Sort of hit a stray dog...
Discussion
Hi,
I wanted to post this in the "speed, plod & the law" section but as I'm a new member I can't, but I need some advice.
Was driving along today on a primary dual carriageway through a rural area when a dog ran down the embankment. The car in lane 1 doing about 60 hit the brakes and must have missed it. I was in lane 2 doing 70mph, hit the anchors, and swerved at the last minute to avoid it. I just grazed the dog with the front right of my car as it ran from left to right, towards the central reservation. I saw in my mirrors that the dog was running around fine on the central reservation, and in fact ran back out into the road to cause more trouble for the car behind me. There was no damage to my car. It wasn't near any laybys, road junctions, villages, settlements, towns or cities so I can only assume the dog was wild or stray.
I thought about stopping but with no hard shoulder on a fast-flowing dual carriageway, I didn't feel like putting my life in jeopardy, especially since I saw in my mirrors that the dog was running around fine despite having contact with my car. As I was only 15 minutes from home I decided to carry on. However I know the law says you have to stop if you hit a dog and give your name and address, but where was I to stop, and to whom would I have given my details?
The car in lane 1 that braked first did actually stop, which I thought was a highly dangerous thing to do since he could only get his left hand wheels onto a verge with half the car still on the carriageway, on a curving dual carriageway with many HGVs and cars doing 80+mph.
Do you think I need to report it? I gather that I have 24 hours to do so.
I wanted to post this in the "speed, plod & the law" section but as I'm a new member I can't, but I need some advice.
Was driving along today on a primary dual carriageway through a rural area when a dog ran down the embankment. The car in lane 1 doing about 60 hit the brakes and must have missed it. I was in lane 2 doing 70mph, hit the anchors, and swerved at the last minute to avoid it. I just grazed the dog with the front right of my car as it ran from left to right, towards the central reservation. I saw in my mirrors that the dog was running around fine on the central reservation, and in fact ran back out into the road to cause more trouble for the car behind me. There was no damage to my car. It wasn't near any laybys, road junctions, villages, settlements, towns or cities so I can only assume the dog was wild or stray.
I thought about stopping but with no hard shoulder on a fast-flowing dual carriageway, I didn't feel like putting my life in jeopardy, especially since I saw in my mirrors that the dog was running around fine despite having contact with my car. As I was only 15 minutes from home I decided to carry on. However I know the law says you have to stop if you hit a dog and give your name and address, but where was I to stop, and to whom would I have given my details?
The car in lane 1 that braked first did actually stop, which I thought was a highly dangerous thing to do since he could only get his left hand wheels onto a verge with half the car still on the carriageway, on a curving dual carriageway with many HGVs and cars doing 80+mph.
Do you think I need to report it? I gather that I have 24 hours to do so.
Thanks guys for the advice. To be honest I'll feel pretty stupid phoning the police to explain that "I may have brushed against a presumably stray dog running around on a dual carriageway which caused no damage to the dog or my car - would you like my details?" but I guess I shall Do The Right Thing. :-/ Come to think of it I'm not even sure which constabulary area it happened in as the border is somewhere around the area it happened.
In fact I've found that the Citizens Advice website says that you need to report in person at a police station, but then also says only if there's injury to a person or animal. Suppose I'll just get it over and done with tomorrow.
(EDIT) And in fact, the various police forces' websites including their generic FAQ site (askthe.police.uk) only make reference to knocking down or killing animals, not watching them bound off in your mirrors - hope I don't get done for wasting police time, lol.
In fact I've found that the Citizens Advice website says that you need to report in person at a police station, but then also says only if there's injury to a person or animal. Suppose I'll just get it over and done with tomorrow.
(EDIT) And in fact, the various police forces' websites including their generic FAQ site (askthe.police.uk) only make reference to knocking down or killing animals, not watching them bound off in your mirrors - hope I don't get done for wasting police time, lol.
Edited by stroberaver on Thursday 22 April 02:14
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