paragraph I've typed, you are skilled enough to know my driving mannerisms? That's quite amazing. Almost as amazing as you having to resort to speculating what my "folks" will be saying after I'm involved in some horrible collision. Classy. But as much as you might deny it, it's probably as likely to be yerself or anyone else who sits behind the wheel of an automobile. You seem to have assessed me personally to be a high risk category, you must surely work for Quinn Direct :D

But thanx for your thoughts all the same...:rolleyes:

Savman

mike65 wrote:

Hmm switching off is not clever on back-roads in fact thats the dumbest thing one can do. You switch off on Motorways!

Think yizzer takin me up wrong here...

I'm talking specifically about empty back roads and motorways, where you'd be inclined to switch off to potential hazards

I didn't mean I nod off on back roads, in fact I find it a bit stressful sometimes...

prospect

Savman wrote:

Aye I dread that prospect...:eek:

pardon, what did I do?

KamiKazi

i live in kildare, close to the curragh so i drive thru it pretty often.

all i can say is sheep are the dumbest aminals in existence.

they will stay at the side of the road for an hour eating grass and as soon as you get within 50 metres they will decide to walk across the road:eek:

just today i missed one by a few feet, it was a middle pedal to d floor moment.

anyone who has driven thru here knows wot im talkin about

mikemac

KamiKazi wrote:

i live in kildare, close to the curragh so i drive thru it pretty often.

all i can say is sheep are the dumbest aminals in existence.

they will stay at the side of the road for an hour eating grass and as soon as you get within 50 metres they will decide to walk across the road:eek:

just today i missed one by a few feet, it was a middle pedal to d floor moment.

anyone who has driven thru here knows wot im talkin about

Remember, the farmer is liable in this situation should there be an accident.
Coming from a farm myself, I've seen two claims made against my dad when cattle broke out from a field and caused accidents.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious here and everyone knows this.
Farmers have insurance for these situations.

Were you to crash into his field by your own fault and kill his livestock, now that would be a different matter.

Savman

micmclo wrote:

Remember, the farmer is liable in this situation should there be an accident.
Coming from a farm myself, I've seen two claims made against my dad when cattle broke out from a field and caused accidents.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious here and everyone knows this.
Farmers have insurance for these situations.

Were you to crash into his field by your own fault and kill his livestock, now that would be a different matter.

Interesting. Only yesterday morning a farmer had let about 15 odd sheep & cows loose on the back road of the airport, nearly causing wool shredding carnage. I'm quite bloody paranoid about those stoopid cows...man they look heavy

maidhc

micmclo wrote:

Remember, the farmer is liable in this situation should there be an accident.

Only if the farmer is negligent by not providing adequate fencing. the fact the cattle are on the road is normally sufficient evidence of this.

Not that long ago it was the other way around. The driver had to answer to the farmer for killing his cattle.

junkyard

The farmers around my area seem to think that bailing twine is suitable fencing. I've seen fields of sheep and cows and the only thing keeping them in is a length of grotty bailing twine and a main road bordering the field. What I can't believe is that there aren't more accidents.:eek:

Gatster

What I want to know is why does an animal sit happliy at the side of the road until you approach then run across the road!

If the magic roundabout is anything to go by, rabbits are too stoned to notice and cows are suicidal hippies

saobh_ie

mikedragon32 wrote:

Clearly if, as you say, you're driving at 100kph, you are driving in excess of the speed limit. At the most, the speed limit on roads such as you describe are 80kph

Well in all fairness... 100kph was the limit and the vast majority of people drove at it without any bother whatsoever. So I've no bother with that. The driving beyond your ability to stop safely on your own side of the road business on the other hand ain't good.

The last animal I came across on the road was a Badger, there was a car up my hole at the time (me on a bike) so I flashed my hazard lights and dove around it. Unfortunatly the car hit the Badger.

I've also hit a sparrow and a pigeon on the bike but never any birds in the car. I did have a rabbit run out in front of me on a back road last week but there were no other cars around so I slowed down long enough for it to figure out what it was doing.

I wouldn't swere if there was other traffic or people around or if I didn't know for certain there were no people in any setting, rural or urban.

Except for dogs... dumb as some of them are I'd give them a chance if it was safe to do so.

junkyard

I hate killing animals on the road too and would always try and avoid killing them. I think as a general rule, if you see any animal on or near the road you can be sure it will think it can outrun your vehicle. I think the trick is to assume this and slow down accordingly. I would give an animal a chance first even if some d***head it up my rear end its his problem if he can't control his vehicle.

peasant

German insurance companies (bastards) do NOT pay out when you cause damage while swerving to avoid a small animal. Cat, dog, badger, fox, rabbit anything that size ..you swerve and cause an accident (or damage your car) ..tough luck. (They'll pay a third party, of course ...but they'll come back to you for their money).

In a way, they have a point though.

Oh ...and they also don't pay for any animal damage that wasn't caused by an animal with hair/fur ...in other words if you hit an ostrich, you're f*cked:D

maidhc

peasant wrote:

Oh ...and they also don't pay for any animal damage that wasn't caused by an animal with hair/fur ...in other words if you hit an ostrich, you're f*cked:D

What an odd condition. Do they ask to see a dead pig to figure out if he had the required amount of hair?