People running over birds in their cars

[Magicpaintbrush]

AIBU that for the sake of a 10 second delay that impatient arsehole drivers could just wait for birds who happen to be walking about in the road to actually fly out of the way rather than driving straight over them? Birds don't understand what cars are, sometimes it takes a moment for the penny to drop that there is danger, especially pigeons who are a bit dim. Yes it's annoying, but for the sake of a few seconds or just hooting your horn why run the poor things over? I keep seeing this happen, and there is a squashed pigeon in the road right next to where I'm parked that wasn't there this morning. It's totally avoidable.

The only time I've run over anything (I've run over a bird, a hare and more than one rabbit), there was absolutely nothing I could have done to avoid it.

I've avoided way more than I've hit, but if something comes out of nowhere straight in front of your car, and you have no time to react, then it's totally unavoidable.

Completely agree with you and it’s a common problem where I live where we have a lot of ducks and wild birds. People are too impatient. If people can slow down and stop safely they should.!

People can't be coming to a halt or swerving to avoid birds on the road. They could cause an accident. Mostly the birds move just in time anyway. It's rare to see a pigeon which has been run over. I don't think I've ever seen one. Pheasants are another thing altogether!

YABU. Cars can’t be stopping or slowing down for a bird; that would be extremely dangerous.

Nobody is an arsehole for not putting their life and the life of other road users and pedestrians at risk.

It’s evolution and over time birds will become smarter.

It’s not totally avoidable. At all. I ran
One over the other day and I’m still gutted. It walked from the side of the road right into my path. Slamming my brakes on would have been ridiculously dangerous with a queue of traffic behind me, as would swerving into the path of oncoming cars. I can only assume you either don’t drive, or are a Sunday driver.

I once had the choice between hitting a pheasant, or swerving into either a ditch or an oncoming car. I'm not afraid to say, I sacrificed the pheasant. 🤷‍♀️

Yes, let me slam on my brakes or swerve onto oncoming traffic to avoid a bird.

You’re not a driver, are you?

I actually stopped in Asda carpark a few weeks ago to let a seagull use the crossing!! The dc thought it was very amusing.. Not that I stopped but that it was using the crossing..

If it is safe to do so I would always stop/slow down and touch wood I have always been in a position to do so. However it isn’t always possible and if avoiding a bird risks causing an accident then sadly you have to do it

When I was at school, someone in my year's mum swerved to avoid a bird and subsequently hit another car, injuring two other children. (Not terribly badly, but still.)

It's not the nicest thing but sometimes you do just have to run over the bird. (That doesn't mean you have to enjoy it, of course.)

I am probably the biggest bird lover you could ever speak to but YABU, it is dangerous and irresponsible to be stopping dead or swerving in the middle of the road. If You were having a driving test and stopped to avoid hitting a bird it would be an instant fail.

I had a run in with a pheasant at 70mph on the M1. Had I braked or swerved at that speed I could have lost control or caused a pile up.

You can stop for an animal, providing you don’t cause danger to any other motorists

If you swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting a small animal and cause an accident you’ll be liable.

This applies to emergency stopping. The main rule is not to put other motorists in danger. So if you emergency stop and the car behind runs into you, you may be liable.

Its not totally avoidable at all- unless we revert to a horse and cart speed!

Twice I've seen a car slow for a bird on their side of the road, to see it take off and be hit by a car/truck coming the other way. I don't know anyone that would intentionally hit an animal!

The only time I've seen it was when a pigeon sat right beside the wheel of an articulated lorry while it was stopped. Obviously the driver couldn't see and so the poor pigeon was toast when the lorry moved. Nothing to be done there. I've never felt like I was going to hit any of the many birds that have crossed my path when driving, and wouldn't be taking any evasive action or doing anything that would be unpredictable to other drivers in order to avoid it.

So basically you are saying brake hard to save a bird and hope no one goes into the back of you, or you swerve and hit a car coming the other way?

Nope sorry, if they dont move fast enough they get hit, I am not going to cause an accident by breaking hard on a 60mph road

Nah you're OK I'll put my life and other road users before a pigeon.

There's plenty of them spare.

When I was learning to drive, I was told not to stop for birds as it's generally not safe to do so.

If the choice is "kill a pheasant" or "slam on the brakes and either cause a crash or have someone slam into the back of me" then I'm afraid the pheasant is going to get it. Same applies to other small animals.

It's not safe to stop every time there's something in the road.

I absolutely would stop for ducks etc crossing the road (not uncommon round here) but we get LOADS of pheasants and pigeons in the road and you can’t always avoid them. I did hit a pigeon a while ago - I felt bad about it but they usually fly off when you get close to them and was totally expecting this one to do the same. Sadly in a stream of traffic it is dangerous to brake sharply or swerve. A girl I used to teach died in a car crash at 18 because she was swerving to avoid a pheasant.

Okay, I've obviously not made myself clear here at all - my fault. I'm not talking about people who are driving at speed on fast roads - and obviously I don't mean motorways - I am not talking about situations where it's unavoidable which does obviously happen. I am talking about quiet residential roads where people could very easily slow down safely to let the birds fly off. I'm not suggesting that people should do emergency stops, especially if there are cars behind them - I am meaning ONLY those drivers who could slow down but choose not to because of impatience. And the reason I've mentioned it is simply because I keep seeing it happen around town. For example, there is a quiet residential road I park in to collect my DD from school, it has road humps, and there was a pigeon squashed flat on the road hump this afternoon.

And to the poster who suggested that I don't drive, yes I do, I've been driving for 12 years, and when I see a bird in the road I slow down safely to let it get out of the way. I have hit a bird when driving, I couldn't avoid it, a bird of prey tried to fly down to a bit of roadkill just as I was about to go over it on a dual carriageway and it hit the side of my windscreen from out of no-where. I do get that some incidents cannot be avoided. But I am absolutely only referring to those drivers who could easily slow down if they wanted to do but don't. I obviously needed to word my post more clearly.

@Magicpaintbrush

Okay, I've obviously not made myself clear here at all - my fault. I'm not talking about people who are driving at speed on fast roads - and obviously I don't mean motorways - I am not talking about situations where it's unavoidable which does obviously happen. I am talking about quiet residential roads where people could very easily slow down safely to let the birds fly off. I'm not suggesting that people should do emergency stops, especially if there are cars behind them - I am meaning ONLY those drivers who could slow down but choose not to because of impatience. And the reason I've mentioned it is simply because I keep seeing it happen around town. For example, there is a quiet residential road I park in to collect my DD from school, it has road humps, and there was a pigeon squashed flat on the road hump this afternoon.

And to the poster who suggested that I don't drive, yes I do, I've been driving for 12 years, and when I see a bird in the road I slow down safely to let it get out of the way. I have hit a bird when driving, I couldn't avoid it, a bird of prey tried to fly down to a bit of roadkill just as I was about to go over it on a dual carriageway and it hit the side of my windscreen from out of no-where. I do get that some incidents cannot be avoided. But I am absolutely only referring to those drivers who could easily slow down if they wanted to do but don't. I obviously needed to word my post more clearly.

I don't know where You live op but never in my life have I seen anyone deliberately hit a bird or any other animal

I have never hit any creature on purpose. A pheasant flew into my car once on a A slip road. How many people really go out of their way to kill birds? Not as many as cats do I reckon

But you have no idea how that pigeon came to be killed. The driver may have had no choice and was unable to swerve it. Or maybe didn't see it in time as pigeons tend to swoop in low. I suspect most people on a quiet road would stop to let a duck cross.

People are always so black and white about this. The truth is that for every bird that is in the path of an oncoming vehicle there are a million different factors. If I was on a straight empty countryside road with great visibility and nothing but fields either side I'd be an asshole not to slow and try to avoid hitting it whilst keeping myself and my car safe. If I was cruising at 60 on a main road with oncoming traffic in front and cars behind there is more likely to be fuck all I can do to avoid it. I hit a seagull on an empty road at 5am because I was travelling at 60-70mph and I expected both him and the crow that were feasting on roadkill to see me coming and fly away. The crow did and was fine, the seagull started to take off and decided the food was more attractive and although I had eased off the accelerator it would have been dangerous for me to slam on or swerve so the seagull got it and I felt terrible for him.

I thought your post was going to be about people who deliberately took sport in hitting birds with their car. I had a boyfriend when I was 21 who laughingly told me he hit pheasants for fun. He wasn't my boyfriend much longer...

Am I being unreasonable to think that people driving at 5mph or less, on an empty road, shouldn’t run over birds?
Fixed the title for you, OP.