To think 20mph isn't a magical cure all?

[QuestionableMouse]

This might be a bit ranty, sorry.

On my way to work this morning I hit and killed someone's pet duck. It was in the middle of the road in a blind bend. I came around the bend and it was under the car before I could do anything about it. It's a nasty bend in that it's blind, with high hedges. It's also very rural, with not a lot of traffic.

I was doing 30mph on a road with a 60mph limit. The owner is now terribly upset with me and is saying that if I'd been doing 20mph I could have missed it and has decided to start a petition to lower the limit to 20mph. I'm also getting a lot of hate from her family over this.

I feel that even if I had been doing 20mph, I still wouldn't have been able to avoid it (the breaking distance, for example, is shorter than the bend, if that makes any sense!) I do feel really terrible about it but it was an accident.

WIBU?

[Fatted]

Why was the pet duck in the road in the first place if it's a pet rather than a wild animal?!

[TheQueef]

Duck? What was it doing in the road?

[cheeseypuff]

Accidents are accidents - if you had been doing 30mph & on a mobile phone or doing 70mph she might have had cause to be upset. If it is so precious to her why does she let it stand in the middle of a road?

[dementedpixie]

Why on earth was the duck on the road at a point where it is ok to do 60mph? That's negligence on the owners part rather than yours.

[LoudBatPerson]

It does sound like an unfortunate incident, and for something as small as a duck I am not sure 20mph would have made much difference.

However I do think 30mph is very fast for a blind bend with high hedges.

[WhoKnewBeefStew]

No it’s not a magical cure. Of course the slower you go the more time you’ll have to react to circumstances like this. However if you were going at a snails pace around a blind bend, you then run the risk of being f rear ended by another car.

Tbh they should also have ensured their duck wasn’t in the road.

30moh in a 60 is sensible imo taking into consideration the road

[StrongTea]

It was an accident, owner probably kicking up because she knows it shouldn’t have been on the road. I hit a deer a few months ago and it’s horrible, nothing you can do.

[thecatsthecats]

I hit a badger at 14mph (my car was suffering heading up a very steep hill). It staggered away after a few minutes lying panting in the road, but I'm not sure a duck would have made it.

I agree that 30pmh is high for a blind bend with hedges personally - I'm very familiar with country roads.

[Reallyevilmuffin]

Did you ask him why did the chicken duck cross the road?

[YetAnotherUser]

Pets shouldn't have been in the road in the first place, but on the other hand nobody should be travelling at a speed where they can't stop in the space they can see.

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

You can’t leave ducks in the road and expect them to never safe.

desperately tries to avoid asking if they misheard the advice to get their “ducks in a row”

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

Never=be

[Hillarious]

We have 20 mph speed limits on our local (suburban) roads. They're only advisory and never enforced. They don't really slow down the traffic either, more's the shame as the roads are used by rat-runners who are always in a hurry.

[thedisorganisedmum]

Reallyevilmuffin
grin]grin]

[thedisorganisedmum]

it's lucky for the driver it was a car and not a motorbike.

Who would ever think it wise to allow a pet anything in a blind bend in the middle of the road! It should be a lesson for that woman.

[badlydrawnperson]

YANBU but all the cat fanatics around here will eventually get a law passed insisting that all vehicles travel at 1mph with a detector to slam on the brakes of all the vehicles if a cat is within 3 miles. There are some really stupid people about.

[ReleaseTheBats]

I don't think your neighbour is going to get far demanding a 20 mph limit so that pets can safely wander in the road.

Fwiw, I was taught that breaking suddenly or swerving for birds is unsafe driving. You did nothing wrong.

[bigbluebus]

If the current speed limit on that road is 60mph then I very much doubt anyone will consider changing it to 20mph. The lower limit is generally reserved for places where there are likely to be a lot of pedestrians (which doesn't include ducks!). SHe can get her petition but I doubt it will achieve much.

[BobbinThreadbare123]

This is quackers

A duck wouldn't survive 10 mph, let alone 20

[GregoryPeckingDuck]

How high are the hedges? If they are only high enough to conceal ducks and the like then it is entirely her fault for leaving the duck in the middle of the bloody road. If the hedges are tall enough to conceal cars then should really should have rounded the corner very slowly and considered flashing lights/sounding horn. It’s diffocult to judge without knowing the road.

[TheQueef]

Am I being thick, why didn't the duck fly off? (I have no experience of ducks pet or feral)

[RiverTam]

a duck is not a pet, FFS.

[thecatsthecats]

Queef - why did the badger bolt directly under my wheels when I was only doing 14mph?

Even flying off, birds can end up under your wheels.

[53rdWay]

YANBU if you were driving carefully and well under the existing speed limit, you can't be on Duck Watch for the whole journey.

Likewise she is NBU if she wants to campaign to get the speed limit reduced to 20mph given it's a blind bend with low visibility. I doubt she'll get far with it if there isn't much pedestrian activity anyway but she can give it a go.

[babysharkah]

A blind bend at 30 is is a bot dodgy isnt it, regardless of ducks and other wildlife on the road. If it had been something bigger a badger, or a deer, you could have been seriously injured.