Posted on 07/23/2015 6:33:33 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
The ducks, even the ducklings, are expendable.
That’s the difficult message from the Minnesota State Patrol in response to a hair-raising video of cars swerving and slamming on the brakes on Interstate 35W to spare a line of ducks waddling across the highway.
“I watched that video and I cringed,” said Patrol spokeswoman Lt. Tiffani Nielson. “People should not stop on the freeway for ducks.”
Nielson knows her advice will not be popular with people who think the motorists did the right thing to avoid the birds.
“It’s definitely a touchy subject … It’s not very kind, but the risk of a crash is high,” Nielson said.
The video, captured by state DOT cameras along I-35W at Hwy. 10 in Mounds View, went viral Wednesday, since it showed a minor miracle of happenstance in which no birds or people were injured.
“I completely understand the connection to a mother duck and her babies, but if there was a crash which resulted in a fatal or serious injury, a driver who stopped for ducks potentially could face a criminal charge,’’ Nielson said.
The patrol advises drivers to keep their eyes on the horizon to avoid debris or animals. But if there isn’t time or space available to swerve, then it becomes “the value of a person versus the value of an animal or wildlife,” said Nielson. “A person getting injured outweighs the value of the ducks.”
“The fact that it happened during a time of high-traffic volume, it was incredible they made it across,” said Carrol Henderson, nongame wildlife program supervisor for the Minnesota DNR. “But I would have to agree with the State Patrol that braking for ducks and swerving in a situation like that places lots of drivers at risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.startribune.com ...
Not all insuance companies are as forgiving, sad to say.
MMMMMMM, road kill stew.
Especially a frozen one.
“Don’t veer for deer!”
Clever!
It’s like my driving instructor said...If you’re driving down the street and little Fluffy darts in front of you, and there’s another car coming....SMOKE FLUFFY!
But DO NOT run over the gator crossing I75 in front of you!
Especially a 22 pound frozen turkey dropped from an overpass.
I’m teaching my son to drive. We discussed this just last night. If you see an animal in the road, aim for it. Chances are it will be gone by the time you get there.
Just common sense.
Paul Shanklin!
It’s almost an autonomic response to attempt to avoid hitting anything that that suddenly appears in the road.
Brought back funny memories...LOL!
My drivers training guy was also my wrestling
coach. He was small but a former Marine.
Started the class with a gal and another guy
in a late 50s or early 60s bomb Plymouth w/
standard transmission and 3 on the tree.
Coach referred to all of us as “meatheads”.
The gal was gone the next day and the guy two
days later. Had fun w/Coach Peavy after that.
When I was a senior I was cutting class one
afternoon. Coach P caught me hanging around
the main office. Asked me if I wanted to go
flying w/him after school. Said yes and had
a hilarious adventure.....
Yeah. I had to train myself to stifle that response back in the days when I rode motorcycles. When that squirrel ran out into the middle of that country road,........just stay the course and speed. It is when you think to make a maneuver to avoid it, that you will invariably hit it.
Judging from the 100 yard long red stains accented by bits of fur along some eastern NC highways I’ve driven during the fall of the year I’d say as a rule truckers don’t slow down for deer.
I had two bird strikes break windshields. Hit a 5 lb duck with a windshield moving at 70mph and something bad will happen to your windshield. Who wants that?
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