A quick observation from an experience driving home yesterday evening.
We all know the bonnets on our beloved cars are of a sort of emmental-cheese-covered-fibreglass consistency. This presents some problems, namely how easy they are to deform by accident, but I've now experienced another PRO.
I hit a bird doing around 45mph (it dived out of a hedge row >1ft in front of me). I absolutely hate hitting any kind of wildlife, it turns me from car-nut to hippy in 0 seconds flat and makes me want to go and live in a mud hut on the top of an attractive hill top somewhere. Luckily I've never had any incidents with large animals or god forbid someones pet, so I think this bird is the largest thing I've ever hit in over a decade of driving. I get that accidents happen, and sometimes you may have to make a harsh decision prioritising the safety of other people around you over wildlife, but I still hate it.
Anyway...
45mph ish, it was moving at a fair lick, almost perfectly perpendicular to the Y, but at bonnet level.
A soft *BONG*, the bonnet flexes and like a trampoline this thing just BOUNCES/FLIES out of my peripheral vision.
I check my mirrors, (dead back-route country road), put hazards on and pause for a second.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, in my mirror I see it get up, obviously dazed, and hop / flap into the hedgerow on the other side of the road.
So two questions / observations...
Any avian experts who can tell me whether it is likely to have survived? It was sort of small-ish blackbird size/shape. No blood on the bonnet at all.
I can see how this would be such a boon for pedestrian safety, and other environmental factors that we have a moral obligation to consider.
We all know the bonnets on our beloved cars are of a sort of emmental-cheese-covered-fibreglass consistency. This presents some problems, namely how easy they are to deform by accident, but I've now experienced another PRO.
I hit a bird doing around 45mph (it dived out of a hedge row >1ft in front of me). I absolutely hate hitting any kind of wildlife, it turns me from car-nut to hippy in 0 seconds flat and makes me want to go and live in a mud hut on the top of an attractive hill top somewhere. Luckily I've never had any incidents with large animals or god forbid someones pet, so I think this bird is the largest thing I've ever hit in over a decade of driving. I get that accidents happen, and sometimes you may have to make a harsh decision prioritising the safety of other people around you over wildlife, but I still hate it.
Anyway...
45mph ish, it was moving at a fair lick, almost perfectly perpendicular to the Y, but at bonnet level.
A soft *BONG*, the bonnet flexes and like a trampoline this thing just BOUNCES/FLIES out of my peripheral vision.
I check my mirrors, (dead back-route country road), put hazards on and pause for a second.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, in my mirror I see it get up, obviously dazed, and hop / flap into the hedgerow on the other side of the road.
So two questions / observations...
Any avian experts who can tell me whether it is likely to have survived? It was sort of small-ish blackbird size/shape. No blood on the bonnet at all.
I can see how this would be such a boon for pedestrian safety, and other environmental factors that we have a moral obligation to consider.
