I was on a 40mph limit dual carriageway on my way home doing exactly 40mph. Ahead there was a bus stop on my left hand side before the dual carriageway merged into a single carriageway about 100m on. A woman with two small children (circa 5 years old) was waiting at the bus stop.

I lifted the accelerator and checked the two kids were not about to run into the road. Then, just as I got to the bus stop a cat bolted out of the hedge behind and ran straight for my car. One of the children moved towards the road in an attempt to follow the cat.

There was no point in braking - I would have hit the cat (maybe the kid?) at about 35mph. So i swerved hard right, straight towards the merge in central reservation with all its signage and bollards. So I swerved left. Cue a very large fishtail - I hit the lockstops twice. I recovered the car without spinning (it took about four or five lots of opposite lock) and turned round to go back to the bus stop.

I asked the woman if I missed the cat and she said, "Yes you did. I've got no idea how you managed to do it, but thankyou. Its my cat."

What are the odds of that? A cat to run out at that time, when the cats owner was waiting for a bus with her kids." I'm still shaking a bit - if I'd have been slightly distracted, if I didn't have two hands on the wheel, if I wasn't driving a high performance car with plenty of grip - what could have happened?

According to the woman I missed her cat by one or two inches. For the record, the car I was driving was a Nissan Primera GT, so it was reasonably high performance. This experience has added an extra factor, possibly the deciding one, into whether I buy a scoob.

Edited to say I am 22 years old, in case any of you were wondering.



[Edited by dave_gt - 2/28/2003 12:06:52 PM]

[Edited by dave_gt - 2/28/2003 12:07:19 PM]

 

Well done on missing it

Hard decision to make at short notice, hit the cat or avoid it. The animal lover in people tends to make them try and avoid even at risk to themselves!

Good to hear everything survived

 

Well done sir... if only everyone drove so well!
(P.S. I have an RB5 for sale )

 

Good bit of driving mate.

I had to avoid a silly cow yesterday....

but she was driving a Pug 106 and decided to just pull out in front of me

Cheers

Dan

 

The official line is never swerve to avoid an animal as you can end up having a bigger accident. I've known of people being killed after trying to avoid a small animal.

However, in this instance you did the right thing, as the kid could well have followed it out so by swerving to avoid the cat, you also would have avoided the kid.

Incidents like this can play on the mind and it's easy to think it over again and again, but IMHO you did the right thing.

Not sure a scoob would have been any better in that situation. It's more to do with braking power than handling.

 

Well done.

As for the odds of the cat being there - I would say quite high - there at the bus stop near their home ?

David

 

Thanks for the comments. As to the cat, the woman said they had a problem with the cat following them everywhere (as do I with mine). Point taken about the braking think - at those speeds I dont think there would be much in it - but in this instance I didnt brake - no room. Anyone else had any big moments?


[Edited by dave_gt - 2/28/2003 12:35:08 PM]

 

well done m8

 

One more thing - I have an early Primera GT, so it has no ABS, no traction control or any sort of skid control program. In this instance, bearing in mind that I have some advanced knowledge, would the driver aids have helped or hindered me?

Edited to say lol to Steve001 :-)

[Edited by dave_gt - 2/28/2003 12:38:34 PM]

 

Believe me, that is the one maneouvre an Impreza doesn't like - sudden violent direction changes - and it would still have been spinning now if you'd been in one. They aren't a panacea

 

Should have took the cat out! cheesed of with them sh1ting in my front garden.

 

Well held that man!

 

Well done for saving the poor little cat!

Strangely enough the biggest scare in my motoring life was when I was given a part exchange price for my 18 month old Impreza against a new MINI cooper....... ;-)

 

Now that I've stopped shaking I just feel quite pleased that I did avoid any accident. I suppose that if you do any advanced training you never know whether you will think to use the skills you learned until you have to take emergency action. Strangely I didn't think - I just seemed to do what I did automatically.

 

Glad everyone is OK m8. I had a little girl (about 10-11yr old) run straight out in front of me a few years back. She bolted straight out in between two parked cars. I stopped in time, but it scared the **** out of me.

Although it wasn't a bad experience it was enough of a shock to make me more aware of just had daft (read naive) kids can be and too watch everyone like a hawk when I'm driving through built-up areas.

Stefan

[Edited by ozzy - 2/28/2003 2:10:40 PM]

 

Well done for missing the poor little animal.

If you had gone over it you could have damaged your exhaust

My advice in this instance would be to de-cat it....



sorry I'll get my coat....

 

If every body drove with the apparent care you displayed, the driving world would be a safer and happier place. unfortunalty about 90% of the driving population are w4nkers. ergo: well done sir.

ref: spinning a scoob. I have experienced lift off oversteer before at alot more than 40mph, but not enough to go all the way. i think alot of controlling a car in hairy situations is experience, but IMHO the scoob would not have spun.

 

I could tell you a thing or two about animals, cunning little *******s that they are. Every time I go somewhere I can sense them watching me from bushes, waiting for a chance to hurl themselves infront of me.

About 4 months ago, returning home on my motorbike after midnight, a 'stealth' (black) cow ambushed me in the middle of the road. It had positioned itself after a blind corner just outside a street-light area and attracted the attention of the police enough for a patrol car to be sat just around said corner, providing a lovely distration for me. When the deed was done I was lying in a daze, with bits of written-off motorbike everywhere, he hoped back into his field nonplussed. Git.

Then about two months ago, a pheasant decided to take a closer look at the driver side front light cluster of my Evo, in fact it was so curious it imbedded itself into the side of the engine bay, cracking the wing and leaving me with one hell of a clean up job. I'm not sure which was more disturbing, the four figure repair bill or picking out icky goops of pheasant flesh.

 

Thanks Dan. I must say it was very nice to come on here a little shaken and get some people saying "Well done for missing the cat." Made me feel a bit better. Cheers.

I would never describe myself as a perfect driver, but I do like to think I drive with a safety led attitude; which is not that difficult to adopt. That's not to say I dont enjoy a spirited drive, becuase I really do, but there's a time and place for such things, I think you'll agree.


[Edited by dave_gt - 2/28/2003 5:03:12 PM]

 

LOL @ Scoobycar60

Had that happen with a dog (fortunately, less child in my instance) and, mindful of the advice absolutely correctly offered by Neil Smalley, put it in the centre of my bonnet line and carried on...... after which, it stood up, shook itself down, and walked away!!

But it's a hard call to make..... I have a couple of animals of my own......

Well done you, tho'

Phil

 

may as well add my " scary animal moments " to the fore.

local road just up from my house and a forty zone I'm doing around that.. I notice an elderly couple on the right hand side of the road walking their dog, then she stops and looks directly across the road (90 degrees) she puts her hands up, palms outward in a stop jesture mouthing..or should that be shouting Nooooooooo.
this wasn't at me by the way.
My foot is off the gas as I look left just in time to see a bloody great wolf hound (which i knew the owners of) all four paws streched out in full chat mode heading for elderly couple on the other side of the road....just as I pass his gateway.
needless to say the dog didn't reach the other side of the road.
It's all in slow motion in my head still to this day...what's she waving about.....Oh fu.. too late.
watching the dog spin like a top down the pavement was not my idea of fun... bloody kids had left the back door open and let the dopy dog out.

£400 quid for a new front bumper and sprayjob.
and a good pressure wash

Andy

 

I span a Nissan Primera GT, 1998 model, on the M4 - 4 years ago!! This has just brought back the memory

I was travelling at about 90mph when the car in front brake/stalled/reversed or something!! never found out what!! I swerved right, then left to correct and span around 3 times.

Through the clouds of tyre smoke I saw the central reservation pass again and again - I just wanted to hit it to stop the spinning!!

The car, amazingly, stopped spinning - rocked onto two wheels and then sat there ....... facing the RIGHT direction, in the slow lane, without hitting a thing!! a lesser car would not have saved my and my wifes life - it would have left a child without parents!!

A humbling experience and an indication of how well sorted a Nissan Primera's Chassis is .............. a most underated car if ever there was one!

Pete

[Edited by pslewis - 2/28/2003 10:10:20 PM]