[kittigadu]

One day i was behind a private town bus in my jeep doing some 70-80 on my way to kanakpura and suddenly i saw a dog get crushed by the bus. I had to swerve a little hard to avoid the just hit dog and had a tough time bringing back the jeep under control. Later in the town, the bus driver waved to stop and told me not to do any such hard braking and other antics during a hit. He explained that he too could have tried avoiding the dog but if any thing went wrong 50 people would have got killed. He also mentioned that it takes a lot of practice to override this instinct to swerve or brake hard and that is what makes a good driver.


Regards,
Krishna.

[shankar.balan]

Its very sad indeed. But the Bus Driver is absolutely right in this case. In a scenario when one has the lives of 40-50 people at stake, unfortunately and sadly the poor dog will end up getting sacrificed.
In a way it is our overall societal failure to allow rampant breeding of these poor strays and not control them.
I love dogs and hate to see something like this happen, but frankly the bus driver is faced with Hobson's choice in a scenario of this kind.
It is true that it is extremely dangerous to swerve or make some sort of such uncontrolled move while at speed unless one is a supremely good, highly experienced "anticipatory" driver, in a very safe and solid vehicle.

Originally Posted by kittigadu

One day i was behind a private town bus in my jeep doing some 70-80 on my way to kanakpura and suddenly i saw a dog get crushed by the bus. I had to swerve a little hard to avoid the just hit dog and had a tough time bringing back the jeep under control. Later in the town, the bus driver waved to stop and told me not to do any such hard braking and other antics during a hit. He explained that he too could have tried avoiding the dog but if any thing went wrong 50 people would have got killed. He also mentioned that it takes a lot of practice to override this instinct to swerve or brake hard and that is what makes a good driver.


Regards,
Krishna.

[anand_lukose]

It happened to me last year while returning to Hyd from a trip to Bidar. It was drizzling and at dusk and hence I was cruising along following a bus ( i think ). Suddenly, a dog ran across the road from the other end.

I saw it crossing the road but I did not apply the brakes. It could be due to bad judgement from my part or instinct not to swerve. The dog went under my car and since the surface was wet, dragged the poor thing for about 10 metres or so at the rear of my car before it came out.My friends looked back and saw it still running away to glory without seeing any sign of limping. It would have survived but we all felt bad.

My friend had an accident on his bullet in the night while swerving for a dog. Nine times out of Ten, they will survive. It all depends on whether the actions you take or not puts yourself in risk. I agree with the bus driver as well.

[babu.sundaram]

I heard vehicle design needs to be "pedestrian safe" in some Western countries. That is, in case of a collision, the unfortunate pedestrian has more chances of survival. Probably one way is to have frontal design to throw away the unfortunate away from vehicle path (like railway engines?).

With so many dogs (and run overs) do our manufacturers have built in some such protection mechanisms in cars sold in India?

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by kittigadu

One day i was behind a private town bus in my jeep doing some 70-80 on my way to kanakpura and suddenly i saw a dog get crushed by the bus. I had to swerve a little hard to avoid the just hit dog and had a tough time bringing back the jeep under control. Later in the town, the bus driver waved to stop and told me not to do any such hard braking and other antics during a hit. He explained that he too could have tried avoiding the dog but if any thing went wrong 50 people would have got killed. He also mentioned that it takes a lot of practice to override this instinct to swerve or brake hard and that is what makes a good driver.


Regards,
Krishna.

+1 Brother. Everyone will feel a pinch in the heart when taking a life. Being an animal lover and dog lover is something entirely different from being responsible on the road. On the road, your first and foremost responsibility is to minimize danger to Human Life. A broken radiator can be mended but a lost life, that of a human cannot be returned.

When doing such antics and trying to save the dog/chicken on the road out, we must never forget that there are others we share the road with. Braking hard and trying to save your car from damage is perfectly alright. But never ever swerve. You might just save the dog's life but unknowingly cut off the biker in your LHRR blind spot who didn't make it. Was it worth it? It is easier to prepare for a sudden emergency braking maneuver but a swerve is basically an UN-indicated lane change! And changing lanes without indicating is just plain wrong.

If you do end up killing a dog trying to be more responsible on the road towards humans, control the urge for chicken for a day and that 1 life in the universe will be compensated.

[Raccoon]

Why do so many people think that a human life is more hallowed than dog's life? I'v always suspected its the reverse...

[StarrySky]

I hit a cat today. I didn't spot the cat at all. I'm certain it wasn't sitting/lying on the road, so it must have chosen a bad moment to cross the road. I heard two distinct noises and I was thinking "What's happened to my car?" The car still seemed to be running fine after the noises, so I checked the ORVM to see if something had fallen off the car. It was then that I spotted a cat limping across the road. All this happened in maybe 3 or 4 seconds. The cat's hind legs seemed to be hurt. I'm still not sure if I should be relieved that I didn't kill it or be sad that I may have crippled it for life. Feeling really bad about it. Although I've hit a few inanimate objects in the past, it's the first time that I've hit a living animal. I hope no living thing makes contact with my car again, ever.

[shankar.balan]

I do tend to agree with you but unfortunately we live in a "human" society where our own species is valued more or is supposed to be valued more than other species.
Personally I prefer animals any day of the week, considering that humans are a scourge on this planet. At risk of sounding politically incorrect I will state that my dogs lives mean more to me than most human's lives, because I know and love my dogs from babyhood but by contrast I dont know and dont really care too much about most humans on this planet!
Having said that, it is a fact that many people including people we know, tend to value an animals life as less than a human's.
In an ideal world all species would be equal, but that is not the way of nature - might is right and the strongest survive, even in nature. Left to ourselves as humans and pitted against the harsh conditions of nature without any of the man made aids, we would not survive at all as a species.
There is a saying that God made Man in his own image - however, I dont subsribe to that at all - given what I see around me daily, I think it is probably the Devil who made Man in his own image!

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Why do so many people think that a human life is more hallowed than dog's life? I'v always suspected its the reverse...

[svsantosh]

In the larger interest of my passengers and innocent drivers (more imp riders!) behind me, I dont try to do a emergency stop for any animal that will go under, if its too large like a cow i do try to stop. Agreed, animal lovers will shoot me down for this comment, but what harm did the poor guys behind me do? They will have no clue why i stopped on a perfectly empty road!

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Agreed, animal lovers will shoot me down for this comment, but what harm did the poor guys behind me do? They will have no clue why i stopped on a perfectly empty road!

If you hit any cattle, you will be hounded for money as though you've smashed into somebody's pristine '91 Contessa. If you hit a stray, the store keepers around the area will be relieved to know that they have one less menace to deal with. It's all about how much something is valued for the people around you.

In one incident, a scavenger who created a whole scene and called the cops over a glass bottle lying on the road. He claimed that he was just about to pick it up and make some money off getting it to the recycling center (or whatever it is called) when the car driver smashed it under the tyres. Although it was just litter dumped onto the street, the driver was made to pay for "carelessly taking away the earning of the scavenger".

Apparently, the commercial value of a life is nothing unless it is a human life, somebody can make money out of it, or a mob can hound you for money over it.

[Guna]

On the topic of hitting an animal, 2 incidents come to my mind

In the first incident, I was driving on NH4 in new Honda city and was cruising at around 110 kph. Suddenly I saw a goat being chased (or probably trying to stop) by a boy and instinctively knew that I was in trouble. I did not slam the brake fearing that I will loose the control so tried to squeeze and slow down the car. But the path of the car and the car and goat crossed and the goat hit the car around the head lamp. What followed was a big drama with the villagers trying to squeeze money (started with Rs 7000) and finally I settled for 1000 Rs (with the intervention of local police).
Bumper and fender of the car were totally deformed and I was worried about driving to hometown in that state. but luckily there was a local mechanic who miraculously brought it back to almost 80% of the original shape (by using a car jack to apply pressure on deformed part in a very skillful manner). Later of course I claimed issuance and replaced the bumper, headlamp Assembly etc.

In the second incident, I was driving on a highway and I was in the process of slowing down as I was approaching a road hump. Suddenly a dog decided to cross and even though I try to stop, the dog was partially hit. The dog ran away and apparently looked like it was not hurt. I was happy that no damage was done. But Later when I inspected the car, I noticed that the gap on the bonnet parting line had increased near the head-map. When I took the car to the workshop they told me that the bracket had deformed and the entire headlamp assembly had to be replaced! So much for the pedestrian safety standards and it's implications in the Indian driving conditions.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I do tend to agree with you but unfortunately we live in a "human" society where our own species is valued more or is supposed to be valued more than other species.
Personally I prefer animals any day of the week, considering that humans are a scourge on this planet. At risk of sounding politically incorrect I will state that my dogs lives mean more to me than most human's lives, because I know and love my dogs from babyhood but by contrast I dont know and dont really care too much about most humans on this planet!
Having said that, it is a fact that many people including people we know, tend to value an animals life as less than a human's.
In an ideal world all species would be equal, but that is not the way of nature - might is right and the strongest survive, even in nature. Left to ourselves as humans and pitted against the harsh conditions of nature without any of the man made aids, we would not survive at all as a species.
There is a saying that God made Man in his own image - however, I dont subsribe to that at all - given what I see around me daily, I think it is probably the Devil who made Man in his own image!

Indeed! Looked at closer, its just man's own ugly ego asserting itself by trying to hide behind beliefs like his species, ie. indirectly himself, being more holy than other species. If such people were honest, they should be saying I am more important than anyone else. But that would be politically incorrect, so his diabolical ego takes the indirect route.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Indeed! Looked at closer, its just man's own ugly ego asserting itself by trying to hide behind beliefs like his species, ie. indirectly himself, being more holy than other species. If such people were honest, they should be saying I am more important than anyone else. But that would be politically incorrect, so his diabolical ego takes the indirect route.

Completely agree.
I'm part of this movement 100%.

Worst bit is even after people have hit an animal to protect themselves/passengers/others, I've never seen or heard of any of these guys going to check on the animal.
2second moralities.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Completely agree.
I'm part of this movement 100%.

Worst bit is even after people have hit an animal to protect themselves/passengers/others, I've never seen or heard of any of these guys going to check on the animal.
2second moralities.

But me being a human being and trying to save my life and others, (as it's a liability of responsibility, by law to not kill someone directly or indirectly; a system that we as a human race have formulated as contenders in the survival brawl) and as an animal lover, I simply cannot bear to see the body of a dog that I had killed.

Yes I'm an animal lover and personally, I would value an animal's life over a human being's. I completely agree with Shankar's post.

But if I've hit an animal on the road, I would probably stop and see what has happened, albeit from a certain distance. But if I know that the impact might have been fatal (which itself is a mind-battle) I would stay away.

I just can't have that image in my head.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

In the larger interest of my passengers and innocent drivers (more imp riders!) behind me, I dont try to do a emergency stop for any animal that will go under, if its too large like a cow i do try to stop. Agreed, animal lovers will shoot me down for this comment, but what harm did the poor guys behind me do? They will have no clue why i stopped on a perfectly empty road!

You contradict yourself in your post. This is exactly what I was trying to point out earlier that we humans ( including myself) have become too selfish and do not value animals as worth living. When you encounter a dog you justify running over than braking/swaying in order to protect the guy behind you. When its a cattle you brake. Basically you are just trying to do what works best for you financially since the cow will cause a good amount of damage and the dog would not. So lets not say that you are more worried about the people behind.

I am not trying to target you or anything but we are all the same. We like playing God when ever we can.