Excessive speed at night... hitting wildlife

[vesper]

It makes me so sad how many animals die on highways, mostly because people speed at night. It's dangerous and it kills animals, especially in rural areas.

Skunks, porcupines, badgers, bunnies, deer, fox... they get just butchered and it really riles me up!

p.s. I don't see why speeding faster than 90 at night is needed anyway.

[GracieAnne]

You don't have to be speeding, and they do say if you see an animal in the road ahead of you, it's safer to just hit it straight on than to try to swerve and end up hitting another car or getting thrown in the ditch.

Deer are really bad for it, you don't have to be speeding at all, they are so damn unpredictable and will run out when you are least expecting it. I really don't see how you can blame speeding for it.

[K8's Fate]

Yesterday I stopped my car and helped a turtle cross the road. Then started to drive and saw a deer about to dart in front of me. I stopped again and it ran away. Then I continued (not speeding) and a poor little chipmunk bolted into the road and under my car. It didn't survive I was so sad, but there was nothing I could have done. I don't think speed is always a factor in animal deaths on our roads.

[nicolthepickle]

Once there was a bunny (I was only going 60) that ran out on the road in front of me. I hit it and the entrails wrapped itself around my mirror. I spent the whole drive home trying not to look at it. I made my Dh clean it up when I finally got home.
It's not always speed.

[lecale]

.

[matrix82]

Where I live you cannot speed because of the animals, the last thing you need is to be hit by a moose, as a car doesn't hit a moose, the moose hits the car. Huge beasts.

That being said in town they speed a lot. I've seen them go through the roundabout by my apartment at 70+, in a 50 zone, 30 zone at the roundabout, they are sometimes on 2 wheels instead of 4.

[cookoo]

i saw a couple of roadkills in the past few weeks: a squirrel, and a canada goose. some drivers are careless and heartless.

[mommato5]

And some drivers are just safety conscious. We have traveled throughout Saskatchewan extensively both due to my hubby's job, and the fact we were born and raised here and we love exploring our province. I can honestly say that we have encountered thousands of gophers, squirrels, rabbits, etc. in our travels. When we can safely avoid them, we make every effort to do so, but when doing 100-110 on the highway with a van full of precious cargo (my babies), we don't risk a serious accident by swerving/slamming on the brakes. Moose and deer are another story.

[i_forget]

I have only ever hit one thing, not too sure what it was. I was in the country and it ran out and hit the side of my back tire. I cried for an hour for that unnamed black thing. It was so tiny, I thought it was a kitten.

I always watch the sides of the roads for the chance of animals darting out. I will try my hardest to not kill an animal.

[vesper]

You don't have to be speeding, and they do say if you see an animal in the road ahead of you, it's safer to just hit it straight on than to try to swerve and end up hitting another car or getting thrown in the ditch.

Deer are really bad for it, you don't have to be speeding at all, they are so damn unpredictable and will run out when you are least expecting it. I really don't see how you can blame speeding for it.

I agree 100%, better to hit animal than swerve. For sure. I miss 100% of animals because at night I cruise control to 90.

[vesper]

I know some animals are impossible to avoid, those bunnies are stupid sometimes.

but when travelling at night, it is not hard to miss most animals if you are going 90 and paying attention. It breaks my heart, at the carnage and I know that there are people driving 120 or faster on these raods.

[cookoo]

i wasn't talking about highways... the roadkills i saw were in residential neighborhoods.

there're plenty of street lights, and there's a speed limit, but there're always some 'fast-n-furious' drivers speeding through. the canada goose had its neck broken. its viscera were showing and there was a huge pool of blood next to its body. very heartbreaking.

[ninna]

I agree with one of the above posters about speed.. It isn't always speed that kills them. Sometimes its just human and animal world colliding...like the time a bird decapitated itself on the windshield of our motorcycle...and slid down it as we drove...before the body flew off...and thankfully didn't fly off on us. Ugh. never gonna forget that one. We weren't going fast. 40km/hour maybe because we had just turned a corner and were starting to pick up speed.

That said, I always try to keep deer whistles on my car so I can avoid the nasty deer vs. car scenario and I hope those whistles also deter other critters at the same time.

And sometimes its safer to hit them than to try avoiding them. My friend totaled her mom's brand new car swerving for a bunny rabbit when we were 16. Bunny lived...but the car didn't and the tree wasn't looking so hot after either. The scary part was that I was supposed to be in that car with her. But for some weird reason, I changed my mind about going that day. We were supposed to meet up with some boys for heaven's sake. I cannot imagine why or how I changed my mind on that one, but I am sure glad I did!

[s.hamandi]

i was driving and i saw a tiny bird in the middle of the road and a work truck like a white boxed one i am pretty sure on purpose speed ahead and hit the bird and i saw the bird struggling to fly away i was so upset thought what a idiot i coukd hear the gas being stepped on hard then slowed down.
I once went over a already dead skunk and that was so bad our garage smelt so bad for a week

[matrix82]

I live on the edge of the city, kind of, 6kms to city center and 1km from the shopping mall. I live on a major street that leads to two different highways (one on each end of the street) and a large shopping district (1km away). Just this morning there was a moose next to the building supply store. Ppl really need to watch their speeds. My grade 7 teacher was hit by a moose a few years ago, she is now paralyzed from the neck down, speed was not a factor in her case, she could not avoid hitting the moose.

Speed plays a factor but the animals also play a factor. A family of ducks just outside the city, caused 2 separate accidents as drivers slowed down on the highway and stopped to avoid hitting them: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...cks-crash.html