So you ran down a gull in Reno, just to watch it die?
And you were supposed to shoot it, didn’t you listen to the song?
I left four black tire skids up to within ten feet of a nonchalant moose in Quebec, but never hit one – not even when I lived in Newfoiundland, where the rate is almost a moose a night. With a moose, the car is always totaled, and passengers usually injured and often killed.
In Michigan, the statewide average for deer hits is four per-night per-county – some areas and seasons of the year a lot more or less. But i never hit one there.
Driving from Marathon down to Big Bend before daylight one morning, baby jackrabbits formed a blizzard crossing the road – I must have crunched at least 20 of them, there was no way to avoid them. It was like driving through grasshoppers.
In India, I was on a train that hit an elephant, and was delayed a half hour. I wasn’t driving, does that count?
The '72 Plymouth Fury I was driving didn’t have a radio, so, no.
And IIRC, the collision actually occurred in Utah. I extracted the bird at a truck stop in Northeastern Nevada.
I hit a dog back in the '70s. It ran out on the road and I couldn’t stop. The poor doggie ran away and I hope it wasn’t too hurt.
I’ve hit both a possum and bobcat. Both were at night and both died.
If you count bicycles as a vehicle, I’ve hit birds, rabbits, squirrels, and even managed to kill a ground hog while riding my bike.
A rabbit. It was late at night and very dark. It ran right in front of my headlight, and I didn’t have time to stop. The “thud” was sickening.
And a few birds, especially one that splattered its guts al over the windshield.
A roadrunner and a deer, both in rental cars. Also a robin in mid-flight. None were avoidable and I felt horrible each time.
My first victim was back when I was 16. A new driver, obviously. I volunteered at the LA Zoo. I was driving back from a shift through Griffith Park and I hit a squirrel. :eek:
Oh noes. I was devastated. I stopped at the Ranger’s Station. In tears. “They were playing tag. Sniff. Wail” They were very kind and went and checked on the victims (one deceased), and didn’t laugh at me. Gave me some kleenex and sent me on my way. So young, so long ago. I still don’t know what I thought the rangers were gonna do for the squirrel.
Since then, well, they do leap out at ya, don’t they. Squirrels, birds, lizards, one dog. The occasional snake. I’ve avoided larger animals and the stinky ones, like skunks (yay).
I’m a rank amateur next to you all. I feel like such an underachiever.
Oh gosh I’ve hit lots of things, but no deer, luckily. The last one was a huge raccoon that did $900 worth of damage to my car. It staggered to its feet, so I tried to run over it and kill it, but I missed. In Idaho it was sometimes difficult to not hit jackrabbits, they were so numerous. And birds. Lots of birds. And to top that off, my girlfriend was run over by a motorcycle!
A pig, years ago on I-29 between K.C. and Omaha. Pigs are very solid, but fortunately I was driving a battered old 1958 Chevy Biscayne at the time. The pig lost the battle. The only damage to the car was a torn brake line, which I crimped over with pliers and drove with 3 brakes until I got to Omaha and fixed it. (I carried brake a jar fluid in the trunk because it always leaked brake fluid.)
The couple of birds I hit were small, but the voluminous BANG:POOF!! of feathers and guts seemed out of proportion for such little things.
I’m surprised Squirrel isn’t on the list. I’d think it would be #1 at least for wild animals. I certainly see more dead squirrels on the road than other things.
Dogs and cats might be up there too.
I ran over a turtle on I-40 in Oklahoma (there’s something very Steinbeck about that sentence.) I hit a barn cat once, which I still felt damn bad about. I had a sparrow land right in front of my car’s tire in a parking lot and there was no way to stop in time. And I almost hit a roadrunner but managed to avoid it.
They always do. He was just screwing with you. You were lucky you didn’t get an Acme brand anvil dropped on your roof.
I had a bird use my vehicle as a suicide weapon once. I wasn’t even going that fast (about 35 mph) and it was flying in a depressed or sick way. I saw it make it across the road ahead of me but then it just made a quick turn and dive-bombed my car Kamikaze style. A big poof of feathers showed that it got what it was going for but I wish that it would have landed and let me talk it out of the whole idea. I don’t like it when I am made an unintentional accessory to suicide plots.
I hit a pheasant with my 240Z back in the early 70s. Made quite a mess as it slid up the windshield gutting itself on the wipers as it went by.
I hit a deer with a Subaru Tribeca about 3 years ago. No foul as it was a loaner from the dealer so my insurance covered it under liability with no deductible.
I hit a turkey vulture with my BILs Toyota Highlander but it did no damage to the vehicle.
Probably hit a few squirrel here and there but don’t remember.
I ran over a squirrel that ran into the road. I swerved to avoid it, but it swerved in the same direction.
My car went over a raccoon and her kits on an expressway exit near my house. I’m not sure if it was a raccoon or something else. All I really saw was their general size and their eyes reflecting my headlights. There was a thump as I went over them. I actually did get back on the expressway so I could go through the exit again and check on them. There was no sign of them on the exit (including no animal remains), so apparently my wheels missed them and they were all okay enough to get away.
I (and a few other cars) very nearly creamed a deer running across route 92 connecting I-280 to US 101 in San Mateo.
My family was driving on an expressway from New York to Expo 67 in Montreal. A (goose, duck) hit our windshield. No damage to us, but we did see the bird fall onto the road behind us.
Other.
Believe it or not, a cow in Hawaii.
Honeymoon, rented Toyota Tercel, two lane highway dark wet hilly road coming back from Volcano National park. Crested hill and middle of road just over crest two big eyes reflecting back at me. Swerved and just clipped it with the side view mirror … which was enough to put us in a spin and flip us into the ravine on the other side of the road hanging upside down by our seatbelts (thank god for seatbelts). Both my wife and I and the cow walked away from it. Car was towed.
I’m astounded that “dog” and “cat” aren’t among the options, as they seem by far the most likely.
Anyway, yes. Six or seven years back I was driving home from work when the car ahead of me ran down a big dog, possibly on purpose. I tried to avoid following suit, but the beast was tossed to the side by the impact and my swerve ending up being the coup de grace.
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I hit an opossum driving home from work one night when I was about 19.
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I was backing out of my carport parking spot one morning and felt my back tire roll over something. Got out of the car and saw a kitten. It was still alive. I frantically scooped him up and into the car and jetted to a vet. He didn’t make it. I was devastated. It still wrecks me to think about.
When I was a kid, we lived next to a busy street (the same one where I hit the opossum). One day one of our cats came home injured. Broken leg. A few days later, my sister was being picked up or dropped off by a friend’s mom and the mom mentioned to my mom that she thought she may have hit an orange cat nearby on that busy road. In hops orange cat with a cast on its leg. I lost a different cat to that road a few years later. I don’t do outdoor cats anymore; indoor only.
I vaporized a deer going at least 65 very late at night on a highway in central IL. The entire front end of my car collapsed (with bits of deer fluff and gristle embedded in the grill!) It is an absolute miracle that I walked away from that accident without a scratch.