Would you swerve?

[Shambler]

Stop the car, call the cat over and disable its back legs. Next time you need to avoid it you will have more time. Simples.

[BoRED S2upid]

B'stard Child said:

Brake yes

Swerve no

This every time. Brake, sound the horn never swerve. 9/10 times whatever is running out infront of you will make it.

[98elise]

phil1979 said:

The driving gods on here will say aim for the cat.

The truth is, that, when startled (be it a cat, dog, kid etc), your natural reaction is to avoid it.

I found this only recently, when a cat darted out from the bushes. I did not have time to think "It's smaller than a cow, therefore plough on".

Instead, I thought 'st', hit the brakes, and tried to steer away from it.

Nothing I could have done to have stopped that reaction, in my opinion.

I don't think its anything to do with being a "driving god". Most people with a few years experience will have had to hit the brakes hard at some point. The times I took evasive action felt way more out of control than a controlled straight stop. I now kit the brakes and keep the steering straight.

Living in the country it happens regularly. Normally suicidal rabbits though, who have no clue whe to run so just try every direction. At least cats seem to take one path and stick to it.

[CrutyRammers]

R33dk said:

In fact I remember a time coming home from work in my defender about 2 summers ago, M27 from Bournemouth to Southampton , outside lane at about 80leptons as was the flow of traffic.
All 3 cars infront of me come to an immediate halt , I couldn't stop had to swerve luckily into the empty inside lane. Only to hit a family of ducks crossing that everyone had stopped for in the first place.
Felt bad for a bit, but was more pissed off the fact that people thought it was acceptable to screech to a halt on a Mway for something so insignificant , putting several life's at risk (human) in doing so.
Would love to see te face of the person who stopped after I created a cloud of feathers an duck meet as I plowed through them.

You were too close, HTH.

I normally brake hard in a straight line, then go around it if there is space and time. Why wouldn't you?

[PugwasHDJ80]

never swerve

the one time i swerved it was because i came round a corner and found a mummy duck with 8 yellow ducklings following on behind- i swerved to avoid the mother and promptly took out four of the ducklings.

My wife refused to speak to me for an hour as she was convinced i had swerved on purpose

[R33dk]

CrutyRammers said:

You were too close, HTH.

I normally brake hard in a straight line, then go around it if there is space and time. Why wouldn't you?

3.5t fully loaded 10 year old110 defender at 80mph is never going to stop at the same distance as a ford focus for example.
However I did brake , I then swerved . Avoiding a collision but ending a family of ducks. If I was too close I would've went trough about 3 cars.

So I struggle to see what's your point ?
Dk

[speedking31]

R33dk said:

CrutyRammers said:

You were too close, HTH.

3.5t fully loaded 10 year old110 defender at 80mph is never going to stop at the same distance as a ford focus for example.
However I did brake , I then swerved . Avoiding a collision but ending a family of ducks. If I was too close I would've went trough about 3 cars.

So I struggle to see what's your point?

Knowing the poor braking performance you need to leave more space.

What if the next lane had not been empty? What if it was a ladder in the road? What if it was a person lying in the road?

[Major Fallout]

My father had just bought a Rolls Royce, he stopped in a lay-by and said you drive it.

About 30 seconds down the road I took out a low flying pheasant, it was quite a satisfying thud as it hit the flat front of the radiator.

No damage thank god!

The pheasant didnt enjoy it much.

[R33dk]

speedking31 said:

nowing the poor braking performance you need to leave more space.

What if the next lane had not been empty? What if it was a ladder in the road? What if it was a person lying in the road?

Point taken.

[Andy616]

rich83 said:

v8250 said:

rich83 said:

As above, and if you hit it..... "C'est la vie"........ as they say in Spain!!

You'll find "c'est la vie" is French for "that's life.." In Spanish this would be "Así es la vida..." but the equivalent Spanish phrase would be "que sera, sera..." which literally means "whatever will be, will be...", as sung by the delightful Doris Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdhAfMor9BM

Back on subject, take out the cats...wouldn't risk my life, nor car, for any animal...unless it's of bovine, equine, elk type size !

Brilliant! In my head it was in Del Boy's voice as well.

[anonymous-user]

Would I bks, I think you're far more likely to get in a nasty accident swerving without a proper look and think than by hitting the brakes in a straight line, as you found when you smashed into the kerb. Even if you hit the animal and it breaks something it's probably going to work out better than the totally unpredictable consequences of a badly considered swerve.

Also worth noting that the post about spinning the Corsa doing this is exactly the sort of accident stability control would have prevented. It's great for stopping panic swerving manoeuvres from ending in tears.

[anonymous-user]

soad said:

Snakes too.

That reminds me I did a project with a Vet, and he was telling me about working out in Kenya in his youth, and used to drive about in a battered Toyota jeep, he said it was unwise aiming for large snakes as he had discovered when he aimed for a large black mamba sunning itself in the middle of the road, he hit it and it struck back and was very close to sinking its fangs into his arm!

He also said smaller snakes had a habit of flicking of themselves into the back of the jeep. I doubt I will ever be driving in Kenya but If I am its a hardtop only.

[Muddle238]

R33dk said:

CrutyRammers said:

You were too close, HTH.

I normally brake hard in a straight line, then go around it if there is space and time. Why wouldn't you?

3.5t fully loaded 10 year old110 defender at 80mph is never going to stop at the same distance as a ford focus for example.
However I did brake , I then swerved . Avoiding a collision but ending a family of ducks. If I was too close I would've went trough about 3 cars.

So I struggle to see what's your point ?
Dk

I want to know how you got 80mph in a Defender... my unladen 90 struggles past 60! I once had a van pull out from a minor road on my left, turning to his right along the major road I was travelling up. Except he only pulled out half way, fully across my path and stopped as there was traffic to his left approaching. I initiate a full on emergency stop, hard on the brakes, then get on the honkers, then whip on the main beams. He pulls forward just enough for me to squeeze behind him having just slowed to a walking pace, but boy was it tight. The one thing that taught me in my early Defender days was that they neither went quick, nor stopped quick

[Quhet]

I had a nasty moment a couple of weeks ago. Driving along a fast but unfarmiliar road at night with a tanker lorry up my arse when I come across a possum sitting in the middle of the road.
As they are pests over here, people make the joke about aiming for them in the road & you do see a lot of squashed ones about. It was a fking shock to see it's eyes suddenly appearing out of the darkness though and my instinct was the brake & swerve. Luckily I was able to just about avoid it but if it had been wet or there had been more traffic it could've caused an incident.
Squashed animal is certainly better than squashed driver but I'm not sure I would be able to make the split second concious effort to drive into/over an animal.

[R33dk]

Muddle238 said:

I want to know how you got 80mph in a Defender... my unladen 90 struggles past 60! I once had a van pull out from a minor road on my left, turning to his right along the major road I was travelling up. Except he only pulled out half way, fully across my path and stopped as there was traffic to his left approaching. I initiate a full on emergency stop, hard on the brakes, then get on the honkers, then whip on the main beams. He pulls forward just enough for me to squeeze behind him having just slowed to a walking pace, but boy was it tight. The one thing that taught me in my early Defender days was that they neither went quick, nor stopped quick

6 speed box so maybe you could tell me what engine ?
It was a down hill stretch, on a clear downhill road I could get an indicated 90leptons ( sat nav indicated 87leptons) on roads like the m3 or a34 but would struggle getting up the next hill.
Can safely say it wasn't pleasant.

Dk

[Speed addicted]

Brake but don't swerve here too, certainly for anything smaller than a sheep or deer.
Having nearly totaled works van with a small deer years ago they can do a surprisingly large amount of damage at 60mph!

Cats and rabbits I'll try not to hit, but I have gone over a cat with the motorbike.
I hit the brakes, realised that I wasn't going to avoid it without the cars behind hitting me so accelerated to unload the front wheel. To passers by it must have looked and sounded like I went for (and got) the cat.

[Aidancky]

I didn't swerve for a cat which leaped out from the central reservation on the M62 the other day. Went through my front bumper,fog light, and various under guards.

[Sir Bagalot]

Would I swerve to avoid a cat?

I will refer you to an earlier episode in my life.

When I was younger I had a rather nice Coupe. It may have been a few years old with a bit of mileage on it, but it was mine and my pride and joy. I was returning from the girlfriends one evening, on a route I was very familiar with, and as it was late at night/early in the morning I may have been slightly/quite a bit over the speed limit.

I wasn't too far from home and there it was, staring at me from the pavement.... A Cat. It moved forward and stopped again, looked at me. I could see the sparkle in it's eyes from my headlights. I was approaching at speed. To the left I have a kerb so that isn't an option. To my right I'm approaching a traffic island. If I try and go to the right hand side of it I might not make it. If I do make it then I could upset the handling of the car and possible lose control (this was before the days of ABS!!).

I have no choice but to continue in my intended direction and all I could do was hope that at the last minute it would not cross the road.

It did.

Thud.

A very loud thud.

I felt sick.

I could hear it bouncing off the bottom of the car.

I felt very sick. Extremely sick.

I looked in my rear view mirror and could see the cat spinning around in the road with the force of the collision. I braked hard and pulled in. Hazards on.

I got out.

I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach. There it was.

No. No. No. Noooooooo. You guys have no idea how sick I felt.

There is was. A big fking dent in the front of my car where I hit that bd cat. My Pride and Job was dented. Who the fk lets their cat out at night!!! The fking s!!

[R33dk]

Sir Bagalot said:

Would I swerve to avoid a cat?

I will refer you to an earlier episode in my life.

When I was younger I had a rather nice Coupe. It may have been a few years old with a bit of mileage on it, but it was mine and my pride and joy. I was returning from the girlfriends one evening, on a route I was very familiar with, and as it was late at night/early in the morning I may have been slightly/quite a bit over the speed limit.

I wasn't too far from home and there it was, staring at me from the pavement.... A Cat. It moved forward and stopped again, looked at me. I could see the sparkle in it's eyes from my headlights. I was approaching at speed. To the left I have a kerb so that isn't an option. To my right I'm approaching a traffic island. If I try and go to the right hand side of it I might not make it. If I do make it then I could upset the handling of the car and possible lose control (this was before the days of ABS!!).

I have no choice but to continue in my intended direction and all I could do was hope that at the last minute it would not cross the road.

It did.

Thud.

A very loud thud.

I felt sick.

I could hear it bouncing off the bottom of the car.

I felt very sick. Extremely sick.

I looked in my rear view mirror and could see the cat spinning around in the road with the force of the collision. I braked hard and pulled in. Hazards on.

I got out.

I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach. There it was.

No. No. No. Noooooooo. You guys have no idea how sick I felt.

There is was. A big fking dent in the front of my car where I hit that bd cat. My Pride and Job was dented. Who the fk lets their cat out at night!!! The fking s!!

Haha bd cat!!!

I once got a rabbit stuck between wheel and arch of a "stanced " focus , had to jack up the car and pull it out, found out it was still alive , broke it's neck... Got my hands bloody removing it... bd rabbit !!

[anonymous-user]

Sir Bagalot said:

Would I swerve to avoid a cat?

I will refer you to an earlier episode in my life.

When I was younger I had a rather nice Coupe. It may have been a few years old with a bit of mileage on it, but it was mine and my pride and joy. I was returning from the girlfriends one evening, on a route I was very familiar with, and as it was late at night/early in the morning I may have been slightly/quite a bit over the speed limit.

I wasn't too far from home and there it was, staring at me from the pavement.... A Cat. It moved forward and stopped again, looked at me. I could see the sparkle in it's eyes from my headlights. I was approaching at speed. To the left I have a kerb so that isn't an option. To my right I'm approaching a traffic island. If I try and go to the right hand side of it I might not make it. If I do make it then I could upset the handling of the car and possible lose control (this was before the days of ABS!!).

I have no choice but to continue in my intended direction and all I could do was hope that at the last minute it would not cross the road.

It did.

Thud.

A very loud thud.

I felt sick.

I could hear it bouncing off the bottom of the car.

I felt very sick. Extremely sick.

I looked in my rear view mirror and could see the cat spinning around in the road with the force of the collision. I braked hard and pulled in. Hazards on.

I got out.

I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach. There it was.

No. No. No. Noooooooo. You guys have no idea how sick I felt.

There is was. A big fking dent in the front of my car where I hit that bd cat. My Pride and Job was dented. Who the fk lets their cat out at night!!! The fking s!!