I Do Not Break For Animals
I am sorry to all you dog and cat lovers (yes, my family has dogs and cats in our home), but human life is more valuable than an animal's life. I despise those who have bumper stickers that say "I brake for Animals." I try not to drive behind such idiots because they would rather save the life of a squirrel than worry about a busload of small children behind them.
If there were no First Amendment issues I would be in favor of getting such bumper stickers banned from being affixed to cars on the principal that this kind statement might lead some to think that it is right and proper to brake for animals. It is not.
Of course, if you're driving slowly in a city and you have enough time to determine that avoiding the animal won't injure pedestrians or the driver behind you, then sure, no sense needlessly hurting or possibly killing an animal.
I'm talking about driving at speeds in which there isn't enough time to make all the calculations necessary to save human life.
On the highway, unless I saw the animal a few thousand feet away, I would never swerve or brake to avoid it (see my article The First Turkey I Ever Personally Killed) and anyone who does so is a danger to himself and all other human beings on the road. Most drivers are not skilled enough to maintain control of a vehicle after swerving at high speeds.
Just so you know, if by swerving or breaking for animals you injure others, you will be charged with a traffic violation (1). Under the same circumstances if you kill someone, you will be charged with negligent homicide, and rightly so.
Cops will tell you that unless you can very safely swerve or stop, it's better to hit the animal (2).
God save us from people who love animals more than humans.
ENDNOTES
(1):
The Journal, Squirrel blamed for accident
HAGERSTOWN — A Maryland woman who swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel Saturday in Hagerstown struck a car head-on that was carrying a Martinsburg couple.
Philip N. Kisner, 50, and his wife, 50-year-old Karen Lynn Kisner, of Martinsburg, were both wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident.
...
The driver of the other vehicle, 32-year-old Amy Deosaran, of Middletown, Md., and her 9-year-old son, who was in a child safety restraint in the backseat, were also taken to Washington County Hospital with nonlife-threatening injures.
...
Deosaran was charged with failure to drive right of center. The Boonsboro Police Department and Washington County Sheriff’s Department assisted with the investigation.
According to police, the squirrel that caused the accident later attempted to cross U.S. 40 again and was eventually struck by a vehicle. It was pronounced deceased at the scene, police said.
(2):
USA Today, 11 Jan 2012, Swerving can be worse than hitting animal on road
Do you brake for cats, dogs, squirrels, skunks and possums? How about horses, cows, elk, moose, or deer?
Fight the urge to swerve as you brake if you don't have time to check traffic first, said Julie Startup, a Washington State trooper and spokeswoman in the agency's Seattle and Bellevue area.
"If you are able to make a safe lane change, by all means do it," said California Highway Patrol Officer Tamara McCormack, a spokeswoman in the Los Angeles office. But swerving without looking could result in an accident.
The size of the animal matters. If it's shorter than your car's hood and you don't have time to check other lanes, go through it, Startup said. If the animal is taller than the hood, avoid it if you can, knowing it still might be better to hit the animal.
"These crashes happen so fast, often times drivers don't have the option of making a decision about what to do," said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "but the best thing, unfortunately, in most cases is to hit the animal and try to avoid swerving or doing something that could cause you to lose control and hit somebody else or an object or go off the road and roll over."
...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded 173 fatal crashes and 12,000 injury crashes involving animals in 2009, the latest year statistics are available, said spokesman Jose Alberto Ucles.
