Wildlife rehabilitator checking in: owls are very commonly hit by cars. I get about 10-15 injured birds a year in my rural area. They seem to be particularly low fliers, and they are often hit during daylight, as their vision is quite poor during the day. Owls are not ideal pets; in my opinion and experience, most larger birds and especially raptors are just not suitable as pets. Falconers I have know generally avoid owls as they are slower than falcons, and more reluctant to hunt larger game, preferring rodents and newborn rabbits to adult rabbits, pheasant, etc.
When raised from birth, some species of owl become surprisingly tame, especially the barn and saw-whet owls, although it is illegal in my state to take any bird from the wild without a permit. However, as house pets they are a nightmare: they routinely destroy belongings, ripping cloth and sometimes eating it, as someone mentioned, destroying any paper goods left around, and they are noisy- not just soft hooting, either. Feeding them is a problem for some people, since they do require rodents or chicks, and owls raised by humans from birth are often not competent enough to hunt for themselves. They imprint on humans as being conspecifics, and so cannot be released to the wild, as they do not recognize other owls as potential mates and are very unsuccessful hunters compared to wild-born owls.
In my experience dealing with injured wild owls, they tend to react much as you would expect any injured wild animal to respond: with fear and violence. I use double-thick elk-hide shoulder-length gauntlets in dealing with raptors; for larger birds, even this can be piereced. When they first arrive, they are frightened and weak, and resent any attempts to force-feed or -water them. Gradually they begin to trust me more, but never to the extent that they would willingly approach me for food, and they would always scream if I moved too close or too fast. I have been scratched, bitten, and wing-slapped by raptors many times, and it is no fun. But this is necessary- any ‘bonding’ with humans would impede their re-release after recovery. I have taken a few owls from people who illegally took them from the wild; only one was successfully re-introduced. The others were either killed on roads or had to be given to bird sanctuaries to live out their lives in human company.
Owls are generally rather curious birds as far as raptors go; this may also contribute to their status as accident victims. In my (rural) area, wild owls have taken up residence in a few trees on the treeline, and they will sit on the roof of the pole barn and watch you go about your business, although any loud noise or sudden movement will cause them to retreat. I’ve heard anecdotes about wild owls landing on people’s shoulders or accepting food from the hand, but these are just anecdotes, not the norm, and this sort of thing is definitely not to be encouraged. Raptors are not pets; they can be dangerous and destructive, and it is illegal to take them from the wild. Falconry as a sport requires a massive investment of time and money, and in my state requires at least a two-year apprencticeship under a certified master falconer and a license from the state. (All for a considerable fee, of course.) If you’re really interested in owls, or in falconry as a sport, just google it- you’ll get tons of links, and the most casual perusal will tell you just how time-consuming and expensive falconry and the keeping of raptors is.