• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Moral Ramifications of Swerving For An Animal

From now on, I'm going to be proactive and slam on the brakes every fifty feet, whether I need to or not.
 
We have a deal. They get out of the way of our cars, we look the other way on the statue defication.
 
For dogs or cats, I will try to avoid them within reason. I will not slam on my brakes, and I will not swerve like a mad man to avoind them. I will slow down a bit if I have time, and I will try to go around them as long as it's safe. Any other small animal is entirely on their own. I won't change speed and I won't swerve. Their survival is entirely between them and whatever fuzzy little higher power they follow. Anything bigger than a dog, I will attempt to swerve around behind them (how many deer have you seen jump backwards?), and if collision is unavoidable, then I take out their ass. i would rather have a pair of back legs in my face than a rack of antlers going through my face.

And I sleep perfectly fine at night.
 
Obligatory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL1uFjSbvnA

Oh lord. Years ago I was riding my bike to work when a weinerdog came charging at me across the yard, out into the street and got nailed by a station wagon. Right there in front of the whole family. Car didn't even slow down.

Man talk about scarred for life. :(
 
I dont break for non-humans. If it is in my path then it will die before I risk death to myself or another human being.

If I swerve to miss an animal and end up killing some kid in another car then I will feel terrible, but if I plow straight ahead and make road pizza out of whatever is in my way that aint human I only worry about getting my car washed.
 
Ive been driving for two years and ive hit a squirrel and two birds already. Also narrowly missed a deer and a rabbit in the span of 30 seconds, that was a crazy morning.

I live in a rural community and travel back roads to work so i see road kill all the time. I slow down or swerve slightly to avoid animals but if its them or me, then its going to be them every time.
 
Where I used to live, there would occasionally be peacocks in the street in the early morning. They're not too bright. They stand there, looking at you in your car as you're stopped to see what they're going to do. As you take your foot off the brake to cruise around them, THEY WALK IN YOUR WAY!!! I never hit one nor saw one hit.

As for where I live now--we have squirrels that are COMPLETELY insane. There was even an article in the paper that decades ago, some were brought to the area, but that they were evidently a bit unbalanced. I'm happy to say that I've never hit one, but twice recently, they've literally tried to run under my tires. I swerved about a foot. I wasn't going to hit a tree to save a squirrel [and have him high-five his buddy]. If the squirrel can't survive the streets, that's a stupid squirrel out of the gene pool.

BTW, we have a squirrel nest in a tree of ours. I told the city's trimmers to make sure they did NOT cut that branch. Homeless squirrels are even crazier.
 
I have absolutely no reservations about running down cute dimwitted animals who are stupid enough to find themselves in my path. I'm not going to risk injury to myself, my passengers or someone else on the road by recklessly swerving or slamming on the brakes to save a squirrel or something.

Amen & Hallelujah.

I swerve so I CAN hit them. Is that wrong?
Only if hang out the window and scream at passerbys "Bonus points for old ladies and girl scouts!"

If you hit them both at the same time you get a combo bonus too.
 
I've yet to hit anything and I live on the outskirts of the city, there are squirrels, geese, coons, all that sort of stuff. I go out of my way to avoid hitting anything, especially if its alive, and if I can do it safely.

If you don't even bother to avoid hitting something in front of you then you are a bad driver, and lazy.

If your reason is that it 'may' be unsafe then you are an even worse driver, seeing as a good driver knows whats going on around them and they can decide if slowing down or swerving will be unsafe or won't be unsafe.

No one is advocating that you should slam on your brakes if there is someone behind you or that you should swerve into a car diving beside you, but as a diver its your responsibility to know if those cars are there or not. If they are not, and the speed and weather conditions don't prohibit it, there is no excuse for not even bothering to try to avoid a collision with an animal. Other than laziness or simply not caring what you kill - unfortunately both traits are all too common in the US.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top