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Original poster

To be upset by the amount of road kill on country roads?

103 replies

superstarheartbreaker · 27/09/2014 23:34

I am a country girl. Today we drove to Bristol and the sat in front mowed down a beautiful buzzard ( not a clean kill). We were all v. Upset.
Not to mention about 5 squashed badgers and 3 foxes.

I'm not suggesting we start building hedgehog bypasses but why so much road kill this month?

OP posts:
FryOneFatManic · 28/09/2014 22:15

I do remember one time when driving to work early in the morning, dark enough to definitely need headlights on.

It was a country road, single lane no real space to pass. I came upon a large flock of quail, smack bang in the middle of the road.

Drove up slowly.

They didn't move.

Flashed the lights and sounded horn.

They didn't move.

I had to get out of the car, totter in heels over to them and herd them off the road. As I walked back to the car, I distinctly heard sniggers from the blokes in the 2-3 cars backed up behind mine. Grin

Looking back it was most surreal.

Vycount · 29/09/2014 00:07

Wakey, remember that country lanes have bends in them. So a horse and rider, or walker with a pushchair even, can be just round the next bend. I've got to be honest, as someone who drives along country roads and lanes daily, I suspect you're going too fast. I've been driving over 30 years and as I said earlier I've hit a tiny number of animals. You were honest in your earlier posts I'm sure when you said that you hit rather a lot, honestly, you're either going too fast or your reaction times are slow.
I'm not being nasty here at all, but a speed awareness course really focuses the attention on the difference even 5 mph can make in case of an accident.

TooMuchCantBreath · 29/09/2014 00:26

The problem is wakey, you shouldn't just slow for things you have seen and are aware of. A very small bend in the road can hide a very big surprise. Swerving isn't always possible. Things aren't always moving - sometimes they are but in the wrong direction. Coming across something large, solid and stationary on a road can give you a whole new appreciation of defensive driving!

WakeyCakey45 · 29/09/2014 06:37

You were honest in your earlier posts I'm sure when you said that you hit rather a lot, honestly, you're either going too fast or your reaction times are slow.

24 years of rural driving, and I've hit one rabbit. Is that really considered "rather a lot"?

Longdistance · 29/09/2014 06:55

Gosh, I remember driving on a road going through Cornwall and Devon. It was road kill city. So many different creatures killed on the side of the road :(

londonrach · 29/09/2014 07:18

Sorry toomuch was busy at weekend. There is evidence that the badgers get tb from the cows not the other way around. Culling the badgers makes the situation worse as they kill all badgers (those with and without tb) making the badgers with tb roam more making the situation worse. The gov policy is awful on tb. I know there are some farmers who support the cull and some against it. The reasons behind the cull are based on a knee junk reaction. There is no evidence and as i said evidence against the cull. Yes something needs to be done about tb which seems to effect most of somerset but the badgers Arent the ones who start the tb that starts in the cattle. They need to do something about that first. The trouble is from what i read the vac makes the cows useless, cant remember if thats because you cant eat the milk or meat or because it makes them infertile. Sorry ex young farmer here who sat in too many long discussions with farmers.... ( puts fire proof hat on)

Cherriesandapples · 29/09/2014 21:29

I was doing 26 mph today on a country road and a rabbit jumped out if nowhere and hit the side of the car. It was killed instantly!

Jellykat · 01/10/2014 20:51

londonrach, What they should be doing rather then culling, is vaccinating the badgers.. we've just had our 3rd year of vaccination here in Pembrokeshire, and speaking as someone who has observed the proceedure in situ, it's the most humane way to deal with the problem (along with better cattle controlling measures of course!).
A freeshooting cull is disgusting, pointless and a waste of money.. they should never have repeated the same mistake this year.

Lj8893 · 01/10/2014 20:56

I live in the Dorset countryside and my route between home and work for the last couple of weeks has been absolutely covered in pheasants!! Unfortunately i have hit one and seen many more that have been hit. In a 5 mile journey i pass at least 10 (alive ones), so its not a surprise so many are getting hit.

ThatBloodyWoman · 01/10/2014 21:03

While I appreciate some kills are completely unavoidable, there'd be a lot less roadkill if people didn't treat the lanes like racetracks.

Especially when its foggy I curse the cut through drivers.

NumanoidNancy · 01/10/2014 22:03

I can't stand people that admit they hit and kill a lot of animals on the roads. I gig late at night and live in a rural area so am frequently driving down country lanes in the early hours and see tons of incredible wildlife. Its a fucking privilege not a chance to rack up hits like you are in some animal version of GTA. I think i have only killed two rabbits in my entire life and I'm in my forties. Its just not necessary at all, the large majority of those kills are likely down to being a shit driver who isn't concentrating or being aware enough.

Yeah and I'm furious about the idiots who ordered the latest badger cull too, despite the governments OWN ADVISORS telling them it was pointless and that they were looking at the problem from the wrong end of the telescope. Tories sucking up to their big landowning idiot mates yet again...

Rant over!

ThatBloodyWoman · 01/10/2014 22:12

Agreed Numanoid.

HesterShaw · 01/10/2014 22:21

It's odd isn't it. I've been driving for over 20 years and have almost always lived in the countryside, and apart from one cat which ran under my wheels :(, I have never hit an animal ever. Well excluding flies and moths etc.

While I accept that accidents do happen, the sheer number of run over animals on the roads makes me think some people do it on purpose.

combust22 · 01/10/2014 22:32

Don't drive then OP. You are part of the problem.

combust22 · 01/10/2014 22:34

"I have never hit an animal ever."

That you noticed.

londonrach · 01/10/2014 22:36

Jelly. Why arent they doing that. Culling badgers is cruel..

Hakluyt · 01/10/2014 22:53

Culling badgers isn't actually cruel. It's pointless and ineffective and bad for the badger population. But not cruel.

NCIS · 02/10/2014 05:28

I find it strange that so many people hit lots of animals.

I have to drive on semi rural roads at night and sometimes have to drive reasonably fast but have only ever hit suicidal rabbits (and not many of those) and the odd bird during the day when they fly into the windscreen.

ThatBloodyWoman · 02/10/2014 07:55

Why do you sometimes have to drive reasonably fast NCIS ? (being nosey)

I think if some people hit animals deliberately, they're fools, if only because of the damage that can be done to the car.

People like that must be in the tiny minority.The majority of roadkills imo are because people drive too fast round the lanes.

I think there is a misconception that just because its legal to do 60 on a country lane, its somehow ok or safe to do 60 on country lanes.

The law needs changing.

ThatBloodyWoman · 02/10/2014 08:02

I have been out to escaped horses out on the lane where we used to live, round a blind bend, in the dark.
Also come round a bend to be faced with a huge pile of flytipped rubble in the middle, yes the middle, of the lane.

I have also scraped up and buried 2 of my cats.

NCIS · 02/10/2014 16:06

It's to do with the sparkly blue lights on top of my vehicle TBW

ThatBloodyWoman · 02/10/2014 21:30

Aha! Pwetty blue lights NCIS .

As you were -free passage granted... Grin

hugefatso · 02/10/2014 21:49

YANBU

I sometimes lie awake at night worrying about this.

I have been driving for decades in the countryside (Gloucestershire) and have never - NEVER killed an animal.

I have rescued and mercy killed a lot of half-dead road kill. That's the worst part of it. The drivers who half kill something and then seem to put themselves in a parallel universe where they decide animals can't suffer/feel pain, and then drive on...

HesterShaw · 02/10/2014 22:13

You can tell when you have hit an animal combust. I was in a car which hit a rabbit once. We all heard the thud and heard the animal make an awful squeal.

NCIS · 02/10/2014 22:14

I do excuse people who kill birds, it's a bit difficult when they fly into you.

Otherwise sweep your eyes up one side of the road, across, then down the other side then reverse and repeat. Practise keeping your peripheral vision as sharp as possible, although sometimes animals do run under your wheels which is impossible to avoid safely, you should make sure you kill them though. I sometimes agonise over that when I can't stop and check.