Run over pets...

[SVD]

OMG moment: In a hurry to get home to check on my visiting aunt, whom my grandpa was very worried about, I ran over a dog on a rural road, unable to stop in time. I see a man in a white, long-sleeve shirt, presumably its human, rush to it from across the street in my rear view.

What I did: Drove away without stopping and with mixed feelings of guilt and "damn dog should have been trained better so as not to zip out in front of moving cars".

Questions:

1) What should I have done?

2) Anyone else been on either end of this?

 

[farmkid]

I grew up in a rural area. It's quite common for dogs to get hit by cars. It's usually the young ones that don't yet understand cars. Once a dog has been around for a while, and if they survive long enough, they figure it out and can generally avoid cars. As for training, there's not much you can do. They figure it out or they don't.

When you hit a dog, it's always good practice to stop and apologize to the owner.

 

[Chaos Descending]

If he got your license plate number, you may have just opened yourself up some legal bother that you might not have had if you had stopped.

 

[Dream]

You are a terrible person. You should have at least checked on the dog and apologized to the owner.

 

[Amaris]

OMG moment: In a hurry to get home to check on my visiting aunt, whom my grandpa was very worried about, I ran over a dog on a rural road, unable to stop in time. I see a man in a white, long-sleeve shirt, presumably its human, rush to it from across the street in my rear view.

What I did: Drove away without stopping and with mixed feelings of guilt and "damn dog should have been trained better so as not to zip out in front of moving cars".

Questions:

1) What should I have done?

It would have been better for you to stop and apologize to the owner. Yes, the dog may have jumped out in the road, but to keep going, especially with the owner right there, was the wrong thing to do.

2) Anyone else been on either end of this?

Yes. I bonked a cat after it ran out in front of my car as I was driving down our block in the middle of the night. I pulled into my driveway (about 20 feet from there), got out, looked everywhere for him, and couldn't find him. The next day I saw him running around and so I made sure he was okay.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It's leaving the scene of an accident, isn't it?

 

[Kirby]

I hit a cat once and felt horrible about it. I was also a passenger in my friend's car when we hit a skunk and somehow it got tangled up in the bottom of the car and we had to pull the carcass out; that was awful.

 

[archeryguy1701]

In general, you probably should have at least stopped and apologized and offered to try and help somehow. If nothing else, a lot of people get very close/ attached to the animals, and even if it's just an animal to you, it may be the equivilant of seeing a family member getting run over for them.

Obviously, there are some exceptions to this rule. I used to live in a rural area myself and a neighbor had a group of 3 or 4 dogs that would aggressively go after anything that moved, whether it be horses, bikers, runners, or cars. They would frequently jump out at cars at all times of day and night. There was no amount of paying attention that would protect you from these dogs, and the owners made it very clear that it was everyone else's job to be careful around their dogs and not their job to keep the dogs under control. The dogs were a menace to the neighborhood and the road was pretty gravely and slick, so it reached a point where it was safer to keep going straight ahead than to try and swerve. And between the other dogs and the owners, it was probably safer to keep moving than to stop too.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

What I did: Drove away without stopping and with mixed feelings of guilt and "damn dog should have been trained better so as not to zip out in front of moving cars".

Questions:

1) What should I have done?

Why is this even a question? Of course you should have stopped.

Not only is it possibly illegal or opens you up to a lawsuit, it's cruel and evading your responsibility. You're only guessing that that guy was the dog's owner. What if he ran out to check on it but had to be somewhere and couldn't stick around for help to arrive, so the dog just lay there suffering? What if he didn't have a cell phone? It was your responsibility to make sure the dog was taken care of.

 

[Brolan]

If he got your license plate number, you may have just opened yourself up some legal bother that you might not have had if you had stopped.

If it comes to that just tell them you heard a noise but didn't realize what happened. And if you knew a dog had been run over of course you would have stopped.

 

[RoJoHen]

Oh good, lying. Awesome advice.

 

[Brolan]

It's leaving the scene of an accident, isn't it?

I don't think so; no humans were hurt, and property value of a dog is pretty low.

 

[Bob Karo]

If he got your license plate number, you may have just opened yourself up some legal bother that you might not have had if you had stopped.

Doubtful. If anything, the owner of the dog would probably be responsible for the damage, if any, done to the car. At least that's how it works here. It's an owner's responsibility to control their property.

Personally, I'd stop and apologize. I'd feel really bad because I hate to see animals hurt and it's obviously someone's pet. That's assuming that I felt safe doing so and I had the opportunity. Some people can get irrational where their pets are concerned.

 

[Bob Karo]

I grew up in a rural area. It's quite common for dogs to get hit by cars. It's usually the young ones that don't yet understand cars. Once a dog has been around for a while, and if they survive long enough, they figure it out and can generally avoid cars. As for training, there's not much you can do. They figure it out or they don't.

When you hit a dog, it's always good practice to stop and apologize to the owner.

This has been my experience as well.

 

[Trekker4747]

Depending on the county, city, or state the dog's owner could be "more at fault" since the dog was probably supposed to be on a leash or otherwise not just running around whilly-nilly where it could, you know, get hit by cars. In fact it's more possible the owner owes you money for any damages to your car.

That said, I personally would have stopped to talk to the owner and see what could be done, though I would assume no financial responsibility.

Back in high-school I was driving home after the "opening night" of the Fall Musical the school did when a dog raced out onto the dark country road from the dark, secluded, forest off the shoulder. I hit it, it yelped, and fell into the woods somewhere, I stopped, inspected the dog which was still alive but must've been suffering a broken leg and/or hip from the crash. It was alert but whining.

I went to a nearby house and asked if I could call the police to let them know what happened, stayed there waited for the local sheriff to get there (no local police) where he took some basic information from me but said I was at no fault because local laws say the dog should have been restrained and it was dark so I had no to avoid the collision. The officer commended me for doing the "right thing" and calling the police to ensure the dog would be taken care of, the owners were contacted via the dog's tags.

Never heard anything about that again so I was obviously not seen as being in anyway responsible I hope that the dog's wounds were repairable or mendable and it didn't have to be put down.

 

[RoJoHen]

Depending on the county, city, or state the dog's owner could be "more at fault" since the dog was probably supposed to be on a leash or otherwise not just running around whilly-nilly where it could, you know, get hit by cars.

What about kids? I freak out just about every time I drive through my neighborhood because the kids are always playing in the streets, and there are never any parents in sight. These kids are usually oblivious to me, and I am terrified that I am going to hit one of them someday. I think the parents need to keep their damn children on leashes, tethered to their front porch.

 

[Scout101]

Not gonna make a lot of friends with this thread. Wonder why you would even bother to post something like this, it's fairly obvious that even YOU know you did the wrong thing. Looking for what? Validation that running over someone's dog is ok, or that you don't have to stop to make sure the dog was either ok, being taken care of, or out of its misery?

Legally, it's fuzzy, and depends on where you are. Technically, if your area has leash laws (and sometimes even if there aren't specifics), the dog's owner would be liable for damages to your car, even if you killed the dog. Kinda cold to go after that, but legally entitled to do so. On the other hand, you can be ticketed for not stopping, and could conceivably be cited for animal cruelty for not stopping as well. You're also responsible for either removing the animal from the street, notifying the owner to do so, or calling animal control to do so. Another accident with someone hitting the dead dog and being injured would otherwise be your fault.

But mostly, it's a cold, cruel thing you did. Not the accident (it was an accident), but the not bothering to stop. Pretty sure you knew that, though.

 

[Dream]

I seriously wonder how the OP would have reacted if he had ran over a kid.

"Damn kid should have been trained better so as not to zip out in front of moving cars!"

 

[Scout101]

True, in a Darwin-y kinda way, but unfortunately, human idiots are far more protected than their animal counterparts...

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

It's leaving the scene of an accident, isn't it?

While unfortunately I suspect it would be legally classed as property destruction rather than an act as major as it really is, I think that unless stopping would have endangered this person, as in caused them to be hit by another car, they owe the owner big time. But I agree that animal cruelty is the big issue here. To the OP: You should have stopped. Failing to do so--poor judgment doesn't even begin to cover it.