[Divya Sharan]

Originally Posted by honeybee

on my return trip from Goa a couple of years ago, I had a crow (which I consider to be a bit of an intellectual bird unlike a pigeon) hit my car's windshield in a mistimed flight across the road. Guess nature taketh away what she giveth, or something like that.

I feel even birds of today have become lazy.
I often see them walking on the road, inside city as well as highways. You honk and they simply hop away giving you just about enough space to cross. Hardly see them fly.
And the worst thing is that when they fly, they do so at headlight levels on highways.

[PGNarain]

Originally Posted by Divya Sharan

I feel even birds of today have become lazy.
I often see them walking on the road, inside city as well as highways. You honk and they simply hop away giving you just about enough space to cross....

+1 to the above. I had my first confirmed road kill a few weeks back when I ran over a lazy pigeon. It was right in the middle of the road and I was barely doing 30-40kmhr, still slowed down to allow it to fly away. Poor thing kept walking and then felt a small bump followed by a flurry of feathers in the rear view mirror!!

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by honeybee

On two separate occasions, I had a dog each, bang in the centre of the road, refusing to budge even when I kept honking and flashing my lights from at least a hundred metres away. I had no choice but to go over them, as traffic on adjacent lanes meant I could not swerve or brake hard. In both cases, the canines survived.


... and then on my return trip from Goa a couple of years ago, I had a crow (which I consider to be a bit of an intellectual bird unlike a pigeon) hit my car's windshield in a mistimed flight across the road. Guess nature taketh away what she giveth, or something like that.

In my childhood I remember many instances where stray dogs showed fast reflexes and avoided being hit within few meters. They showed good ability to correlate the speed and distance. At similar speeds (around 80 kmph), I do not see this that frequently.

I too think that crow possesses better neurological ability. Maybe it may have had some handicap, say in the eye. It feels sad to see the loss of life. It is much more shocking to witness such incidence than imagining the same; see the following video of a train hitting a bird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4navn5Ii64

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by saket77

Pretty right you are. Regarding a topple, in sedans, you may have some luck, you may even escape than in a hatchback, but god forbids if that happens to an SUV at such high speeds, it will be very difficult to control/ not to let it topple.

Wonder how so many people (mostlly non-motorheads) think an SUV to be the safest & the vehicle of choice for highways!

Regards,
Saket

I hope you do realise that the SUV will run over the dog and not hit it. Only loss of life will be the dog. Regarding safety aspects the driver in a SUV sits much higher hence has better view of the sorrounding than a low slung car.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I hope you do realise that the SUV will run over the dog and not hit it. Only loss of life will be the dog. Regarding safety aspects the driver in a SUV sits much higher hence has better view of the sorrounding than a low slung car.

I think he was talking of swerving to avoid the animal instead of following the original path. If it happens at a high speed, there is a chance the vehicle may topple.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

They said, to them it felt that the goats were pushed in front of the car.

This is true, my colleague encounter the same where the people herding the goats willfully pushed them in front of the car.

They then fight and demand unreasonable amounts.

It is a win-win situation from them as they get cash out from the car driver, + sell the goat to the butcher and again collect an equal amount so its almost double returns.

Poor goats suffer at the greed of these farmers.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Goat is mainly raised for meat. I checked with an expert. An average goat can give 9-10Kgs of usable meat. Which means the goat herder gets 2.5-3K when selling it to the butcher. You paid 4K/goat, which is slightly on the higher side, closer to retail price, but it is still okay.

How is this still ok ?
Rajeev did not collect the goat and take it with him and sell the mutton.
So net loss for him besides the car damage.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

How is this still ok ?
Rajeev did not collect the goat and take it with him and sell the mutton.
So net loss for him besides the car damage.

Actually they did say take the goat if you want. Something like pay 10,000 and you can take the goat also.

Guess it's a calculated ploy. Pretty sure 99% of people will not want to carry along a dead/ dying goat.

[ecenandu]

Didn't knew we had a separate thread for this, cross posting from Accident in India thread.

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Animals Vs Vehicle.

I had my share with animals while driving/riding.

Incident 1 : Chevrolet Spark Vs Dog.

This incident happened on my way to Chennai from Villipuram. I was in the middle lane doing 80 - 85 Kmph. I saw an old man crossing the road few hundred meters ahead, I slowed down on seeing him. There was a dog following the old chap. Both of them crossed the road well ahead of me, so I started accelerating again. All of a sudden, another dog decided to cross the road. I didn't swerve on seeing the second dog, braked hard but I did hit the dog.

I pulled over to check the damage on the car, there wasn't any visible damage. Don't know what happened to the dog, though. I couldn't trace it when I went back to check.

Incident 2 : Honda City Vs Dog.

This incident happened on my way to Thrissur from Coimbatore. It was quite late actually and the route I took was via Shornur. It was beautifully laid, two lane, winding road. I was behind an Eicher lorry for quite some time, it was doing good speed as well, IIRC 80Kmph ish.

After overtaking the lorry, it was tailgating me too close, I increased the speed to gain some distance. And all of a sudden a dog decided to cross the road from the left. I can replay the incident even today, again I didn't swerve, I held the steering tight for some reason. I braked hard, the ABS kicked in and I released the brake soon as I know there is that lorry behind me.

Luckily for me and the dog, nothing bad happened. I let the lorry guy overtake me after this incident and happily followed him till Trichur.

Incident 3 : CBR 250 Vs Calf

I was going to my brother's home after office hours via Chennai - Tambaram by pass. I was a bit reckless on bike then, I was about to over take a bus in the middle lane. I was doing 85 Kmph and accelerating.

I just glanced at the median, there were cattle grazing there. I was like, guys don't cross the road now. Then as if this calf hear my thought, decided to jump right in front of me. I looked for the gap between the calf on my right and the bus on the left, braked hard, ABS kicked. My right handle hit the calf, on the face I believe. After getting hit it returned back to the median.

I have to swerve here, other wise you know what would have happened..

My little finger got swollen and as I was convinced that I got a fracture, I pulled over to a small lab to take X-ray. I felt quite dizzy, drank some water and left that place without taking X-ray. Went to Miot hospital and what happened there was quite funny, I will save rest of what happened there for another post.

Incident 4 : Honda City Vs Old chap
This happened a long time ago, during my initial driving days. It was my first long drive with family. We were going to Kottayam. There was an old chap waiting near the zebra crossing, he had a huge basket or something on his head.

He was patiently waiting there looking at the opposite traffic, I thought he won't cross the road. All of a sudden he crossed, I have to take an immediate evasive manoeuvre. The left hand side mirror narrowly missed him.

Here I was completely at fault, the old chap was waiting at the zebra crossing. I didn't slow down nor did I honk.

Misc
Sadly in India we have to sometime, learn the lessons the hard way. Now that I am following the defensive driving technique, I often get ridiculed for driving slowly especially when driving along with my friends.

This June, me along with my friends decided to go to Pondicherry from Chennai. It was a late night decision and I decided to take the wheel of the Scorpio. I never went above 90 Kmph throughout, I got ridiculed a lot but I didn't budge.

Return journey my friend took over, he wanted to show me how is it done, he was doing 120 plus most of the way. I tried my best to slow him but he won't budge. He is delusional, nothing much can be done for people like him. He thinks he has taken care for all the worst case scenarios.

I have forwarded this thread to him also, nope, he hasn't changed a bit. I always beat him at go karting, though. .

[saumyachoudhury]

Feel sad about the incident. Modern technology such as cars do equip us to move comfortably from A to B, but they cause violence to other creatures of the planet.

Please be sensitive to the lives of stray animals. After all, everyone has the ability to feel pain. Don't put someone's life in jeopardy just to avoid your car from getting some damage. We have to live with the consequences of our actions, so I hope we will be more caring.

If you see an injured animal, take it to the nearest veterinarian. There are many in every state of our country. The dog will surely thank you for your kindness.

Personally, I have started following the points below to keep myself and animals safer:
1. Take public transport such as airplanes and trains whenever possible.
2. Please be fully aware and mindful while driving. If you're stressed emotionally or generally tired, you won't be able to focus on the road.
3. Do not drive at night or in low visibility conditions.
4. Drive slow on highways.
5. Ask a friend or family member to join long drives in the front passenger seat. It is best to have another responsible person watching out on the road.

I pray that we all keep safe from such untoward incidents. Safe travels, my friend!

[fiestarry]

I recently came across a term call speciesism. It refers to selective sympathy, love and reverence for certain species of animals and birds; other species are fair game !

I suppose similar sentiments would apply whilst driving too; avoid hitting the dog at all costs but if you do...then rush it to the vet and beseech him to save the poor animal. If it is a goat, offer some money to the owner and drive away discussing the unreasonable price of mutton.

[volkman10]

Herd Of Deer Try To Cross A Road, One Of Them Lands On A BMW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

[adisan]

National animal on National Highway (News18 report)

A clip that has recently surfaced online is an addition to the long list of viral videos on social media. The recording gives a peek into a tiger's elegant stroll on a National Highway. The tweet alongside the clip revealed that the tiger was spotted at Tamil Nadu's Valparai.

https://t.co/3rrIryczJg

Though not a "cars vs animals", posting here as I could not find any other relevant thread. Mods - request to move to other thread as appropriate.

[AJ56]

For me personally, I will do my very best to avoid hitting a dog/animal on the road. This includes braking with full force and swerving to avoid said animal (requires one to be aware of their surroundings before it happens). Doing so assumes I can be rear ended (as most drivers follow too closely) and my own car getting damaged by going off road (if it’s uneven) at speed.

These risks are worth it considering I don’t have the death of the dog on my conscience, and in case it does get hit, knowing that no more could be done in that situation from my side.