I was going to drop my kid off at school when a dog ran between two cars and my back tire ran over a portion of the dog. I slowed down and stopped not knowing what to do and watched the dog hop up and hobble away into an adjoining back yard. What seemed to be the owner followed the dog into the back yard. I immediately pulled over but had to roll up my windows as my dog was riding along. I waited a few houses away not really knowing how to react and asking my kid what she thought I should do. When the dog quickly wandered off she wasn’t sure how I should act either.
What do I do? My initial hesitancy is tied to the dog quickly walking away into what looked like it’s home and the owner slowly following it away. I’m concerned of getting into the middle of a highly emotional situation if the dog needs to go to the vet. If the dog lay lifeless I would have had no issue with getting out and consoling as needed. Is there a difference? I think also am concerned I’ll get told I’m responsible and need to help cover any vet costs.
Not arguing with the majority of what you said, but speed limit is maximum safe speed in perfect conditions. (At least here in the usa).
You are both expected and required to go slower depending on conditions.
Reduced sight lines means imperfect conditions and as such you are supposed to slow down.
That’s a good point, we had road safety ads and signs saying that the speed limit is not a target: drive to the conditions.
I would have gone into more detail about the type of roads that are signed at 60kph, 50kph and 40kph here, and the expected hazards on each etc. But at the end of the day, you aren’t going to slow down to car-park speeds for every parked car you go past, that would be making yourself more of a danger for other traffic.
And if you look at the reaction speed / velocity / distance travelled calculations I mention further down, you’ll never be driving slow enough to avoid a fast and low surprise side-incursion like a sprinting dog from between parked cars.
Safe driving limits the amount of hazards that would be unavoidable, but it doesn’t eliminate them.
All so very true.
One more bit of devils advocate though lol.
Slower driving would also give more time for the other ‘party’ to react and adjust as well / potentially limit the injuries sustained.
But realistically yeah it doesn’t make a difference because licenses are way to easy to get and keep (again usa - other countries may differ) and american drivers pretty much all have their heads up their asses 24/7.
100%. It’s all about minimising risk, my tone with my other comments probably came across a bit harsh. But that fucker was telling someone it was all their fault. And that when they drive, there’s literally nothing that they couldn’t stop in time for.
They were so confidently incorrect it was annoying the shit outta me