When driving, do you swerve to hit or miss animals?

Please add the words, "if at all possible." To the end of every option. Obviously I'm not going to expect you to swerve if a semi truck is barreling at you in the opposite lane, or something like that.

Please explain in the comments why you act how you do.

I don't swerve, I drive straight no matter what. 20
I swerve to MISS large animals only. Deer, dogs, etc. 15
I swerve to MISS cute animals only. Dogs, cats, rabbits, foxes, etc. 1
I swerve to MISS all mammals but reptiles are on their own. 8
I swerve to MISS everything. 79
I swerve to HIT reptiles, but not mammals. 1
I swerve to HIT reptiles and rodents/nuisance animals. 3
I swerve to HIT reptiles and all small mammals. 6
I swerve to HIT everything. 19
I don't drive. 32
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Comments ( 33 )
  • bananaface

    Why would anyone want to deliberately hit an animal:O? I don't drive, but if did and I ever hit an animal on the road I would feel so guilty!

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    • MissyLeyneous

      Some people run over snakes here in the Southern US on purpose, and some try to hit things on purpose so that they can stop, grab em, and eat em. You have to hit them just right, I hear.

      If I ever HAVE to hit a deer, I'll try to just knock him in the head. Then I'd keep the meat. Deer are flippin' delicious!!! :D

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      • bananaface

        Poor animals:(

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        • MissyLeyneous

          Yes, poor delicious animals. ^_~

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  • Darkoil

    I once tried to hit a cyclist during a driving lesson, my instructor was well pissed at me.

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    • Teh4HorsMen

      You should have hit the cyclist.

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  • aussiewolf

    i swerve to miss everything. i do a lot of driving, mostly highway driving and i see a lot of dead animals on the side of the road. what gives me a heavy heart the most is when someone hits an animal and just leaves it in the middle of the road suffering. if you hit something then its your responsibility to put it out of its misery. its not nice having to put down an animal, i know, but that is the risk you take when you get in front of the wheel.

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  • coolio75650932

    i swerve to HIT senior citizens

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  • sassafrassi

    I'll slow down a bit and might swerve a little out of the way, though I do that to dead animals on the road too. It's kind of like how someone wouldn't want to step on roadkill.

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  • It all depends on what kind of mood I'm in.

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  • TerryVie

    I choose "swerve to miss cute animals".

    Cute animals= Small animals. I'll slow down and try going the other way than them.

    Anything LARGER than cute, i'd just slow down and brace for impact. I know trying to swerve, then hitting a massive obstacle could have REALLY bad consequences for myself. So if it's larger than a cat, it's on it's own(sorry large dogs).

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  • jondoerandom

    I drive a truck with a reinforced front bumper and don't like swerving. Besides -i blast hardcore loud enough to wake up a dead man. If anything or anyone is stupid enough to stand in my way.. I guess i'll have to wash my grill.

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  • wigsplitz

    It's BAD to swerve even if it looks 'ok' to do. What I do is let off the gas, DON'T slam the brakes!! Just try to reasonably slow down. Hope they move.

    One of the worst animal encounters I had driving...it was like 3-4 AM, on a curvy back road. I was going pretty fast, probably 65 or so, faster than you really should be going. Going around a blind curve, there were 3 adult deer standing in a line crossing and covering both lanes. I had to hit them. Well, I had to hit ONE of them. I aimed as best I could to hit the middle one close to his shoulder area, he tore the whole driver's side of my car, my headlight flipped up and landed in the middle of my hood....it stayed there so I just waited til I got to the stop sign to get out and move the headlight. The damage to my car was rally minimal, it was a fiberglass boy car (Pontiac Fiero), the driver's side front quarter panel was just split right in half but still 'there'. There was fur in the crack!! The deer died, I saw it on the side of the road the next day. Other that the torn fiberglass and the headlight, there was NO other damage. I drove the car for a good year or 2 after that. I hit a tree with it, and that's when she died. Well, she didn't really DIE, it just busted up the passenger wheel parts so badly that I didn't care to fix it. The engine is in the rear of those cars.

    I don't LIKE to hit animals, but it's just so unsafe to swerve. Even if there's no one else on the road, you still run a high risk of losing control and going into a ditch or whatever, all for a squirrel?? Nah.

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  • dappled

    I don't drive but a fox once walked towards me in the dark and I didn't swerve (or move in any way). I wanted to see how close it would come. In the end, it brushed me as it went past.

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    • wigsplitz

      Good thing you live in England where there's no rabies!! Here you'd be a fool to let a wild animal wander towards you!! Rabid animals are fucking scary!! They're like zombies.

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      • dappled

        Yeah, it's one of those things I rarely thing about. I saw a rabid dog when I was a kid but that was about it. There was supposed to be a rise in rabies when the tunnel to France opened with the scaremongers talking about rabid vampire bats. It never happened, though.

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    • MissyLeyneous

      Wow! Red or grey? I work night-shift, and I had this one little red fox who would run out in front of my car every night in about the same spot for over a week. Eventually I saw him/her hit on the side of the road where someone else had struck him. Broke my heart. I swerve for critters to preserve the population, even reptiles. ^_^

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      • dappled

        It was a red one (the grey ones either didn't make it here, or have been wiped out). I kind of like being reminded that they're out there; that the planet isn't just a human building site and that other species are living, even on the bits we've made into building sites. :)

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  • MissKira

    I swerve to hit everything, my car is beat up so might as well have some fun with it.

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  • Teh4HorsMen

    As the demon lord of cats, if it is a cat, stop. If not, slam into it at full speed.

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  • deathbringer

    them*

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  • deathbringer

    to hit the ofcoarse

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  • happy123

    hit the cones. thats what there there for

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  • mariacachucha

    i killed a snake once :( and this one other time, i wasnt driving, my dad was, and we were on the highway and a cat just ran through it and just.... bump-bump

    it was horrible but if he had stopped or turned we would've probably died lol obviously swerve, even the fucking pidgeons im careful about lol..

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  • mehwhatever

    Depends on whether or not I see it, and if I have time to react.

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  • MRmr

    i rather hit other humans

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  • NeuroNeptunian

    My car rides kind of low so getting an animal stuck in it may not be a good idea. That said, I slow down and swerve if I am going slow enough but if I can't well... I guess I'd have to hope for the best. I've had a few close calls with rabbits where I had no trouble but nothing bigger yet.

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  • Dulse.

    I try to slow down. I'll try to steer away when roads are not busy though. haven't hit anything yet I think...

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  • ☭алин

    Swerve not usually, but slow down and give way for the animals without affecting the other drivers. I try to dodge everything, even butterflies if possible. But I prefer not to drive because of this reason.

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  • Justsomejerk

    I will swerve for children, but brake for adults and animals.

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  • Risk hurting myself or risk killing an animal...Doesn't really need answered. If we aren't willing to run over an animal on the road to prevent risk to ourselves, then why would someone consume meat for pleasure?

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  • FocoUS

    Hit the animal. I never had to encounter big animals on the road since I live in the plains. There's plenty of deer but they don't surprise you, it's flat and there are no trees you can see EVERYTHING. But swerving is dangerous.

    If there's a big animal hit it. Try not to hit it head on, try to only hit half the animal. Slow down to minimize damage. It will do damage to your car. For added safety when you hit the deer try to lean to your left, deer accidents tend to tear up right down the center of your car.

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  • last year a girl swerved to miss a rabbit on the road, she lost control and smashed into a tree, the rabbit lived but she died, what wigsplitz said brake evenly but dont swerve , if it gets hit bad luck

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