Hitting a pigeon when driving

molerat

jimjames said:

I hit one on the motorway. Quite a cloud of feathers for the car behind ..............

Many years ago two cars in convoy driving through Thetford forest, pigeon flew out and caught the front corner.  Feathers, and other pigeon parts, everywhere. Unfortunately for them the car behind was open top

ElefantEd

I keep hitting gnats and other small insects whilst driving - sometimes when I get home the windscreen is covered in them.

Is it ok to wait until I get home before reporting them en masse, or should I stop and do each one individually?

Grey_Critic

ElefantEd said:

Is it ok to wait until I get home before reporting them en masse, or should I stop and do each one individually?

You need to be aware that you are required to complete an incident report in triplicate for each and every one. Photo copies are not acceptable.

P.S. Bring your own pen.

Ebe_Scrooge

There's no need to report insects - they're not on the list of "notifiable" animals

daveyjp

I've hit many over the years, lots close to home as they roost under a railway bridge and often sit in the road.  As wild animals no need to report.

The pigeons also often wander around rail tracks and I do know a car doesn't make as much of a mess as a train doing 60mph, especially when the pigeon manages to get about a metre of the ground before the train hits.  Feathers everywhere.

I also advise not hit any bird much larger than a pigeon.  I once saw a car hit a pheasant and it destroyed the nearside corner completely. Bumper ripped off, fog and headlights both in the gutter.

MalMonroe

Poor little pigeon. I guess it's unavoidable sometimes though, it all happens so fast.  

I don't consider them to be vermin. In fact I don't even consider vermin to be vermin. The only vermin I acknowledge is of the human kind. 

I once thought I'd hit a magpie. I hadn't - but I was so worried about it that I had to turn around and go to check. If it was safe to do, so I'd always try to remove it from the road as there's nothing worse than squashed dead things. Or live, injured things.

I was all shook up about a near-hit magpie (would have taken to a vet) so don't know how I'd feel if I'd actually hit something. 

Ebe_Scrooge

Years ago when I was a kid, we were parked up in a lay-by having a break from the journey.  Saw a lorry hit a rabbit, and

............

don't read on if you're squeamish ................................

.......................

the rabbit's leg was mashed into the road, and the poor thing was flopping around from side to side unable to move.  We watched the lorry quickly reverse back over it - making sure to completely flatten it.  Me and my bro asked my dad why the lorry driver had done that, and obviously he explained it really was the kindest thing to do, rather than letting it lie there in agony and die slowly.

Still makes me shudder every time I remember it.  Of course the lorry driver did the right thing - but it was a horrible thing for a little kid to watch.

PowerHandle

daveyjp said:

The pigeons also often wander around rail tracks and I do know a car doesn't make as much of a mess as a train doing 60mph, especially when the pigeon manages to get about a metre of the ground before the train hits.  Feathers everywhere.

Trains do tend to do more damage but it's a near certainty that the animal won't survive or suffer a slow death. I don't worry about hitting pigeons or pheasants (its almost a daily thing) but I do feel a bit sad if a Buzzard or Kite picks the wrong moment to grab whatever got taken out by an earlier train. Can't do anything about it though.

Dogbyte009

I've twice hit pigeons. The first time with a door mirror - which is a neat trick if you can do it - big enough thump to knock the mirror back into its folded position. Second time front corner of the bonnet on the motorway, I thought the pigeon might have got away with it but a glance in the mirror revealed the Land Rover behind driving though a big cloud of feathers.

uknick

I think this comes under, "you couldn't make it up".

I hit a deer on Xmas Eve just before midnight many years ago about a mile from home.  Needless to say, I didn't tell Santa.

The next day I saw he left me for Xmas a smashed front bumper, dented bonnet and cracked radiator.