Darwin Awards

[LongRanger_imp]

I squashed a squirrel today. He darted across the road and met his fate, and my Bridgestone, as I rode over him. Poor guy. Bad timing on his part.

Several miles later I caught up to a Porsche Boxster and followed him for a spell. Then it happened again -- a suicidal squirrel darted out from the shoulder and found himself under the Porsche's rear tire, getting himself flattened in a shriek of fur, blood, and bones.

And a few years ago, I found a dead bird lodged up inside the fairing of one of my other bikes. I didn't even know I hit him.

Best not to stop or swerve to avoid small road critters. Deer and moose, of course, are a different story. Last week, there was a three-car accident in Minnesota after a driver stopped on the interstate to allow a run of ducks to cross the freeway. He was rear-ended, and then another car plowed into them.

[jrns_imp]

very good advice...sometimes hard not to do, as instinct takes over.
speaking of rodents/animals on the road...I just learned of a friend who happens to own the only other CB1100 in my area of Nova Scotia (red 2013 standard he purchased in USA) wrecked his bike. He was night riding in a rural area and swerved to avoid a racoon .. very sad. he was beat up pretty bad as well. long recovery ahead.
be safe out there.

[LongRanger_imp]

Yikes. I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

Depending on the speed one is traveling, in most cases I imagine hitting a raccoon would cause a rider to lose control and crash.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Yikes. I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

Depending on the speed one is traveling, in most cases I imagine hitting a raccoon would cause a rider to lose control and crash.

i hit a deer at 70 mph and did not lose control or crash

swerving is not a good idea unless the rider is perfectly confident he/she can pull it off and knows where the bike will end up after the swerve

if it was a large animal such as steer or stallion or mare or cow or whatever I would brake as hard as possible before smacking it

but it is good to watch the road ahead and plan ahead about these things

i came upon a crow eating road kill yesterday i was going about 40 mph and slowed a bit beeped the horn but the crow was much slower to respond than they usually are and i clipped his wing and saw him tumble

knew he was hurt bad so turned around about a mile up the road at first wide enough spot and went back and found him

he was busted up bad so i put him out of his misery could not think of him suffering for hours

the deer i hit was dead instantly i just pitched it over the side and resumed my ride

track time can help immensely with reactions i highly and heartily recommend it

[the Ferret]

Wow never seen a crow hit before. Black headed vultures are stupid and slow to rise but they are MUCH bigger than crows. One clipped my wife's helmet in Kentucky a few years back.

Hit a possum once while riding a CX500. It ran out and no way to avoid it. Stood up and gassed it motocross style. Was like hitting a fur covered bowling ball. Man it rocked me. Never lost control though. Hit several squirrels over the years. Went right thru the middle of a flock of turkeys once. Has "almost tagged" numerous deer. About got a Buick yesterday ok not sure it was a Buick but it was black. I did tag a Buick in 1969 in the front passenger door. That hurt a lot and totaled my 305 Scrambler.

[rickcb]

I hit a bat at dusk a few years ago on my ST1300. I thought its radar would have prevented it. But I nailed it with the windshield.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

I hit a bat at dusk a few years ago on my ST1300. I thought its radar would have prevented it. But I nailed it with the windshield.

not calibrated for high speeds lol

[flynrider]

I've dispatched a few small critters over the years. My standard response when I see I'm about to hit an obstacle in the road (alive or not) is to tighten my knees against the tank, shift weight to the footpegs and firmly hold the bars straight. Experience has shown me that taking the hit this way is a lot less dangerous than drastic avoidance maneuvers.

Additionally, I've found that when approaching a moving obstacle, if you aim for where it is, it'll likely not be in that position when your front wheel arrives there.

[Cormanus]

Pterodactyl—who, being a flying creature himself, has some skin in the flight game—tells me I'm a bird killer. In his company, I've dispatched a parrot with my right mirror, another smallish bird with my helmet and yet another who took aim at and then hit my horns. I've also run over the tail of a snake once. I looked in the mirror and saw it doing a bi of a dance in the middle of the road as if saying 'What'd you do that for arsehole'? Slightly more alarming was a day following a car which ran over a snake tossing it into the air in front of me. Luckily for us both it landed on the ground not me.

jrns, I'm very sorry to hear about your friend. I hope he recovers quickly.

[quail_imp]

I had a groundhog (woodchuck for all you non-PA folk) run out of the grass on a tight corner just missing my front wheel and jumped into my header pipes. He stuck there just long enough for me to set it up straight and then I ran over him. I thought I was going over the handlebars for a moment. Went back but he was gone. It was my cb750 and hair is hard to get off chrome pipes. I always wondered if he went through life as "4 Stripe".
I have just missed 4 groundhogs in the last 10 years. Everyone of them dart out of the grass in a corner. I never ride close to the white line on back roads because of them. Caught a small bird in my armpit this spring. Stopped and let him regroup and fly off. Birds and bats seem to think my helmet is soft.... it's not.