QOTD-Fri May 22 - Do you stop when ducks cross your highway lane?

[Shwa Girl]

Do you stop for ducks crossing the road?

There has been some recent news stories about ducks/geese/turtles crossing busy roads. Many times the ducks and geese have babies while they cross a highway or a busy main road.

Would you stop traffic to help ducks or other animals cross the road safely?

[Shwa Girl]

In one story, a Quebec father and teenage daughter were riding on a motorcycle, at high speed, on a busy highway. A women driving in front of them, stopped her car suddenly to help a family of geese cross the road. Both the father and daughter were killed. The woman in her twenties was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving.

[padyofurniture]

I think it's instinctual to stop when you see them. No one wants to run over anything if they can possibly help it. I remember watching the following video about steps taken to help land crabs in Australia...

[Shwa Girl]

I think it's instinctual to stop when you see them. No one wants to run over anything if they can possibly help it. I remember watching the following video about steps taken to help land crabs in Australia...

A planned and organized rescue effort is a good thing.

For ducks and such on a busy highway, maybe calling 911 to alert authorities about a possible traffic danger may be in order. Authorities can alert drivers that a potential traffic danger may occur. Plus they have the emergency lights, sirens and connections that the average driver on the road, does not have.

[xlxo]

I agree.... one needs to look behind before executing an emergency stop for wildlife.

I do have a huge respect for wildlife on unknown roads and drive in the slow lane when possible. I hate to get involved with a bear or moose collision going around a corner.

[beckie.c]

As long as it is safe, absolutely. This actually happened to me on Tuesday. There was a mom and about 6 babies crossing the road in a residential area, and we had like 15 vehicles stopped patiently waiting for them to cross. I had one time where it wasn't safe/was going to fast to stop in time on a busy highway, and I did cry after, I felt so bad for the little duckies.

[abbasgirl]

I remember reading about the Quebec case and being frustrated by the outcome. What she did was illegal and very unsafe. The result was horrific. But I just didn't think jail time was the answer for someone who obviously had good intentions while people who really do belong there are on the streets. I think because of her age she may have lacked driving experience.
Would I stop? Not on a busy highway where it was unsafe. But on residential streets I stop for little critters all the time.

[Natalka]

^ I agree.

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IN UKRAINE - A family of white swans with their eight nestlings showed up at the police station in Tulchyn, a small city in Vinnytsia Oblast, on May 14. Local residents attributed the visit to the birds bidding farewell to three police officers who went on rotation to the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, surprising many locals.



This year busy traffic in the city center was dangerous to swans so police officers decided to escort the birds’ family to the Nestervarsky Lake by a car.

“We had to block the traffic in the downtown for an hour and a half because little nestlings could not go fast,” says Kostyshen. “Yet nobody complained because people believe that swans’ coming is a good sign for our officers who are off to war.”

[xlxo]

A West Coast warning...
http://bc.ctvnews.ca/newly-populated...vers-1.2377016

[wolfwoman]

It doesn't matter what critter it is, ducks, gophers, muskrats etc, I brake, swerve or stop if I have to.
I have been in many arguments with friends about the value of an animals life over a humans.

[DiamondLil]

I stop when its safe to... fortunately I havent had to run over a poor mama duck and her babies... I would cry for a week if I killed a poor baby animal. But I do agree, its not a good idea to endanger yourself or someone else by abruptly stopping on a busy highway, but at the same time, if you can safely avoid hitting an animal, by all means do it.

[Shwa Girl]

It doesn't matter what critter it is, ducks, gophers, muskrats etc, I brake, swerve or stop if I have to.
I have been in many arguments with friends about the value of an animals life over a humans.

stay safe

[xlxo]

Sometimes when you go around that highway curve... it may not be soft wildlife waiting for you.... mother nature has her tricks...
http://globalnews.ca/news/2014722/ro...ses-highway-1/

[xlxo]

fyi.... this all started with a deer....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...g-37-1.3130582

[Shwa Girl]

fyi.... this all started with a deer....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...g-37-1.3130582

wow
that's insane

there was a deer on highway 401 near Cobourg, last month
traffic was stopped there two - 6 lanes east and west