Large (feathered) birds on busyish dual carriageway - what should/would you do?

withabix

Unless it is something the size of a pheasant or larger, just keep driving.

9 times out of 10 they will get out of your way.

The other time it is their hard luck.

noelphobic

withabix wrote: »

Unless it is something the size of a pheasant or larger, just keep driving.

9 times out of 10 they will get out of your way.

The other time it is their hard luck.

and what if it is a pheasant or larger? What would you do then? These seagulls were huge! Obviously you have to put your safety and that of other road users first, but if you hit a big bird then your car could potentially be damaged, or if your view is obscured you could end up causing an accident.

It would be interesting to know what a driving instructor would have advised their learner to do if that happened on a lesson.

PasturesNew

noelphobic wrote: »

and what if it is a pheasant or larger? What would you do then? These seagulls were huge!

They can be the size of small dogs.

Unfortunately, they're quite dim and don't usually get out of the way if you drive at them full pelt. So, you have to spot the danger, assess it's not a dog/small child, then slow as much as you can in order to not impede other drivers..... but keep going as fast as you can and pray. Of course, if nobody's about, then you go really slowly and beep/wait for them to get out of the way as nobody wants fresh meat hanging on the screen.

You did the right thing.

It's all split second stuff really.

photome

PasturesNew wrote: »

They can be the size of small dogs.

Unfortunately, they're quite dim and don't usually get out of the way if you drive at them full pelt. So, you have to spot the danger, assess it's not a dog/small child, then slow as much as you can in order to not impede other drivers..... but keep going as fast as you can and pray. Of course, if nobody's about, then you go really slowly and beep/wait for them to get out of the way as nobody wants fresh meat hanging on the screen.

You did the right thing.

It's all split second stuff really.

And common sense

noelphobic

photome wrote: »

And common sense

agreed, and I think I did the right thing. Like a lot of things concerning driving you do have to think fast as you don't get long to make a decision and if you make the right one then the consequences are potentially catastrophic - and not just for seagulls!

martinthebandit

noelphobic wrote: »

agreed, and I think I did the right thing. Like a lot of things concerning driving you do have to think fast as you don't get long to make a decision and if you make the right one then the consequences are potentially catastrophic - and not just for seagulls!

Ignore the ejits that have posted here.

I don't know if you did the right thing at the time, there are so many variables that its difficult to know that without being there.

But I do know that you are doing the right thing reflecting on an incident that has occurred and thinking how you could have done things differently.

It surprises me how many drivers don't seem to do it, how do they expect to improve their driving skills? I can only assume that they consider themselves perfect drivers, seems to be quite common on here.

spiro

noelphobic wrote: »

and what if it is a pheasant or larger? What would you do then?

Swerve or stop, a pheasant caused £1000 worth of damage to the front on my car when I hit one at 70mph on a dual carriageway, all I saw in the rear view mirror was a cloud of feathers.

martinthebandit

spiro wrote: »

Swerve or stop, a pheasant caused £1000 worth of damage to the front on my car when I hit one at 70mph on a dual carriageway, all I saw in the rear view mirror was a cloud of feathers.

You cannot really be suggesting that swerving or stopping on a dual carriageway is a good idea, can you?

I suspect the 44 tonne arctic behind you or the car beside you when you swerve may do a teensy bit more than a grands worth of damage.

Really, I despair at the idiocy of some drivers

spiro

martinthebandit wrote: »

I suspect the 44 tonne arctic behind you or the car beside you when you swerve may do a teensy bit more than a grands worth of damage.

I would the same as I would do at any other time before braking or swerving, look whats behind or along side me. No difference to driving on the motorway and coming across debris - tyres, pallets, bits of car etc etc.

Lum

martinthebandit wrote: »

You cannot really be suggesting that swerving or stopping on a dual carriageway is a good idea, can you?

I suspect the 44 tonne arctic behind you or the car beside you when you swerve may do a teensy bit more than a grands worth of damage.

Really, I despair at the idiocy of some drivers

Mirror check (and blindspot check where necessary) is a standard practice before doing any manoeuvre like this.

Also if it's a dual carriageway, swerving into the hard shoulder is a valid option.