Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Saturday morning off into town nice & early. Come up through the country lanes to the local village and just outside the 30 there's a house. The road is narrow, the engine isn't warm & I'm doing 25-30 mph. I see the old lady who lives in the house, her daughter and grand-daughter (aged 9) standing by the side of the road, along with 2 dogs who are being kept back. I know they have 2 dogs, so with my eyes on the group I continue.

I'm 5ft from being in line with the group on my right when from the left and the long grass bounds a little terrier Absolutely no way on earth I could miss him - BANG! Screams & shouts from the women and the little girl in tears. I stopped & sat there for a second.

Old biddy starts having a go at me for driving too fast! Daughter, whose dog it was, was a bit more realistic & said she'd left the thing hunting in the verge as opposed to calling for it when I came round the corner 75m away. WTF she expect?

It really ***** you up when something like that happens & the worst part was hearing the little girl screaming and crying her eyes out

Cracked my lip-spoiler (not badly) and broke my number plate but did they offer to pay for it? Did they heck.

The dog was fine, bruised probably but happy enough to lick my fingers.

But as I said, it knocks the stuffing out of you especially when it's not your fault & just thinking if it could've been one of the other grand-children that had run accross...

subaru-impreza.org

I suppose that just highlights how quick things can happen. Glad everyhting is ok though.

Gareth

16vmarc

I nearly hit a duck other month lol

Iwan

I've had a near miss from a hare this week, and a roe deer last week. The deer was a very close one, i was 'making progress' and missed the gearchange from 3rd to 4th. If i hadn't missed the gearchange i wouldn't have missed the deer, it was that close. Ended well for both of us so that's the main thing i guess.

Iwan

Allan

iTrader: (1)

I know how you feel this happened to me many years ago. Happily the dog was OK and proved it by getting up legging it, leaving me the repair bill.

Allan

Ch!lledBudwei2er

Im sorry but I would be posting a bill through their letter box for that incident, there the legal owners and seeing you were within the legal speed limit and they didnt have proper contol over the dog, their actions should result in them picking up the bill.

Jiggerypokery

The dog owner is responsible for keeping the dog under control. They should pay for the damage and you can get your insurance to contact them. Even if the dog was killed, you can still claim off the owner.

deano

I took out a GSD that was chasing some pikey's from a building site. It belonged to security guard company but it wasn't much use after it had had a chat with the front of my car.

New bonnet, front panel, crossmember, radiator, foglight ...

The security guard got the sack and I got paid out but the smell of singed fur was there for days.

Scoobsti

My worst similar incident was quite a few years ago in an RS Turbo. Not speeding as in a built up area and a Boxer dog ran (bolted) across the road from behind a brick wall outside a school. Absolutely no warning - just a glimpse of something brown moving - then bang ! Aparently the kids had taken the family pet for walk and let it off the lead.

The dog wasn't badly injured - a deeply grazed back leg was the worst of it and the car wasn't even damaged - not a scratch. One of the kids ran home to fetch an adult and we waited with the dog and another kid. We were all calming down stroking the dog, when it keeled over and died in front of us - we think of a heart attack. All I can remember is the kid asking - 'will he be alright mister ?'

To cut a long story short - we put the dog in the boot and took it back home for them. The parents were very upset but suprisingly understanding and actually asked if the car was damaged.

It was a horrible experience - but I have to be thankful it was the dog, not one of the kids.

Sccobsti

Fosters

well done puff, responsible driving to try to anticipate. kids and roads petrify me. i came round a corner once to a ball dribbling into the road. slammed on my brakes to a halt and sure enough a kid runs straight into the road 10 ft from my bonnet to pick up his ball. didn't even look at me as he stalked back off to his garden. i considered i saved a life that day.

davegtt

ran over a cat about 2 months ago, wasnt my fault thou, corner of my eye I see something dart off towards me, god knows how or what it was playing at as it ran under the car when I was moving not to the front of the car, underneath the side of the car WTF!!! then it ran off...lol

jasey

Puff - just count your luck stars it wasn't two pissed teenage girls that walked out in front of you - Now that really isn't fun.

ps - and it is bloody expensive too - as you don't get any money to repair your damaged car AND your no claims is suspended for 4 years cos they might claim against you - Unless things have changed for the better in the last 20 years - but I suspect they haven't

Brendan Hughes

Has Cem read this thread yet?

I also wonder if it died later from shock. Can certainly happen.

vindaloo

Glad to hear the little yapper is OK though. Thankfully I haven't hit anything recently (touch wood).

Nearly hit someone's kid the other day though. One was standing in the road, one was hiding behind a car. Just as I'd decided the one standing in the road wasn't gonna do anything stupid, the other one bolts from behind the car into the road right in front of me!

I wasn't happy, left shouting "f*cking kids". Think I'm getting to be an old git...

J.

Richard Askew

Invoice the dog owner

ian_sadler

Mr A. the animal lover

Richard Askew

Ian - aint gonna bother getting into the old debate anyone who wants to can search for "that" thread

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Fosters, I've had exactly the same situation happen to me...........It was like a real life road safety film.

Jiggerypokery

I was driving around town yesterday (30 zone) behind a young lady in an old fiesta. Just as I was commenting to myself on her inability to go around a corner without drifting lanes, she drove in the right-hand lane through a set of traffic lights (on green) as the left lane was at a stand still. Someone decided to cross at the lights by running between the cars in the left lane, and with a quick look, ran across the right lane, quite close to her car. A second person decided to do the same thing, only without looking. I was quite pleasantly surprised at her reaction time as she managed to complete an emergency stop while the suicidal bloke jumped over the corner of her bonnet (it clipped his leg). The poor car didn't like the excitement, and conked out at the next traffic lights, and then ran on 3 cylinders. ... but someone lived another day

barrybudden

Your lucky it wasnt a big thing like a lab!

Leslie

Thats really disturbing as you say, I hate hitting any kind of animal and even slow down at night in the areas where I know there are young rabbits about.

Sorry about the damage to your car and even more about the unpleasant reaction and accusations from that woman. Good to know that the dog got away with it however and that the dog's owner was reasonable towards you. It's rare to find people with the sense of responsibilty to offer to pay for the damage these days though. Anything to get away with it now. As someone said, its amazing how quickly an unexpected situation can arise.

Les

Chris L

Glad to hear the little fella is OK - if you had been driving too fast - he certainly would have been dead. As a dog owner, you have to take responsiblity for your pets. I would never let Scooby off the lead on a public road (nothing to do with the fact that she is a 23kg Staff and mad as a march hare ). They have a tendancy to do daft unexpected things - no matter how well trained they are. An unfortunate incident Puff, but not your fault.

Chris

gossythevaleter

Puff

As a dog owner i can say that it would be my resposobility to pay for any damage
We are bound by law to keep the dog under control and if god forbid something happens and she causes an accident then i must accept the consiqences (sp) Hence why dogs have to be registered allthough i dont think they have to be insured
ouncer is never of the lead unless at home or in a field plus thank god she is very well behaved ( all though i am sure a couple of you will say she a f**kin nightmare )

Hope you get it sorted either way

pappasmurf

...i hit a young fox a week ago at 90mph....took a lump out of the paint work of my P1 front splitter, popped a self tapping screw out and dislodged another bit...but didn't fortunately split the plastic.
.....think it dislodged a few thing in the fox mind you.

smurfy.

Jiggerypokery

I didn't know foxes could run that fast!

mutant_matt

Puff,

Luckily you don't have my history of car/bike animal interfaces......

Matt

Emma L

the owners should of been keeping an eye on the bloody thing in the first place i agree send them the bill, it might teach them a lesson to keep control of their dog. Glad its ok though. hope yr car is ok too

DJFish

The real problem with situations like this, is that although responsible dog/child owners SHOULD keep their charges under control, in the event of an accident, we the drivers will always be blamed as the cause of the accident.

It's always a car hit a dog, rather than a dog ran under a car.

As for kids, I often drive down a country road next to a playing field, and where do the buggers play??? That's right, in the road! Never get much over 20mph just in case, but locals usually hoon it(but that's another thread).