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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

118 replies

QuestionableMouse · 11/03/2019 11:36

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?

OP posts:
ILoveMaxiBondi · 11/03/2019 12:36

I don’t think I know of anywhere that goes from 60 straight to 20 and then back to 60 again. Coming into towns it goes 60-40-30 and the reverse for coming out of them.

I don’t think she stands a chance of getting that part of the road reduced to 20.

Nicknacky · 11/03/2019 12:38

I’m going to hell but this made me laugh😭

NotDavidTennant · 11/03/2019 12:39

Dear local council,

We the undersigned petition you to reduce the speed limit of Quackcorner Lane from 60 mph to 20 mph due to Sandra's pet duck being run over on a blind bend. We urge you to gave this petition your fullest consideration as the current speed limit is not only dangerous for ducks but for water fowl of all varieties.

Signed,

Crazy duck lady
Crazy duck lady's husband
Crazy duck lady's son
Crazy duck lady's great aunt Mabel
etc
etc

Pinkbells · 11/03/2019 12:41

Not your fault at all! Your job was to adhere to the speed limit for the road, which you did by a long way and their job was to keep control of their pets, which they didn't. If they don't like the speed limit that is in place there are ways of petitioning which is fine, but it's still not your fault!

Oakmaiden · 11/03/2019 12:41

I agree that she is unlikely to get the speed limit reduced, and that even at a lower speed it would probably have been hard to see the duck until it was too late.

However, do have a think about your stopping distances. Only you know the exact geography of the place you are talking about, but would you be able to stop in time if it was a car coming the other way (and bearing in mind people don't hug the sides of the roads on sharp corners with high hedges)? The fact there is not a lot of traffic doesn't mean that you won't one day meet someone zooming towards you? Make sure you are safe, too.

tiredandold · 11/03/2019 12:41

I’m going to hell but this made me laugh

That makes two of us...

SoupDragon · 11/03/2019 12:42

Am I the only one thinking it should have ducked?

Sarahjconnor · 11/03/2019 12:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoupDragon · 11/03/2019 12:44

I'm going to assume the OP knows the road well and was driving sensibly. The duck woman is completely quackers.

Fiveredbricks · 11/03/2019 12:45

Oh no, you ducked up, OP!

maddening · 11/03/2019 12:46

Perhaps the road should be reviewed full stop, it could have been kids on bikes, walkers etc if the bend is so bad and obscured it is possibly V dangerous.

Whatnotea · 11/03/2019 12:46

Why did the duck cross the road....??
What comes first the duck or the egg...or the crazy woman driver, driving at 30 in a 60 mph zone...?
What's for dinner....duck pancakes......

I am going to hell.......

carrotflinger · 11/03/2019 12:50

Why was the duck wandering around in the road in the first place? If it was a pet duck the woman should have made sure it was in a safe enclosure or accept the risk that it could get run over.
Maybe 30 mph was a bit fast for the blind bend but I don't think 20 mph would have made much difference to the duck.

I am in another country so I don't know if it is the same as the UK but we were taught during out theory course that you should not do emergency stops or swerve to avoid hitting small wild animals (cats are included in this because they are considered to be feral) because you could endanger other road users while drying to avoid a duck or a fox or something. If a horse or cow is standing in the road then you should do an emergency stop.
It all seemed a bit random to me - which animals you can run over and which you can't.
Maybe other people know the legalities of braking sharply to avoid killing Donald Duck.

Goldmandra · 11/03/2019 12:57

You need to drive at a speed such that you can stop in the distance you can see. Next time you go round a blind bend too fast, it could be a child on a pony or a pedestrian that you hit.

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.

Only if the driver that rear-ends you is also driving too fast, in which case it would be their fault.

Clearly the duck owner isn't going to achieve a speed limit reduction from 60 to 20 but that doesn't change the responsibility you have to drive safely and in such a way that you can stop if there is something unexpected around a bend in the road.

NWQM · 11/03/2019 13:00

Tell her you will gladly sign the petition to get the Council to look into the speed limit as you are very upset by all this.

Then walk away...regretfully but fairly swiftly.

thenightsky · 11/03/2019 13:05

OP you should have driven a lot faster - say 60 mph. Then you'd have been well past the bend by the time the duck set off Grin

GraceMarks · 11/03/2019 13:05

I think it would be a better use of her time to campaign to get the hedges cut back and maybe a mirror put in so that the bend isn't so blind any more. Perhaps that still wouldn't have been of any help to something as small as a duck, but it could help avoid a child being hit in the future!

I once ran over a squirrel at about 15mph and killed it stone dead. A duck might have survived the impact but it would have been horribly injured. The best way the owner could have protected it was by keeping it off the road. I feel for anyone who loses a pet but she has to admit her own part in this!

jasjas1973 · 11/03/2019 13:08

Virtually all narrow country roads do not have a speed limit set, which means they are 60mph by default, it doesn't mean 30mph is perfectly ok.
If its as dangerous a blind bend as you say, then 30mph is far too fast, next time it'll be a kid on a bike/horse or walking to school, perhaps a Deer that will wreck your car on impact.

You were driving to fast for the available braking distance.

CielBleuEtNuages · 11/03/2019 13:08

how have you been getting hate off her family? Do you know the owner?

Roffle2019 · 11/03/2019 13:11

How, in the space of a few hours, are you getting a lot of hate from the family?! Confused

greenelephantscarf · 11/03/2019 13:11

in this instance yanbu

but I think 20mp/h on most roads is a good idea and would encourage more cycling
it's much safer than going at a higher speed and also saves a lot of petrol, i.e. pollution.

Chipsncheeze · 11/03/2019 13:31

Is she having a funeral for the duck?

Is she going to send you the bill?

Reallyevilmuffin · 11/03/2019 13:32

Here's the other question - did she make duck a la range or peaking duck when she got it back?

ApolloandDaphne · 11/03/2019 13:32

Crikey. If it was 20mph on most roads I would get nowhere. I don't drive too fast on the rural roads where I live but 20mph would be ridiculous.

teyem · 11/03/2019 13:34

Was it on a lead?

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