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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that you should STOP if you run over someones cat in a village!!

84 replies

rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 09:48

Someone in a car ran over a cat in the village I drive through this morning and didn't stop!! We swerverd to avoid the poor twitching creature. This is not a main rd it is a village next to the local primary school. I'm horrified!

a) it could have easily been a child
b) little children will see it on the way to school
c) it could get squashed again
d) if you have squashed something that belongs to someone and is obviously loved it's courtesy to STOP, at least move it off the bloody rd!

Why to people become so disconnected when they get in their car?

Is it not common courtesy to stop or am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:25

But it is fair if you kill it and don't take any responsibility?

OP posts:
Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:28

I would never drive on after killing a pet I think it is careless and thoughtless. I think it's courtesy to stop and take responsibility.

OP posts:
MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:29

so your dh knew it was dying in the seconds it took to pass the poor thing ...I really think that you should have stopped and at least seen if it was still alive - why does responsibility pass from you because you didn't hit the cat in the first place ?

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:30

But then I'm probably being unreasonable..

OP posts:
Cappuccino · 29/09/2008 10:30

I think what you are failing to do is understand that people might be too upset to deal with thing

Cappuccino · 29/09/2008 10:30

'things'

nervousal · 29/09/2008 10:32

Perhaps driver didn't know they'd hit it? Perhaps driver thought that to stop would put other drivers at risk?

Agree with MAS - if it bothered you so much you should have stopped yourself. (If poor thing was almost certainly nearly dead already, the "humane" thing would have been for your DP to drive straight over it and put it out of its misery)

Saturn74 · 29/09/2008 10:32

What MAS said.

It's not fair to criticise someone for not stopping to help the "poor twitching creature" , yet do nothing yourself.

You could have moved it, and thereby solved your issues b) and c).

Of course the driver should have stopped - but they didn't, so perhaps you should have stopped instead?

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:33

He could see it was twitching. As I have said I would have stopped but wasn't driving.

OP posts:
MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:35

yes,yes, you keep sayingbthat..but if you're talking responsiblity you really should have stopped - it doesn't matter who did it in the first place

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:35

It should be the responsibility of the driver to stop, not all the other drivers on the road. You can't go around killing pets and expecting the cars behind you to sort it out, there has to be some degree of personal responsibility..

OP posts:
MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:36

oh dear, you're determined not to get it aren't you

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:37

I'm saying the person who killed the animal should be responsible for their actions.

OP posts:
geekgirl · 29/09/2008 10:37

YANBU

We (well, dh driving) ran over a cat as we were returning from a 20 week scan appointment - it was clearly dead, dh gathered it up and we took it to the vet's up the road - didn't know what else to do really as the pavement was narrow.
I would always stop. TBH, I think it's a bit pathetic to say that some people just 'can't cope'. FFS.

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:37

An you are determined not to get personal responsibility.

OP posts:
Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:38

Yes perhaps I should have jumped out of a moving car that I wasn't driving ..

OP posts:
MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:38

of course the driver who hit the cat should have stopped but as others have said they may well have not noticed - therefore you should have taken responsibility and told your dh to stop...

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:38

If I had been driving (yawn...) I would have stopped.

OP posts:
MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:39

oh don't be ridiculous rebellsmum - I'm saying that of course the person who hit the cat should take responsibility but they didn't in this case, which is wrong, unless they genuinely didn't realise.

Original poster
rebelmum1 · 29/09/2008 10:40

Of course they noticed, if they hadn't they shouldn't have been behind the wheel, it was fairly obvious.

OP posts:
MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:40

did you start this thread to justify a guilty conscience /

VictorianSqualor · 29/09/2008 10:41

Oh, how terrible.
You just kept going when you saw it?
That really saddens me.
I'd have had to stop incase there was something I could have done.
I really hope the owner of that cat isn't a young child that walks past and sees it on the way to school

nervousal · 29/09/2008 10:42

you said earlier "it could have been a child" - if it had been a child, would you have asked your DP to stop - or would you still think it was the other driver's responsibility??

MaryAnnSingleton · 29/09/2008 10:42

exactly -I'm off now as this is making me cross

SparklyGothKat · 29/09/2008 10:46

I ran over my own cat. I was on my way to pick up the kids and felt a bump, looked in my rearview mirror and saw a cat running away and collapse on a driveway. I ran over to her and she was still alive, picked her up and put her in the car, but she passed away before I got to the vets. I know it was different because she was my cat, but I didn't know when I saw her in the rearview mirror that she was mine, it was only when I ran over, I saw she was mine. You should have stopped, if it was alive, it would have been in terrible pain