Sad indeed that not one of these cars could stop and set a turtle to a safe spot..... have done that many a times on my backroad, as they try and pass from pond to pond.
but something for everyone else to think about out there, is where do you draw the line on the safety of an *unknown animal*?
Yes....i am one that hates the thought of killing anything (cept mosquitos and ticks)...and natural instinct would still make me brake for something darting out in front of the car, even tho i tell myself, i'll never break for a *wild* animal again, obviously, large animals (deer), and *pets* would be an exception to this rule.
2 years ago february, i rolled my car, and had it not been for a tree stopping me, would have landed top down on a partially frozen pond.....for a freaken opossum!! no, until i was acutally in the process of the roll, i could not tell exactly what type of animal it was, because all i had seen were glowing eyeballs darting out around a curve i was coming upon....this was on a gravel road, kind of snow, sand, ice packed, over the gravel. i was not traveling overly fast (probably 25 mph) i saw these eyeballs coming up, and i was already on a curve, hit the breaks, and the car went totally out of control instantly. (i've since been told by a truck driver that drove that car after the accident, that he had NEVER driven anything with tighter steering than it had, and it could have played a part in it rolling so easily, given the road conditions)
the money is not so much an issue, here, but it cost the $500 deductible to fix the car, because the animal made it safely across the street, had i hit it, the insurance company would have foot the whole bill. (but duh, had i hit it, i probably wouldn't have rolled the dang thing in the first place, huh?)
more important than the extra cost possibly associated with wrecking a vehicle, is what else *could* have happened..... There is no doubt in my mind, had my children been with me, they would have both been killed. every single thing that was inside the back seat of the car, ended up outside the car....and everything (besides myself, because i had a steering wheel to hold on to to brace myself) that was in the front seat, ended up in the backseat, mixed in with lots of glass and road dirt.
where do you draw that line for saving the life of a squirrel or an opossum? i know damn well, it isn't worth the lives of my kids, so i try and tell myself, be CAREFUL about breaking/swerving solely out of instinct, although i still end up doing it, and every time, i'm happy that the animal is still alive, but wonder *what if* the same thing would have happened again. (guarantee one thing, i stay on paved roads more often in the last 2 years
)
but something for everyone else to think about out there, is where do you draw the line on the safety of an *unknown animal*?
Yes....i am one that hates the thought of killing anything (cept mosquitos and ticks)...and natural instinct would still make me brake for something darting out in front of the car, even tho i tell myself, i'll never break for a *wild* animal again, obviously, large animals (deer), and *pets* would be an exception to this rule.
2 years ago february, i rolled my car, and had it not been for a tree stopping me, would have landed top down on a partially frozen pond.....for a freaken opossum!! no, until i was acutally in the process of the roll, i could not tell exactly what type of animal it was, because all i had seen were glowing eyeballs darting out around a curve i was coming upon....this was on a gravel road, kind of snow, sand, ice packed, over the gravel. i was not traveling overly fast (probably 25 mph) i saw these eyeballs coming up, and i was already on a curve, hit the breaks, and the car went totally out of control instantly. (i've since been told by a truck driver that drove that car after the accident, that he had NEVER driven anything with tighter steering than it had, and it could have played a part in it rolling so easily, given the road conditions)
the money is not so much an issue, here, but it cost the $500 deductible to fix the car, because the animal made it safely across the street, had i hit it, the insurance company would have foot the whole bill. (but duh, had i hit it, i probably wouldn't have rolled the dang thing in the first place, huh?)
more important than the extra cost possibly associated with wrecking a vehicle, is what else *could* have happened..... There is no doubt in my mind, had my children been with me, they would have both been killed. every single thing that was inside the back seat of the car, ended up outside the car....and everything (besides myself, because i had a steering wheel to hold on to to brace myself) that was in the front seat, ended up in the backseat, mixed in with lots of glass and road dirt.
where do you draw that line for saving the life of a squirrel or an opossum? i know damn well, it isn't worth the lives of my kids, so i try and tell myself, be CAREFUL about breaking/swerving solely out of instinct, although i still end up doing it, and every time, i'm happy that the animal is still alive, but wonder *what if* the same thing would have happened again. (guarantee one thing, i stay on paved roads more often in the last 2 years
