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What should you do if there’s an animal on the road?

On Behalf of | May 6, 2023 | Personal Injury |

Maybe you’re driving by a stretch of forest when a deer wanders out onto the road. Maybe you’re driving through a residential area when someone’s pet dog runs into the street. Either way, you need to know how to react.

Most people’s first inclination is just to swerve. They want to avoid hitting the animal, so they’ll try to swerve and avoid the accident. But is that wise? It’s important to think about it in advance so that you can actually know how to react at that critical moment. 

Swerving can make things worse

It’s important for drivers to understand that, in many situations, swerving just makes things worse. If the driver swerves to the right, they could leave the roadway and strike a street sign, a parked car, a cyclist or another object that they didn’t see because they were reacting in a split second. A driver who tries to swerve around the animal and instead hits a stationary object has much higher odds of being injured.

Similarly, if the driver swerves to the left, then they’re swerving into the oncoming traffic lanes. There is no scenario in which it is better to enter oncoming traffic lanes, as that would endanger other drivers and could cause a very dangerous head-on collision.

Overall, the best thing to do is simply to honk your horn to get the animal’s attention and hit the brakes to try to reduce your speed before impact. Unfortunately, drivers often make mistakes. They swerve when they should brake, and they make things far more dangerous for everyone on the road. If someone swerves and injures you in an accident, you need to know how to seek financial compensation for your injuries.

 

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