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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

People running over birds in their cars

149 replies

Magicpaintbrush · 23/06/2021 15:11

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.

OP posts:
helpfulperson · 23/06/2021 16:53

I've twice hit birds who flew across my path on a motorway. No I'm not going to stop or swerve even if my reactions were fast enough. I once also found a sparrow embedded in my radiator which I have no memory of seeing or hitting. I think most drivers hit many more animals than the are aware of.

cupsofcoffee · 23/06/2021 16:54

@Magicpaintbrush

Yes, slowing down safely, braking gently or lifting off the gas, if there is nobody behind you is exactly what I suggested already. Not breaking sharply. Not doing anything that might cause danger to other road users. As I already said up-thread multiple times.

RTFT. RTFT. RTFT.

But the point is, slowing down for a bird IS causing a danger to other road users, even if you can't see them at the time.

Unless you're on a perfectly straight road with perfect vision behind you and in front of you, it's dangerous to stop the car in the middle of the carriageway.

Namechangedlady · 23/06/2021 16:56

I always ease off the accelerator and bib my horn, I don't think I have ever hit a live animal. I won't brake or emergency stop becuase, selfishly, I care more about my life than the birds.

actiongirl1978 · 23/06/2021 16:57

I've twice had a pigeon fly into my car, there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it.

I slow for pheasants and partridges and anything else that is walking on the road.

ZeroFuchsGiven · 23/06/2021 16:57

Ive RTFT.RTFT.RTFT and still think YABU.

HTH.HTH.HTH.

lynsey91 · 23/06/2021 17:02

An awful lot of the time it is avoidable but far too many drivers just don't care about wildlife.

DH does a lot of mileage for his work and in almost 50 years of driving has only ever hit a squirrel which literally ran in front of him and a bird which hit the windscreen. He slows down or stops (not if it is unsafe) for birds, squirrels and any other creature that is on the road.

I have seen drivers aim their car deliberately at animals and it makes me furious.

Last week in the Peak District there were sheep and lambs on the roads and some drivers were driving like lunatics

Original poster
Magicpaintbrush · 23/06/2021 17:04

People have read it, they just still disagree with you lol.

You are no doubt correct about that, though it honestly doesn't even sound like some of them actually have. I think we all know when it is safe to slow down to let the wildlife cross the road and when it's not - all I'm saying is that sometimes it IS safe to do that, and if it is then why wouldn't you? If you judge it not to be safe then don't do it, carry on as you were. If I was driving on an empty road doing say 25mph and there were pigeons 50 yards ahead of me, no other cars or people around, why wouldn't you slow down as you approach them so they have time to get out of the way? If on the other hand it's a busy road and you can't slow down safely then you just can't. But there IS a difference, that's all.

Oh well. I won't persevere with this one as everyone thinks I'm suggesting we should all be doing dangerous emergency stops in the middle of busy roads to avoid pigeons. I'm not at all, but I do understand that on AIBU everybody loves a pile on and this is the risk you run.

OP posts:
Looneytune253 · 23/06/2021 17:05

I'm pretty sure no one will be doing it on purpose. Accidents happen which is why there are often cats, sometimes dogs and sadly sometimes people run over and as you're pointing out also birds and smaller animals. I'm sure people aren't zooming past and deliberately ploughing through an animal.

godmum56 · 23/06/2021 17:05

have you ever actuallty seen this happen and the bird get squished deliberately?

Original poster
Magicpaintbrush · 23/06/2021 17:06

*Ive RTFT.RTFT.RTFT and still think YABU.

HTH.HTH.HTH.*

Yes, that helps so much, thank you. I'm glad you can read, good for you.

OP posts:
Rewis · 23/06/2021 17:07

I agree it it's safe on a residents road etc. However, some birds have a death wish. Few weeks ago I actually bitch slapped a bird. I was cycling and a bit was flying at me like a kamikaze pilot. I had to slap it away so it doesn't hit my face.

Original poster
Magicpaintbrush · 23/06/2021 17:08

"have you ever actuallty seen this happen and the bird get squished deliberately?"

I did say up-thread that I don't believe people set out to deliberately harm wildlife on purpose, only that they are impatient and don't ease off the gas when they actually could do quite safely.

OP posts:
LysistrataVickers · 23/06/2021 17:10

I saw three pigeons hit by vans within the space of 3 days last month. I wonder whether it's the young birds not being very road aware? I agree it's unnecessary to run them over though, unless for some reason it would be unsafe.

Crankley · 23/06/2021 17:19

Years ago I went out with a bloke who lived in pheasant country. Not only would he run over pheasants, he would swerve all over the road to hit them and then retrieve to cook later. Suffice to say he didn't last long as a BF.

MustardRose · 23/06/2021 17:26

This reminds me of a time one hot summer day when I saw a female pheasant in the distance, with a brood of tiny chicks - at least a dozen of them - all following her in a long line across the road. I slowed down, but the person behind me decided to flash his lights at me, swerve about impatiently and then he overtook at high speed. He squashed the whole lot of them. Our car was parallel with his as he drove into them. It was awful.

Nohomemadecandles · 23/06/2021 17:27

When you see any type of game (ish) bird wandering along the road, it's imperative you sing the Famous Grouse music as you drive past it.

RowanAlong · 23/06/2021 17:27

Just clipped a pheasant on the school run (rural). He popped out of the hedge into the lane, I slowed, he went back into hedge, so I moved off, he popped back out again under my back wheel. I saw him wobble into the hedge in the rear view mirror. They are dithery creatures and it happens all the time here. Of course you slow for them but they just wander about aimlessly which you can’t really account for.

Seesawmummadaw · 23/06/2021 17:29

Where I live you get dozens of suicidal pheasants and have no chance of stopping or avoiding them. It’s sad but it’s life.

SirenSays · 23/06/2021 17:29

I totally understand OP. I'd never hit an animal if it could be safely avoided.
People absolutely do deliberately hit animals with their cars. When I was younger and we were all passing our tests an ex boyfriends friends made jokes about it and confessed to trying to hit seagulls.
Also when I lived in Australia the local animal hospital would regularly take in injured snakes because people would swerve to hit them.

Seesawmummadaw · 23/06/2021 17:30

@Rewis

I agree it it's safe on a residents road etc. However, some birds have a death wish. Few weeks ago I actually bitch slapped a bird. I was cycling and a bit was flying at me like a kamikaze pilot. I had to slap it away so it doesn't hit my face.
I know it shouldn’t but bitch slapping a bird made me chuckle! Are you okay? I bet that was scary!
DappledThings · 23/06/2021 17:37

If I was driving on an empty road doing say 25mph and there were pigeons 50 yards ahead of me, no other cars or people around, why wouldn't you slow down as you approach them so they have time to get out of the way?

Because they will probably get out of the way anyway. Because if I slow down they won't be as aware of the approaching car and are therefore actually less likely to get out of the way. Because if I slow down and they don't get out of the way I then have to decide whether to come to a total stop (massively risky and unnecessary) or re-accelerate which means actually trying to run them over!

trappedsincesundaymorn · 23/06/2021 17:40

It's difficult to stop in time when the pheasants run out of a hedge right in front of you, likewise rabbits, deer, badgers...all of which is a regular occurrence around the country lanes with blind corners where I live. Even when driving slowly there is no way of breaking in time.

yellowsubmarines · 23/06/2021 17:45

Sometimes it is unavoidable BUT what I keep seeing around here is people speeding up and swerving TOWARDS the birds or squirrel or deer at the side of the road. That is horrible to watch someone intentionally try to kill.
My dog and I were walking along a road here a few months ago and a car with young males rather than slowing to drive over a speed bump they swerved towards me and my dog (drove at me and my dog!) in order to avoid going over the speed bump! My dog and I were forced into a thorny shrub and just missed being hit by the car. Their windows were down and they were laughing yelling something to me about being in their way.
So a nice day out walking turned into my dog being taken to the vet (large unexpected cost for me) with an injured leg and me black and blue down one side with scraps from the bush thorns.
That incident was completely avoidable.

MsAdoraBelleDearheartVonLipwig · 23/06/2021 17:50

@MustardRose we slowed down for a group of baby lapwings once. The parent bird was frantically wheeling about and calling overhead. Another car coming the other way realised what we were doing and also slowed down with his hazard lights on. The absolute arsehole behind him decided that although he couldn’t see what was going on he’d just overtake and weave between us and ran half of them over. It could have been anything in the road, he wasn’t stopping though.

My Dh once saw a deer in the distance so slowed down and as he did so another one leapt out from the trees and landed on his car. Sometimes they hit back. You do have to be careful round here though, we have a lot of red deer and if you hit one of them at speed it will write your car off and quite possibly kill you. Has happened before. Always best to slow down just in case.

People running over birds in their cars
LonginesPrime · 23/06/2021 17:51

The profile of this type of person you're describing, OP, this person so desperate to get somewhere that, although they have the option of safely avoiding a bird, instead make the conscious decision to kill it, seems odd.

Surely they will then have to clean bird guts off of their car? Even if they hate birds, why would they choose that option given the choice of avoiding it?

If there are people in your town deliberately killing birds then yes, they should be reported to the RSPB or whatever. But I doubt that this is what's actually happening - birds die accidentally all the time. It seems a bit odd to assume there's a calculating bird killer on the loose.