Swerve around the dog, or knock it down?

the_syco

Saw some new car crash ad last night, and it got me thinking: would you, going at 80km/h swerve to miss the dog, slam on the brakes (even though you know you'll still hit it), or keep going, and hit the dog (if you couldn't break in time) that darted across the road?

I'd probably break, but swerving at such a high speed just looks like a dumb idea.

=-=

Oh, and on a side note, what if it was a kid, would you brake or slam on the
brakes (even if you knew you'd hit the kid anyhoo's), or swerve at 80km/h whcih may flip your car?

Chucky the tree

hit both of them.


They shouldnt be on the road in the first place.

Dave!

Chucky the tree wrote:

hit both of them.


They shouldnt be on the road in the first place.

They won't do it a second time, will they?

Lesson learned.

George Galloway

I wouldn't swerve or flip for either. I'd brake hard and see what happens.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Your actions in this event are largely instinctive.

I've been driving a long time so I've been faced with this situation a few times.

I brake hard and hope I don't hit the dog/cat.

I've hit a cat once & killed it. I felt awful as I've both a cat and a dog.

Btw I've always felt that if you can't brake and avoid hitting a dog, you won't do it if a child ran accross your path either, something to think about.

Two Stripes

You don't ever swerve to miss a dog you hit it. Dogs are meant to be licensed and should be wearing a collar and should be on a leash at all times. So if little Billy comes running out crying, you can find out where he lives and get some money from the parents to fix the car. If it's a child or any person you do your damn best to avoid them. Whether it's breaking hard or trying to turn away from them. Always expect the unexpected yadda yadda yadda...

dame

Depends what else is coming towards me, how wide the road is etc. but usually I'd swerve if there was room or brake but run over him if I was going to hit another vehicle or a wall if I swerved.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Two Stripes wrote:

You don't ever swerve to miss a dog you hit it. Dogs are meant to be licensed and should be wearing a collar and should be on a leash at all times. So if little Billy comes running out crying, you can find out where he lives and get some money from the parents to fix the car. If it's a child or any person you do your damn best to avoid them. Whether it's breaking hard or trying to turn away from them. Always expect the unexpected yadda yadda yadda...

Then always expect an unleashed dog to run out in front of you, so drive at a speed which allows you to stop in time.

Btw, there's no law stating that dogs should be on a leash at all times. Except in the case of breeds on the restricted list, ie Staffies, Pit Bulls, GSD's etc. All other dog owners are only required to be 'in control' of their dogs.

Two Stripes

Without getting drawn into an arguement with you Mairt, "under control" is open to interpretation from everyone, so if you brought it to court it could go either way. Personally I think under control means that the owner has the animal on a leash, so the dog does not see something and run after it etc.

You nailed it on the head with driving a speed that will allow you to stop.

junkyard

I'd brake hard and try to avoid them, tbh some kids and even their parents should be on leads as far as I'm concerned. I'd agree with previous comments that dogs shouldn't be on the road in the first place anyway.

Anto McC

It's only a dog, i wouldn't hit on purpose it but i'm not going to risk my neck for some animal.

Catari Jaguar

You can't brake! What if a car behind you crashes into you because you suddenly brake hard???

I heard that if you're doing a driving test and a dog runs out you HAVE to mow it down or else you fail. ( I don't know how true that is, but it makes sense) I mean, how many accidents are caused by people trying to avoid animals???

Ghost Train

I'd hit the button that deploys the "dog catching device"

If i was in a car with out that feature, I'd brake and slow down as much as possible to minimise damage to the car and canine

Ghost Train

Lil Kitten wrote:

You can't brake! What if a car behind you crashes into you because you suddenly brake hard???

the car behind you should be more careful, thats why people shouldn't tail gate

_Kaiser_

Lil Kitten wrote:

You can't brake! What if a car behind you crashes into you because you suddenly brake hard???

Well the obligation there is on the following car to be far enough behind to also stop in time (bloody tailgaters! :mad:)

As for the original question.. only last week I had a suicidal rooster (of all things) run out in front of the car on a back road, and coincidentially there was a car behind me too - instinctively hit the brakes and tried to avoid it and luckily managed not to hit it (was thinking more about damage to my car to be honest) but if it had been a kid I'd imagine I'd have reacted the same way.

Anyway, dogs - like children - shouldn't be let run around unsupervised beside busy roads in the first place.

Tar.Aldarion

Drive at a proper speed. Drive faster if you see a dog/child.

WindSock

Yeah and those stupid kids in the ad shouldnt be stading so close to the road either. Doesnt your ones scream sound like tarzan?

Clare Bear

It's not like you actually get any time to think in a situation like that so it's hard to know what you'd do.

That ad, no matter how many times i see it still gives me the shivers and I get teary eyed everytime. I think it's the best one they've ever done. Very powerful.

Not that it'll make any differrence...

Nevyn

You have to try to avoid to hit the child, you should be driving with due care and should be able to stop.

In the case of the dog if in tryin to avoid the dog you will endanger human life then you hit the dog instead.

cooperguy

If your on about the ad I think you are then that ad is HUGELY exaturated and would never have flipped in that situation and at that speed.

Clare Bear

cooperguy wrote:

If your on about the ad I think you are then that ad is HUGELY exaturated and would never have flipped in that situation and at that speed.

True but good ad though.

cooperguy

Clare Bear wrote:

True but good ad though.

Thats my main problem with those ads though the people they are targeted at (boyracer drivers/young males) usually like to think they know their cars and would just laugh it off as hype. Because all that would have happened in real life is the car would have planted itself in the ditch and the guy would have had a bad case of whip lash. The people who in the ad were put in wheelchairs or killed would have in reality been down the pub telling there friends about the idiot they saw who wrecked his car.

Seriously how much does that car weigh. 1 tonne? It still manages to fly THROUGH THE AIR for about 20 meters before hitting the wall!

AlmightyCushion

In both cases I'd put my foot on the accelerator, that'd learn them.

Voodu Child

Mairt wrote:

Your actions in this event are largely instinctive.

Yeah, you can say 'I'd do xyz' but instinct takes over and even the best driver in the world won't necessarily do the smart/right thing. Too many people don't brake even near hard enough, or turn themselves into a skid, or just panic and do nothing.

The only way you'll train a smart response to an unexpected event is to practice it. IMO driving tests should include some kind of compulsory skid-pan training, emergency avoidance drills etc. Every couple of years as well, even after you've passed.

Capt'n Midnight

Dog - don't jam or swerve unless road clear and I know no one following too close.

ryanairzer

The way I see it, puppies are cute and humans are inherantly unloveable so yeah, avoid hitting the dog at all costs.

Trojan911

The dog scenario happened to me a couple of months back. A Dalmation bolted out of the blue in front of me, I braked but knew I was going to hit him. He took a slap, got up & ran off apparently no injuries.

Ironically, I was driving in West Cork last night & I encountered a deer on the road running towards my car. Lucky for me he stopped (They can do some serious damage to cars etc).

In the event of a child running out in front of me then yes I would brake & swerve to avoid hitting him/her.

Heard a story last year from a relative of a girl killed when she swerved to avoid a dog. She hit a ditch, broke her neck & died. She was only 23yrs.

TJ911...

Rb

In both cases, though I wouldn't be going over the speed limit, I'd brake as hard as possible and see what happens.
I'm not risking my own life by swerving to avoid either.

cormie

I wouldn't value the life of one, over the other and I certainly wouldn't value a bit of damage to my vehicle over either and that would be the last thing on my mind in the situation. I'd jam on hard and see what happens but I'd like to be able to think I could do a quick calculation in my head and simply drift to the left or right calmly and miss them by an inch without putting myself in danger. Hopefully the driver behind isn't a typical Irish driver:(

BrianD3

I was driving on the M50 one night and I failed to spot a dog wandering about on the road till he was about 20 feet away directly in front of me. When you see something that close at motorway speeds there is no time to get your foot off the accelerator and onto the brake. I instinctively swerved around him without thinking about it consciously. I was aware that there were no other vehicles in the vicinity but I don't know if that played a part in my instinctive decision.

It was a big dog and I was doing about 110 km/h so it would have done a lot of damage and possibly caused a loss of control. But the swerving at that speed was also a very risky maneouvre.

Black Swan

I tend to drive a small 2-seater most of the time pretty fast, dodging in-and-out of traffic. It has a low centre of gravity, wide wheel base, is highly responsive to the wheel, and remains pretty stable with sudden moves. Have dodged cats, rabbits, and squirrels (we live near an animal sanctuary with a lot of critters) without loss of control, although I didn't judge it right once and flattened a bunny. Also, breaking is often bad news in So Cal, with people tail-gating you at high speed and may rear-end you with sudden breaking, so I would probably swerve around your dog without thinking.