Unintentionally hitting animals with your vehicle?

[Markness]

Has anyone here unintentionally hit an animal or more with their vehicle? I live in Texas and it’s hard getting anywhere without a vehicle but because of this, animals are often put in danger. Whether they are wild or pets, they all risk getting injured or having their lives taken from them by four wheels.

I’ve unintentionally hit some small animals like squirrels and toads and had both a cat and a deer run scared into cars I’ve driven but the worst incident I had was when I hit a family’s dog. I was coming from Austin with a friend and was going through Killeen in doing so. Traffic in Killeen can be crazy fast and drivers can be very aggressive there so you are often pressed to go fast or you will get hounded by someone. I was going maybe 60 or more miles per hour on a road and the dog just came running out of nowhere. He was coming from my right and trying to cross the road. I exclaimed “Oh My God!” and slammed my brakes while hoping “Please Don’t Hit Him!” but because I had been going so fast, my car couldn’t slow down quick enough and it slid forward into the dog. The poor thing tumbled some feet away but got back up and limped away. My friend and I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby convenience store and followed the trail of blood on the sidewalk. Sadly, we saw the dog in the arms of his owners, a father and his daughter. As we came up to them, I started crying and tearfully told them I was sorry. The father said (I think) that he saw that I had tried to stop so he knew it was an accident and wasn’t angry with me. His daughter held onto the dog while he coughed up blood and tried to move. Both my friend and I petted the dog to give him some comfort. A lady also came up to assist by putting a blanket over the dog and we found out the dog’s name was Luka. Sadly, I saw the life in the dog’s eyes go out. I wasn’t charged for anything since the dog didn’t have a leash on and the family forgave me. Since then, if I see a dog on the road, I get flashbacks and do my best to avoid hitting it. My cousin’s dog also tried to run into a road where traffic is very high and I immediately grabbed him.

 

[Wolfsage]

Not your fault. Did that with a cat many years ago. First time driving. Cat wasn't going to move. I could see it in it's eyes. Middle of the road. It didn't give me a choice. One side lead into a house the other into a deep ditch. I ran it over. It had an owner. We called and cat was dead. I don't feel anything for the cat. Because the owner let it wonder the road. That's who this falls on. I'm fully aware dogs and cats don't understand the road or it's dangers. So I don't blame them. The owner it lies with them.

 

[Hylian]

I haven't hit an animal before since I've only driven once, but the idea of hitting an animal or kid or something is always on my mind when I think about driving. I'd be very upset if something like that happened.

I also agree with Wolfsage. It's not your fault that the dog ran in front of your car. You did everything you could and even stayed with the dog afterwards, which is a lot more than some people would do in that situation. I'm very sorry to hear that you are getting flashbacks about this event.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Has anyone here unintentionally hit an animal or more with their vehicle? I live in Texas and it’s hard getting anywhere without a vehicle but because of this, animals are often put in danger. Whether they are wild or pets, they all risk getting injured or having their lives taken from them by four wheels.

I’ve unintentionally hit some small animals like squirrels and toads and had both a cat and a deer run scared into cars I’ve driven but the worst incident I had was when I hit a family’s dog. I was coming from Austin with a friend and was going through Killeen in doing so. Traffic in Killeen can be crazy fast and drivers can be very aggressive there so you are often pressed to go fast or you will get hounded by someone. I was going maybe 60 or more miles per hour on a road and the dog just came running out of nowhere. He was coming from my right and trying to cross the road. I exclaimed “Oh My God!” and slammed my brakes while hoping “Please Don’t Hit Him!” but because I had been going so fast, my car couldn’t slow down quick enough and it slid forward into the dog. The poor thing tumbled some feet away but got back up and limped away. My friend and I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby convenience store and followed the trail of blood on the sidewalk. Sadly, we saw the dog in the arms of his owners, a father and his daughter. As we came up to them, I started crying and tearfully told them I was sorry. The father said (I think) that he saw that I had tried to stop so he knew it was an accident and wasn’t angry with me. His daughter held onto the dog while he coughed up blood and tried to move. Both my friend and I petted the dog to give him some comfort. A lady also came up to assist by putting a blanket over the dog and we found out the dog’s name was Luka. Sadly, I saw the life in the dog’s eyes go out. I wasn’t charged for anything since the dog didn’t have a leash on and the family forgave me. Since then, if I see a dog on the road, I get flashbacks and do my best to avoid hitting it. My cousin’s dog also tried to run into a road where traffic is very high and I immediately grabbed him.

An interesting thing that is developing within the automotive world,...the cameras, infrared sensors, sonar sensors, and the artificial intelligence that is being developed for autonomous vehicle driving and associated safety systems. I am lucky enough to be a proud owner of 2 Tesla vehicles,...it is crazy how these cars will brake and react on their own to animals in and along the road,...even in dense fog, snow, pitch black conditions. More than once I thought the car had "phantom braking",...only to look at the camera feed and catch a rabbit running across the road that I didn't see or react to.

I am in Michigan, USA and we have highways that are littered with deer hit by vehicles. It is, in part, the reason for higher insurance rates,...it's not a matter of IF, but WHEN you will hit a deer. These newer, high tech vehicles will certainly reduce all of that.

Other automobile manufactures are developing similar systems,...so,...in our not-so-distant future many cars will have these safety systems in place.

More importantly, I know there are folks out there that are experiencing "mobility issues" for one reason or another. Autonomous vehicles are really going to open up the world to a segment of the population that are having these difficulties.

 

[gaffaglow]

I am SO thankful I have never hit an animal. It would kill me.

I once saw a cat on the side of the road that had been hit by a car and was still alive. I circled around to save it and bring it to the vet, but by the time I got back, it was already dead. That was traumatic enough for me.

 

[GadAbout]

Markness, I'm sorry you had that sad situation. Your behavior after it shows that you are a feelilng person and take responsibililty for your actions. One thing I do when driving, especially after dark, is to scan back and forth from one side of the road to the other. By doing that I have seen deer and other mammals in time to slow down for them. I also keep high beams on at night except when there are oncoming cars, and that helps some too. Finally, deer often travel in groups, so if one deer runs across and you think you have missed it, be aware that there might be one or more others about to cross the road at the same place.

 

[WildCat]

Not too hard to get around here in big city Dallas/Ft. Worth, but as far as rural goes tell me about it. The traffic is just as insane as Central Texas if not more and, like you said, crazy fast and aggressive. Not about to argue with that, and it definitely puts animals of all kinds at risk.

That I know of, I have not hit anything larger than a squirrel unintentionally and mostly have had close calls with them, but I do my best to not hit anything at all if at all possible. I too would probably feel quite bad about it if it ever happened.

 

[unperson]

If I see them, I slow down, had to come to a stop for an echidna, get out of the car and shove it off the middle of the road with a stick. They roll into a ball and freeze if they are worried.

 

[Aspychata]

l hit a squirrel. It broke my heart. l feel like a piece of poop. l couldn't do anything. Now when l see squirrels l almost stop because they get confused easily and can switch directions on you. People honk at me but l don't care, l respect wildlife.

 

[Fino]

I ran over a squirrel once. Felt terrible!

 

[Markness]

Thank you everyone for the replies!

I ran over a squirrel once. Felt terrible!

Same here. He survived but was suffering so I turned around and thought I would have to put him out of his misery but someone else ran him over instead.

I also had to help someone get to their apartment and a squirrel just came bonding into the street. I said loudly “SQUIRREL!” like the grandfather in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and hit my brakes. The squirrel fortunately didn’t get hurt or worse.

 

[ForestGumpett]

Yeah, I got a squirrel once too and it broke my heart. I’m too weird about this, will circle back to see if an animal on the road (dog/cat) may be still alive and I could help it.

Thanks for bringing this up, something terrible to talk about but does happen. Makes me cry when it happens. BTW, I do believe animals go to heaven, Romans 8.

 

[Tom]

Trully heartbreaking, but there is often nothing you can do in these accidents. I really like the new wildlife overpasses that are being built. They seem to work and I hope many many more are built if they are proven effective.

 

[Kit]

I once hit a small dog on accident but it lived. I was taking my son to school and I see a van parked in the middle of the road up ahead so I slow down thinking someone is crossing and I was busy looking at what is in front of the van I kept on going when I saw no one. Then the van honked and I see a small dog crossing the road from the other direction and I slam on my breaks and I hear a thump and the dog hollering. My son said the dog went to the other side of the road.

I was not expecting a small animal in the middle of the road and I couldn't see it and it's not like I was going fast.

 

[DavidS]

I hit a deer back in April of last year, it was the darkest part of morning and I took
A turn on a country road and there she was. I think I hit her foreleg. I wasn’t sad per se, but I did feel responsible so I searched the roadside black powder pistol in hand in case she needed to be dispatched.

I was driving at night, again, this time on a country road near Navasota Tx. A small screech owl glided in slow motion across my periphery, hit the windshield with a dull thud. I was in the phone and calmly said “I just hit an owl” “ A WHAT” “an owl”

Third time was just a few hours into Christmas Eve, there’s a long autism/relationship story wrapped up in this mess, but essentially, I drove from Santa Fe NM to Corpus Christi Tx in one shot. Just outside of Junction a skunk toddled onto the road, I was flying like a falcon, absolutely no time to react. It helped wake me up slightly though.

 

[Bort]

It was sometime after 11:00 PM and I had just finished my shift at the movie theatre. I had to take the highway to get home. An opossum walked onto the highway and I hit it. I felt bad and hoped it didn't have babies/was pregnant. Since it was dark and I was on the highway, there wasn't really any way for me to see if it could possibly (unlikely) be alright.

 

[Streetwise]

Has anyone here unintentionally hit an animal or more with their vehicle? I live in Texas and it’s hard getting anywhere without a vehicle but because of this, animals are often put in danger. Whether they are wild or pets, they all risk getting injured or having their lives taken from them by four wheels.

I’ve unintentionally hit some small animals like squirrels and toads and had both a cat and a deer run scared into cars I’ve driven but the worst incident I had was when I hit a family’s dog. I was coming from Austin with a friend and was going through Killeen in doing so. Traffic in Killeen can be crazy fast and drivers can be very aggressive there so you are often pressed to go fast or you will get hounded by someone. I was going maybe 60 or more miles per hour on a road and the dog just came running out of nowhere. He was coming from my right and trying to cross the road. I exclaimed “Oh My God!” and slammed my brakes while hoping “Please Don’t Hit Him!” but because I had been going so fast, my car couldn’t slow down quick enough and it slid forward into the dog. The poor thing tumbled some feet away but got back up and limped away. My friend and I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby convenience store and followed the trail of blood on the sidewalk. Sadly, we saw the dog in the arms of his owners, a father and his daughter. As we came up to them, I started crying and tearfully told them I was sorry. The father said (I think) that he saw that I had tried to stop so he knew it was an accident and wasn’t angry with me. His daughter held onto the dog while he coughed up blood and tried to move. Both my friend and I petted the dog to give him some comfort. A lady also came up to assist by putting a blanket over the dog and we found out the dog’s name was Luka. Sadly, I saw the life in the dog’s eyes go out. I wasn’t charged for anything since the dog didn’t have a leash on and the family forgave me. Since then, if I see a dog on the road, I get flashbacks and do my best to avoid hitting it. My cousin’s dog also tried to run into a road where traffic is very high and I immediately grabbed him.

nope dont operate a vehicle,one thing look at the ground more often, when you're driving as everything is on the ground, you won't miss a wheelchair ,buggy ,pedestrian and you'll see smaller creatures, that's the problem traffic laws worldwide are skewed for humans, if there was an incentive that worked this wouldn't happen at all
I'm not taking a dig at every vehicle owner(I took driving lessons it's unnerving to control something like a vehicle), it's the education system at fault, in England when I was receiving childhood education, there were no mandatory courses about not killing or injuring anything, there wasnt even drivers ed!(our country had plenty of vehicles at the time, there are myriad vehicles now) and people are willing to do voluntary courses, in New South Wales, Australia ,a driving course by n.s.w police is permanently booked and students waiting for cancellations.

 

[Stuart1975]

Having driven probably about three million miles in thirty years,road kill becomes pretty normal. I don’t like it but do you risk crashing over forty tons of truck to save a rabbit and potentially kill people NO. Never killed a pet to my knowledge, that would upset me. Also I drive a modern truck with brake sensors and all sorts of safety stuff, don’t think the technology is quite up to it yet, never driven a Tesla though.

 

[Streetwise]

Yeah, I got a squirrel once too and it broke my heart. I’m too weird about this, will circle back to see if an animal on the road (dog/cat) may be still alive and I could help it.

Thanks for bringing this up, something terrible to talk about but does happen. Makes me cry when it happens. BTW, I do believe animals go to heaven, Romans 8.

It's not weird, it's called not being dead from the heart up ,you are affected because you're sentient like all!!! other life!