oh hit a duck...

[hayz_baby]

2 in fact on his driving lesson... He was driving down a busy 60mph road..He thought they would fly off. Started slwing down but didn't stop in time. He's very shook up about it. He obviously stopped as well although legally he didn't have too.

His test is in a couple of weeks time.. His instructor said that he might of failed.. But not for definite. So what technically are you meant to do in that situation..stop in the middle of a busy 60mph road or carry on as usually they fly off?

 

[sue_88]

Unless it's an animal that is going to damage my car I.e cow/deer there's no way I'm slowing/stopping for an animal on a 60mph road. Don't care if it's a cat or dog either, it endangers life to break suddenly for animals.

I'll slow if it's on a 30mph and beep if it's not getting out the way, still won't stop though so it is its own fault what happens to it!

 

[LoveCakes]

I hit a dead badger once that was pretty awful they're huge. I couldn't swerve as there was traffic in the other lane.

I remember my driving instructor telling me you're supposed to stop and report it if it's a dog as they're licensed animals. Though I wouldn't put a humans safety at risk by driving dangerously.

 

[dani_tinks]

My driving instructor told me off for stopping for rabbits once.

Living where I do I am constantly slowing down for animals. Although on a main road there's very little you can do without causing an accident & endangering lives.

 

[wishuwerehere]

I wouldn't stop on a 60mph road, the risk is just to high. My dh has hit a few pigeons this way, it happens. I do feel for your oh though, i imagine his confidence has taken a bot of a hit. Good luck for his test!

 

[Mummy May]

I was always told to hit the animal. Xx

 

[Tasha]

Yikes. I live in London so not an issue we have but I can imagine it really knocked his confidence. I had someone drive into the back of me at a junction when I was learning to drive and it really made me feel like an awful driver. The best thing he can do is go for a drive as soon as he can, the longer you leave it, the harder it is x

 

[noon_child]

You should never emergency stop for animals - you will fail your test for doing so.

I'd say that because a duck flying up and in to your line of sight at speed could be a hazard, you should probably do what you'd do for any other hazard (i.e a poorly parked car etc.) which is check your mirrors and slow down in a controlled safe manner. You would not be aiming to stop unless there was no one behind you and it wouldn't affect traffic flow. If I were your OH I'd ask the instructor to go through exactly what he should have done in that situation and what he would have failed on exactly, because I'm not sure. There isn't a specific box for "hit animals" on the test paper but I can imagine if the examiner thought he was slow to spot or react to the hazard he could get minor faults.

 

[Abz1982]

At work we had a hazard driving thing and we were told NOT to swerve or to brake sharply. If it was me I would slow down and use the horn.. That said........that didnt work for a seagull a few months ago............

 

[emyandpotato]

I think if you can stop you should but if you can't, which he couldn't if he was going at 60MPH on a busy road, then you shouldn't, unless it's a dog/cow/deer.

I've hit a few pheasants as they're bred for hunting around here and are everywhere. There's just nothing you can do if you're on a busy road and they don't move. And it sounds morbid but often a quick death by being hit by a car isn't too bad a fat for a duck/pheasant especially in the country.

 

[emyandpotato]

You should never emergency stop for animals - you will fail your test for doing so.

I'd say that because a duck flying up and in to your line of sight at speed could be a hazard, you should probably do what you'd do for any other hazard (i.e a poorly parked car etc.) which is check your mirrors and slow down in a controlled safe manner. You would not be aiming to stop unless there was no one behind you and it wouldn't affect traffic flow. If I were your OH I'd ask the instructor to go through exactly what he should have done in that situation and what he would have failed on exactly, because I'm not sure. There isn't a specific box for "hit animals" on the test paper but I can imagine if the examiner thought he was slow to spot or react to the hazard he could get minor faults.

You must if it's a big animal or a dog (the latter if it's safe to do so). If you hit a deer or something at high speed it could cause a serious accident.

 

[ladyluck8181]

I once hit a duck on a dark 60mph country road, I couldn't do anything as I saw it at last second and there was cars behind me. I carried on driving convinced this duck was stuck in the front of my car, luckily it wasn't but I don't think I've ever quite got over it

 

[noon_child]

You should never emergency stop for animals - you will fail your test for doing so.

I'd say that because a duck flying up and in to your line of sight at speed could be a hazard, you should probably do what you'd do for any other hazard (i.e a poorly parked car etc.) which is check your mirrors and slow down in a controlled safe manner. You would not be aiming to stop unless there was no one behind you and it wouldn't affect traffic flow. If I were your OH I'd ask the instructor to go through exactly what he should have done in that situation and what he would have failed on exactly, because I'm not sure. There isn't a specific box for "hit animals" on the test paper but I can imagine if the examiner thought he was slow to spot or react to the hazard he could get minor faults.

You must if it's a big animal or a dog (the latter if it's safe to do so). If you hit a deer or something at high speed it could cause a serious accident.

Yes sorry, I live in a city and it isn't something we come accross, but I do know that deer can come through your windscreen and kill you.

However re: the dog - how would you know if it is "safe to do so"? An emergency stop means breaking immediately and not checking your mirrors. Obviously if you have just checked them you'll know if there is nothing behind you, but this isn't always the case. My driving instructor told me off on one of my lessons and it was a dog I was trying to avoid!!!

 

[Lauraxamy]

I'm not sure on what you're actually meant to do but I live in the countryside and I'm always slowing down/stopping for animals/birds, if I killed one I'd probably cry . I know it's probably dangerous me stopping and all that but I just couldn't drive straight into an animal..

 

[emyandpotato]

You should never emergency stop for animals - you will fail your test for doing so.

I'd say that because a duck flying up and in to your line of sight at speed could be a hazard, you should probably do what you'd do for any other hazard (i.e a poorly parked car etc.) which is check your mirrors and slow down in a controlled safe manner. You would not be aiming to stop unless there was no one behind you and it wouldn't affect traffic flow. If I were your OH I'd ask the instructor to go through exactly what he should have done in that situation and what he would have failed on exactly, because I'm not sure. There isn't a specific box for "hit animals" on the test paper but I can imagine if the examiner thought he was slow to spot or react to the hazard he could get minor faults.

You must if it's a big animal or a dog (the latter if it's safe to do so). If you hit a deer or something at high speed it could cause a serious accident.

Yes sorry, I live in a city and it isn't something we come accross, but I do know that deer can come through your windscreen and kill you.

However re: the dog - how would you know if it is "safe to do so"? An emergency stop means breaking immediately and not checking your mirrors. Obviously if you have just checked them you'll know if there is nothing behind you, but this isn't always the case. My driving instructor told me off on one of my lessons and it was a dog I was trying to avoid!!!

According to my instructor (though I don't know how accurate this is as he was absolutely useless) you should check your mirrors like every 15 seconds or something (just a glance) so you should always know what is behind you so you'd have a general idea if it was safe to do an emergency stop. He said it was illegal to hit a dog so you must do an emergency stop?! Unless stopping would mean hitting someone else... But on any given road it should be safe to do an emergency stop as no one should be close enough not be able to stop if you do.

 

[sue_88]

It's not illegal to hit a dog. You're legally obliged to stop if you do though, and provide your details to the owner (I believe) and take theirs.

The dog owner is liable for all vet bills, and damage to your car.

 

[Banshee]

I live in the countryside and I've hit a few pheasants, rabbits and squirrels in my time I've also had to avoid foxes and deer, even a red deer once - that was definitely an emergency stop situation as they are big! I would always try and avoid hitting an animal or bird if at all possible but sometimes with other vehicles or simply the time you have to react then it's just not possible.

 

[Pearls18]

I think it's one of those frustrating situations where there isn't always a right answer and up for interpretation, I always remember there being a story in the media around the time of my test that a driver accidentally splashed a pedestrian and they failed because of this...I can't remember of they were supposed to apologise or just the fact it happened was a fail, utterly ridiculous what are you going to do swerve onto oncoming traffic so not to get a little water on a passerby..?!

Anyway, I always try to avoid animals of any kind as best I can, not because I am particularly good natured but I know how much damage they do, DH had a car written off by a pheasant! And a friend had to have a lot of work on her car done after hitting a badger. I would try to slow down as best I could, if the road ahead was long and clear I would go around but no idea what the official correct answer would be! But if you have to go forward there's not much you can do, you have to be mindful of those behind you as well.

 

[Pearls18]

I know someone who failed their test for hitting a dog, I'm not sure if it was how the incident occurred if you know what I mean, rather than just the fact he hit the dog.

 

[jd83]

In that situation on a busy 60mph road, yeah, I'd say hit the duck because it would be more hazardous to emergency stop to avoid hitting it. You'd be more likely to cause an accident by stopping quickly if others didn't react in time to your emergency stop. Bigger animal like a deer, that I'd stop for, as they can really cause a bad accident for yourself due to their size.

I have a friend from high school who hit a deer shortly after getting her license (this was back in high school too) and it actually went through the windshield into her car, so she had broken glass all over, and the deer didn't die from this, and was thrashing around hitting her with its legs. She was traumatized. I will always break for a deer or other large animal.

My Dh hit a goose with the car I had before my current car. I had just gotten the car, had only had it like a month. There was a whole flock of geese crossing the road, in a line, and it was clearly seen from a ways back. Traffic the other direction had stopped to let them pass, but DH didn't even slow down. He said he wasn't stopping and causing an accident over a stupid goose. So my new vehicle ended up with massive dents in the hood from hitting a goose, and it was a BIG goose. I was soooo mad for the longest time, but honestly, he wasn't wrong from the law standpoint. Didn't make me less irritated with having a dented up new car though. Which still has the dents to this day, but now he drives that car. Ha!