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How to Avoid Killing Small Animals while Driving? By Dr. Michael Chang, Copy Rights (c) Directron.com
I have been driving for twenty years. I killed a small animal for the first time last night while driving. I was returning home after dropping off my son's friends at around 10:00 pm after watching a Rockets game. On the entry to our subdivision, I saw a small animal racing across the street in front of my car. It was too sudden for me to stop completely. I felt a "bam" sound from the bottom of my car. Looking back through the rear mirror, I saw a life-less animal lying in the middle of the street. I screamed. I thought it was a squarrel. I drove by the street the next day morning. It was actually a rabbit.
I see a dead animal on the streets, most time squarrel, almost once every month while driving in my neighborhood. For a long time I have been wondering about how to avoid killing these animals. I chatted with my kids for ideas several times about this subject. One idea we have is to put up some street signs such as "Squarrel Crossing" on the main streets. If we bring people's attention to slow down, maybe we can reduce the number of animals being killed by vehicles. We can have a design contest for the sign to draw people's attention to this issue. I am even willing to spend some of my own money to make and put up such signs. I don't know however if it is legal to put up street signs like this. We may need the city's approval first. However, I am sure it's for a good cause.
The other idea we have is to erect some crossing bars at the tree levels way above the street to assist the squarrel's to cross. Such bars can be made of stainless steel to make it a beautification object on the streets. The question however is how to "educate" the squarrels to use them instead of crossing on the street. Of course the cost would be much higher than a simple street sign, and it definitely requires city's approval for such a structure. Such an idea will help tree-climbing squarrels but not the ground-running animals such as rabit and ducks.
Perhaps some one can do a study on the road-killing phenomenon in urban areas. I wonder what time of the day would be when most of the animals are killed. Is it in the morning, afternoon or evening? What kind of animals are killed most often? What would be the most effective way to avoid such unnecessary killing of small animals? A reseach on these questions may shine some lights to the problem.
Do you have any ideas? What's your experience? Have you killed any animals while driving on the streets? What kind of animals? What time of the day did that happen? Please share your thoughts with me by sending an email to information @ directron.com.
I am not an animal right activiest; but I certainly do not like seeing so many animals dead so unnecessarily.
Comments and suggestions
Dear Dr. Chang:
By chance I read your missive on killing a small animal while driving and your subsequent guilt and desire for good ideas on how to avoid doing so. I am sympathetic, and I believe I may be able to give you advice that will help. I’m not a crackpot, and this is not some ridiculous joke.
I’ve been driving for 41 years. On a night some 30 years ago I felt much as you did the night you ran over a rabbit. I flattened a raccoon in similar fashion while rounding a curve on secondary state road, unable to avoid it once I saw the hapless critter in the car’s normal beams. I’ll never forget the thud and abrupt heave as first the front, then the rear tire rolled over the furry mound of flesh.
I stopped at the shoulder, retrieved a flashlight from the console, and walked back to the spot. When I trained the light on the body, I nearly vomited over what I saw. I won’t bother to share that, but believe me, it wasn’t pretty. I was overcome by an extreme rush of guilt because I knew in my heart of hearts that I had been driving a little too fast to give myself and that poor little masked bastard an opportunity to avoid the collision. In my mind, I hadn’t been speeding really. I was traveling perhaps eight miles over the posted 40 MPH limit, but that 48 MPH speed was fast enough to keep me from reacting in time. Of course I understand there are no guarantees, but still I calculated that at 48 MPH I was traveling at 70 feet per second. I took possibly two seconds to react and touch the brake pedal. Not quick enough, however, to avoid my undoing. I estimated that had I been traveling the speed limit, I would have been traveling at 59 feet per second. Given the same reaction time, My car would have traveled 22 feet less than it did – enough time, I knew, to have prevented the slaughter.
We don’t realize how fast our vehicles really are traveling when we’re riding in air-conditioned comfort, talking on our cell phones, or listening to music. Even at 20 MPH, the car is traveling at almost 30 feet per second. A two second reaction response means 20 yards. Where I live we have moose, deer, raccoons, bears, rabbits, gobs of squirrels and the occasional oddity, such as a coyote, skunk, or porcupine. Since hitting the raccoon I have not collided with another animal, and I attribute this, in large measure, to the change in my driving habit: By day, when I can see clearly, I limit my speeding to five miles over (I know, you’re thinking, “bullshit,” but it’s the truth), and by night, I do not exceed the speed limit, and even travel slower than the posted limit in heavy rains, or snow storms. Mind you, I have since encountered many animals, while driving, but I’ve always been able to stop or slow down, praise be to God, by sticking close to the posted speed on a given road.
The moral of the story, Dr. Chang? Speed really does kill. You don’t need to experiment with clever solutions, like stringing ropes and bars between trees high above roadways. Remembering that your car is potentially a lethal weapon will help you avoid mishaps like the one you’ve described. Keeping your eyes trained on the road ahead and driving more slowly than you probably are will make the greatest difference, however. It did for me.
Regards,
Randy H.
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