my heart sunk

did you stop to pick them up? thems good eatin!


DONT BUY CHEAP CHINESE PEACOCKS

 

I understand. I always have a hard time when my cage takes a life. The worst for me was a beautiful cardinal that I took out (only about 30mph but it still killed him). So far I haven't had the experience on a motorcycle.

 

My only question would be : Don't you slow down at least whenever you see possible animal life that could dart back? At 94 if you hit something and it made you squirrely it wouldn't feel good.

 

I agree,it sucks to take life that way,but the alternative can be worse. If it's unsafe to avoid hitting a small animal,the best thing to do is hold your line and let nature take it's course. I found that out the hard way one night when I showed a quality of mercy to a small animal that ran out in front of me. I know that sounds cruel GoForARide,but I'll tell you my story and let you decide.

I was out for a ride one Saturday night in 1994 on a road that I'd ridden many times before. While negociating a sweeping slightly off camber left hander at about 50mph,a small animal suddenly darted out in front of me. I tried to avoid it and straightened the bike up. To my credit I missed the small animal,but the inevitable happened. By lifting the bike I missed the apex of the turn and ran wide. There was no run-off. There was about a ten foot section of pea gravel and then an armco guardrail. As soon as my front wheel touched that pea gravel the bike slammed me down into the pavement with so much force that it broke every rib on the left side of my back about an inch and a half off the centerline of my spine. My riding gear absolutely did it's job because other than my broken ribs I didn't have a scratch on me. The bike ended up wedged beneath the armco guardrail,shearing off one of the wooden mounting posts in the process,and completely destroying my beautiful blue 1984 VF700F Intercepter. When I got up,I knew something was wrong with my back. I literally reached down with my right hand and picked up my left arm up by the elbow and carried it with me. I walked over to the guardrail and sat down next to the twisted hunk of plastic and metal that used to be my bike. I ripped off what was left of my helmet visor and asked my God if it was my turn tonight. He didn't answer. So I sat on that guardrail in the dark and waited for about half an hour until a guy towing an ultralight plane with a pick-up truck finally found me. An hour later the tow truck got there. An hour after that I got home and waited while the tow truck driver unloaded what was left of my bike. An hour after that I finally made it to the hospital. After looking at the X-rays the doctor was astonished that I was still standing. He told me that he couldn't decide if it was sheer Luck or my good physical conditioning that had saved me. He said that if even one of those broken ribs had punctured my lungs I probably would've drown in my own body fluids before that guy in the pick-up truck found me. I slept in a chair for four months,believe me that was an entirely new level of pain. I didn't ride for almost a year after that. It still hurts to this day to raise my left arm above my head. All because I decided to do what was right and show mercy to a small animal.

Sorry for the long post GoForARide. You were confronted with a similar situation to mine,and like me you wanted to do the right thing. We both know that a split second is not enough time to weigh all the possible outcomes of our actions. At that point it's either you or that animal. File this experience away in your arsenal of personal riding experiences and use it for future reference my friend. Lesson learned.

I know my statement about letting nature take it's course seems a bit harsh,but while I was sitting on that guardrail in the dark that night I had a lot of time to think. I decided in my heart of hearts that if I was ever confronted with that same scenario again I would not be so merciful the next time.

 

As often is the case around here I think we have some great answers. I see the best answer as a combo of all of the above.
1) ride defensively in general and slow down at night
2) when in an area known for wildlife or after you see one critter, expect more so take the appropriate action
3) if you are faced with a critter suddenly, be careful not to overreact because of the possibility of losing control (like Stosh's case)