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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To run over an animal without a second thought and not swerve

199 replies

Kimbomc · 07/09/2015 08:49

I drove a friend back on Saturday , through a rural area nsl A road but quite narrow. A fiox came out in front, I took my foot off the accelerator but didn't brake as a car was too close behind me. Surprise surprise it didn't move and I heard a thump so we know what happened to it.

Friend seemed quite shocked that I didn't swerve or brake sharply, I said its just not worth it as could be very dangerous.

When these things happen my first thought is to hope it moves out of the way but to just remain as I am and don't do anything harshly. I do run over a lot of peasants that I don't feel great about but they do just wonder into the road.

So we were just chatting on what's app, she was saying she feels sad about the fox (we're both vegan) and I'm trying to explain how dangerous it would have been to do any different but she really doesnt get it.

I was right to do that right?

OP posts:
Pootles2010 · 07/09/2015 11:11

Dawn entirely agree - it was an A road for heavens sake! OP was driving safely - she was aware there was someone behind her, which a lot wouldn't.

SlaggyIsland · 07/09/2015 11:12

Not nonsense at all, and we do a lot of rural driving. I don't mean park in the middle of the road and have a leisurely picnic, I mean anticipating the fact that there might be a tractor, a sheep, a dog-walker or just about anything round the next bend.
I'm not saying hitting an animal is always avoidable. They can certainly fling themselves right in front of moving cars and in that case it wouldn't be safe to swerve. But then I'd expect the person who hit them to stop and check that they were dead, and if not take appropriate action.
My DH hit a duck once and had to dispatch it with a tyre iron. He didn't exactly enjoy doing it, in fact he was sick everywhere afterwards, but he wouldn't have left it to suffer.

MrsMook · 07/09/2015 11:16

I ran over a duck many years ago. It waddled out into the road from the hedge and I quickly decided that swerving was too risky due to a bend obscuring the view of potential oncoming traffic. I wasn't going to stop in time. I carried on favouring hitting it outright over leaving it wounded. I felt rotten about it. Doubly so the next day when I got to the same point and my tape was playing "broken wings" Grin

My friend was driving within the speed limit on a dual carriageway when a deer jumped out in front of her. She instinctively swerved, and clipping the car caused the car to roll over. Hitting the deer obviously wasn't going to be wise, but swerving is also potentially risky.

HoldMeCloserTonyDanza · 07/09/2015 11:21

Doing 50mph on an A-road at night could be unreasonable in some circumstances, but it was most likely a very safe speed.

Sometimes animals just run out under the car. It's not the same as turning a blind bend and seeing a tractor - a blind bend you can slow down and prepare for - but some animals really do just leap out and commit hara-kiri.

TenQuidProQuo · 07/09/2015 11:24

You did the right thing and I've done the same thing myself sorry about that pheasants

I did once kill a duck in an unfortunate way. I was driving really slowly in a car park because there were duck wandering around and I couldn't really see where they were. They had plenty of time to waddle out of the way but one didn't and I ran over it. Now I would wait and double check they were safe. I hadn't realised they had so little road sense.

Another time my dad ran over a cat which had bolted out into the road. It was very swished but still alive. I'm no vet but it was extremely obvious it's couldn't survive so we had to kill it quickly. It was definitely the right thing to do but it was horrible. It didn't have a collar and there were no houses around so we just left it at the side of the road. It was before the days of chipping. Sad

MonicaBilongame · 07/09/2015 11:30

I've had a bird fly out of a hedge right in front of the car whilst I was driving down a narrow country road - I didn't hit the bird (fortunately) but it was so startled it laid an egg on the windscreen! Wipers and screen wash then proceeded to smear it into an emulsion all over the windscreen. I felt more guilty about that egg than I ever have over the odd rabbit.

Flumplet · 07/09/2015 11:34

oh come on!! tooting the horn is not dangerous!! you telling me you never ever turn up the volume on your radio, or adjust your seat belt or get hair out of your eyes or cover your mouth to sneeze or put on the heating whilst driving along?? It takes seconds, and the horn is there to be used when appropriate. it wouldn't be there if it were dangerous to use it. Hopefully the driver behind you didn't have an accident due to not knowing about a hazard in the road because you didn't indicate otherwise OP.

Radiatorvalves · 07/09/2015 11:43

I hit a bird while doing 80mph (in France) on the motorway. It went straight into the car and made an almighty thump. Masses of feathers everywhere. I think it was a rather large pigeon. I felt bad about it, but couldn't do anything.

PosterEh · 07/09/2015 11:48

It was an A road ffs not a windy lane. Does everyone drive around at 20mph (stopping distance of about 12m including thinking time apparently) on A roads in case a fox runs out in front of them?

ExConstance · 07/09/2015 11:57

Please don't swerve anyone, if you can avoid it. One of my cousins had a daughter in her mid twenties, mother of two children 4 & 7. 7 years ago in the run up to Christmas she set out fairly early one weekend morning to collect a friend and go out for the day. For some reason that has never been explained she swerved to her right and was in a collision with another car. The driver of the other can and m cousin's daughter were both killed, he had 4 children. No explanation was ever found as to why she had swerved, but there is a deer park which she passed on her nearside and there had bee a number of accidents involving deer leaping the wall into the road in the preceding months. her action must have been involuntary but the results were terrible.

Lollypop27 · 07/09/2015 11:57

I only passed my test this year but my instructor told me anything the size of a fox up I should emergency brake. Is this not true? If you would have caused a pile up would the driver behind you not been driving too close then?

I'm not being argumentative just general questions.

SlaggyIsland · 07/09/2015 12:02

Lollypop it would depend on how suddenly the animal jumps out in front of you and also what is behind you. If something leaps out at the last minute and there's a fast car close behind you then emergency braking would be pretty dangerous.

sanfairyanne · 07/09/2015 12:09

Its all about being tailgated imo. You cant know that and continue driving at a speed you cant afford to slow down by braking (not emergency stop just using the brakes). You cant stop them tailgating so you have to slow to a safe speed and/or pull over when safe to do so.
I really think it was instinctive behaviour by the op. No time to think really in this situation. Not a bad reaction either but poir driving beforehand

colley · 07/09/2015 12:10

PosterEh - You drive to the conditions. If you can't stop if someone is on the road in front of you, then you are driving too fast. It was a fox, it could easily have been a walker or cyclist. This is basic driving skills.

colley · 07/09/2015 12:12

Incidentally with the driving test now you first have to pass an online virtual driving test where you encounter all kinds of hazards. A common one is coming across horses or walkers on a country road.
And it is because of drivers like the OP that many parents don't let their DCs walk home from friends at night in rural areas. Some people do drive crazily fast.

Original poster
Kimbomc · 07/09/2015 12:18

Thanks dawn and pootles. 50 is a perfectly safe speed there. If I went along at 30 on all the nsl with hedges then it would be far more dangerous with all the cars that overtake.

A cyclist or a pedestrian is unlikely to pop out of a hedge onto the road with a second or two relistic thinking time for a driver to decide to, hit the brakes, swerve, do nothing, or just ease off the accelerator. I prob wouldn't of done an emergency stop even if there wasn't a car close behind as I could of skidded and wouldn't of been able to come to a complete stop before I reached it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kimbomc · 07/09/2015 12:19

Some people do drive crazily fast. like me who was driving significantly under the speed limit on an A road where its 60? Biscuit

OP posts:
Sparrowlegs248 · 07/09/2015 12:21

Yabu. I live rurally, and have never yet run over any wildlife. I frequently (daily) come across pigeons, pheasants and rabbits. Often foxes and deer. Occasionally random loose cows/horses etc. With the wildlife i slow down, bip horn, brake, whatever. I've never had or caused an accident either.

I'm surprised at your view point in light of you vegan.

ShortandSweeter · 07/09/2015 12:21

Unfortunate. You should slow down if you are being tail- gated. The fact that you checked your mirror before making a decision to slow down was a delay that certainly contributed to the resultant death. You could have used this time to brake.

Original poster
Kimbomc · 07/09/2015 12:21

You can't stop to let every car that's driving too close overtake, as that is 90% of cars and lots of the roads around here have no overtaking. I just keep an eye on them so I know how to react in an emergency.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kimbomc · 07/09/2015 12:24

With the wildlife i slow down, bip horn, brake, whatever. I've never had or caused an accident either.

That your aware of? Lots of erratic drivers around here are fully unaware of how their driving affects others.

As pp said you'd probably fail your test for doing that.

OP posts:
CaptainKit · 07/09/2015 12:30

I live in a very rural area - high hedgerows or woodlands at the side of many roads. I've got to say that if I was being tailgated on a 'quite narrow' rural road, A-road or not, there's no way I would continue to do 50. Especially if you didn't think the car behind had a safe stopping distance. This time of year especially even the clearest road can suddenly become hazardous at any point with something a bit more dangerous to you and your passenger than a fox. If a deer (or, as is usually the case, several deer) jumped out and you didn't brake you would have risked doing a lot of damage to your vehicle. A split second isn't really long enough to decide whether it's an animal you feel your car would survive running over, or not.

Don't forget, even despite the hunting laws, it's quite possible a fox could have been followed by a pack of dogs and riders on horseback. Unlikely, maybe, but it's not completely unheard of.

As is commonly spouted on MN; 50 is a limit, not a target. If you know that you're driving somewhere where it's a common occurrence for wildlife to encroach onto the road then you should be driving accordingly.

YWNBU not to swerve, but from my limited view of the incident, it sounds like you could have stopped had you been driving slower, so on that front I think YWBU.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 07/09/2015 12:31

I'm going to go against the grain and say YABU.

If you were going to fast to safely avoid the fox you were going too fast. What if it had been a large deer, or an escaped cow - in that case you would yourself be in danger from your ability to avoid the obstacle.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 07/09/2015 12:32

In ability to avoid the obstacle.

TenForward82 · 07/09/2015 12:34

I just keep an eye on them so I know how to react in an emergency.

Except the idea of "reacting in an emergency" is that the aim is "no casualties". That didn't work in this case. Your reaction was to keep on driving. That's not reacting, is it?

You honestly think it's fine to continue driving fast while being tailgated?