The car in front of me didn’t…
:eek:
Awww…
That said, if there is a risk to pedestrians, passengers or other drivers then I am a bit more conservative when it comes to taking evasive manuevres. If it would put no one else at risk, I’d swerve to save the little bastard.
I was driving on highway 128 by Lake Berryessa near Davis, CA and there was a squirrel sitting there in the middle of a road. I slowed down and the damn thing didn’t move. I came to a complete stop. I look in my rearview mirror and see a cement truck barreling over the top of the hill doing 70mph. I accelerated as fast as a 23 year old 4Runner could (0 to 60 in 30 seconds) and managed not to get rear ended.
I am never stopping nor swerving for a friggen’ stupid squirrel again.
Ditto. I hit one of the little tree rats once when it wasn’t safe to swerve or brake. Mourned that damned rodent for a week.
I would definitely stop. Being in a moving vehicle would make it a lot harder to fire accurately.
I’ll do anything reasonable to avoid hitting an animal, but if other traffic or pedestrians make it too dangerous, Rocky goes splat.
A friend and I once found half of a dead squirrel in a parking lot. It was a clean cut right through the middle of the torso. I think this little Idaho town is raising a future serial killer.
I swerve and/or slow for squirrels. I’ve never been in the situation where swerving or slowing for a squirrel would put a human being at risk. That said, it would depend on which human. I kid!
I do not really like tree rats, but I do try to avoid hitting them. Almost daily. The damn things are all over my neighborhood and it is rare that I don’t see one on my way to or from work.
Is the OP asking “Is it better to slow down or to swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel?”, or “Do you do anything at all (such as slow down or swerve) to avoid hitting a squirrel?”
I’ll make a safe attempt to avoid if possible, but this thing must have been suicidal.
He was stretched out like a sprinter trying his best to get across the road but the left side tires of her Buick proved to be too much. THUNK THUNK
One of his hind legs was twitching after he stopped rolling.
:eek:
I dont drive, but when I’m walking I actually swerve to hit squirrels. Damn buggers are fast though…
OP is asking “Do you do anything at all…”
I’ve seen people swerve to try and hit the poor critters and I’ve seen people run off the road trying avoid them. Lady infront of me did nothing. I’m not sure if she saw it or not. Couldn’t tell from my position.
I will slow to avoid hitting a critter.
I will not swerve to avoid any critter except a human. (Dad’s orders, 42 years ago.)
When I “failed” to swerve to miss a deer in North Dakota a few years ago, my son insisted that I should have swerved and vowed to hate me forever. When the Highway Patrolman heard that I had failed to swerve, he thanked me. (I guess writing up accident reports is easier when you don’t have to include human injury counts.) (The damned deer got up and ran off after being stunned–I did brake pretty hard to give it a chance to get out of the way.)
Hell, I’ve swerved for leaves that I’ve mistaken for squirrels.
I’d swerve or stop if it was safe to do so, but I’d never endanger my own life or the lives of others as much as I might regret hitting the squirrel.
I stop whenever I see a turtle on the road and carry the little guy to the other side. I’d do the same for a squirrel, but I doubt if it would accept my assistance.
Usually when I encounter squirrels it is in town where the speed limit is 25 MPH (I never see them on the ~65 MPH roads…I wonder why not?) and I do try to avoid them and will slow down to avoid them. At 25 MPH, slowing down is usually not life threatening to anyone, save tailgaiters (who have a special spot in hell reserved already).
I’ve almost hit a few while biking (more than I’ve missed with my car). They like to hang out on bike paths it seems, and have the bad habit of playing chicken with my bicycle tires. I’m sure if I hit a squirrel while doing anything more than 10 MPH, I’ll be hitting the pavement too.
I try to slow down to avoid hitting squirrels, racoons, and armadillos. (Yes, they’re all road hazards in my area of Florida. So are gopher tortoises, which could easily wreck my tires. I’ve never had to swerve to avoid one, though. Good thing; they’re endangered!)
When I used to ride my bike everywhere, there were suicidal squirrels living in the neighborhood. I’d swerve to avoid them and brake, but then they’d run RIGHT UNDER THE WHEEL and somehow not get hurt. Freaks me out, it does.
I will swerve for a squirrel but the bastards are a lot harder to hit than you think. Because of that, they are considered Big Game in the Road Safari League.
I hate squirrels. They used to eat my house. If they decide to join the choir invisible, my extra-wide tires can accommodate several at a time.
I will do my best to avoid any animal if I can do so safely. However, I obviously always can’t do so. I hit a turtle once on I-40 in Oklahoma. I barely saw it before I hit it and I had traffic both close behind me and to my left, so all I could do is go straight ahead and hope I didn’t suffer any tire damage. And that I killed it with that one hit.
Even if I missed it, that was going to be one dead turtle.