Would you swerve?

[blearyeyedboy]

I once swerved to avoid a fox, and while I congratulated myself on being kind to wildlife I squashed a rabbit instead.

[Jader1973]

The advice in Australia is to never swerve to avoid a kangaroo. Chances are it will move and you'll end up wrapped round a tree if you do.

Although I'm not sure how valid that is based on the bits of both roos and cars I see pretty much every day on the way to work.

Apparently hitting a wombat is like hitting a concrete block.

[Slow]

Swerve/brake for deer but ive hit a few rabbits and a badger.

Somehow managed to hit a pheasant with my helmet on a moped when 16.

[vrsmxtb]

I ran over a bird on a bicycle once. Sparrow flew out of a grass verge right under my front wheel!
Touch wood I've only ever squished a rabbit in a car.

[LimaDelta]

BigGingerBob said:

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 agree.
I braked for a pheasant that ran in front of the car the other day. Probably wasn't the best move but it happened pretty much instinctively.

This.

A mate of mine (while young and inexperienced) nearly put a car into a ditch after... a crisp packet blew out of a hedge and he instinctively swerved to avoid it!

[hondansx]

I once slammed on the brakes to avoid a bird and very almost had the car behind me located in my rear seats! As has been said though, it was instinctive and i'm not sure it happens frequently enough for me to 'train' myself to not act in this way.

[Mad Jock]

Whether the same applies now or not, I have no idea, but it used to be the case that if you had an accident while trying to avoid a dog, it was OK, but if it was a cat then you were held responsible. This may have changed since the dog licence was abolished.

As a technicality, if you hit and kill a pheasant, and stop to pick it up "for the pot", you can be done for poaching. If you pick up someone else's road kill, that's OK.

For those of you who never saw this clip, it's worth watching for a good laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0sClAQRGKI

[Harji]

rich83 said:

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

Actually it's French.