Regarding the merch squish: My aunt was driving my dad and me home one night and she thumped over a rabbit on a side street. She stopped and checked her rear view to see if she killed it. She hadn’t. The poor thing was brutally injured, but still flopping (and making noises). There were a couple of little girls playing nearby and apparently looked up when they saw a car stop in the middle of the street. I remember looking up at them and seeing them just staring with their mouths open. My dad told my aunt she had to back up and finish the job. She agreed, and backed the ol’ Crown Vic up. The little girls started screaming when they saw the car backing up toward Thumper, but I suppose it was the only humane thing to really do. I mean, what’s the alternative? Get out and stomp on it? Beat it with your window scraper?
Did you pass?
Me in my car going about 40mph in the slow lane on a 2-lane-in-each-direction road. Rush hour so there are cars behind me and on my left. Dusk. Rural suburbs–so much so that it’s a field on my right. Up ahead I see this HUGE frog hopping from the field toward the road. Yup, you guessed it. It wound up in front of my car in the “up” position just as I got there. I had prayed and prayed as I got there that he would be “down” and I would miss him. No way I could avoid him. I heard the thump and in my rear view mirror saw him laying on his back in the middle of the lane. Not squished but I’m sure someone else behind me solved that problem.
Another one. Third floor of the building I live in. Sliding glass doors that lead out to a balcony. It’s the time of day that the sun is shining on the glass. I hear a thump on the glass. A blue jay is laying feet up on the deck. Dead still. I guess the poor guy thought the glass was an opening. I’m on my way out so I leave him there, figuring I’ll have to deal with him later. When I get home again, he’s gone. So I guess he only stunned himself and flew off. Or else the bird ambulance came and took him away…
I had a friend, a student who worked in my building, who was killed driving to work from this kind of situation. I’m not sure if she hit the animal, or someone else did, but she tried to swerve away from it and lost control of the car. 22 years old and gone, just like that. It was in Atlanta, I think on 285 (the ring road/loop).
At highway speeds you should never try to swerve. This is one of those sad things that sounds counterintuitive but it will save your life and others. I agree that you should call the authorities to report it.
I did. I was amazed.
It was my second try. First try had been administered by a cute twenty-something female gym teacher in hot pants. She failed me for being nervous.
Happened to me, except I wasn’t driving & we were on a highway, not the interstate.
1996- We were running late to an out-of-town wedding. Driving down a country highway about 30 min out of town with an hour more to go. The dog started chasing alongside us & then angled to run towards the car. My telepathic message “Don’t!” went unheeded by the dog & I closed my eyes & heard the thump. Of course, traffic was heading toward us in the next lane & traffic behind us wasn’t slowing, so we couldn’t swerve or slow down enough to avoid it.
The driver was more upset than I and asked it we should pull over, look for the owner, etc. I was sad about it but pointed out that we were running late, couldn’t have avoided it, and that this was a country highway where animals got hit all the time. The dog deliberately ran into us & its owners did not have it secured. Let’s keep going.
Oh yeah- we didn’t have cell phones back then either.
In the U.K., it’s slightly complex. The Road Traffic Act 1998, section 170 applies:
Heh. Not that it’s funny but, y’know.
Hmm…of course where I come from we deliberately aim for rabbits and possums and you get “points” for hitting them…
I hit a dog who suddenly appeared on I-35 outside of Killeen. Bumper to bumper, all going 75-80 MPH. Three packed lanes of traffic.
I’ll tell you what you don’t do.
You don’t look in your rear view mirror because it will haunt you forever.
70, maybe 75.
Don’t other states require that you notify the police that you’ve struck a dog?