is-the-owl-vid-cute:ordinaryredtail: how2skinatiger:Or, here’s a radical idea, people could take res

is-the-owl-vid-cute:ordinaryredtail: how2skinatiger:Or, here’s a radical idea, people could take responsibility for their pets and keep their cat indoors. Every one of those incidents could have been prevented but people here are so stuck on the idea that “cats need to go outside!!!” and “it’s different in the UK”. I’ve known people who have had multiple cats go missing or die in horrible ways and still let their existing cats free roam. That’s not even touching on the negative environmental impact that cats have.  They will literally do anything at this point besides keeping their fleabag inside huh I’ve driven on many country roads, and though I have thankfully never hit one, I would say cats are some of the hardest animals to avoid hitting while driving. They’re ambush predators and tend to be generally shy and trot with their belly low to the ground. If they’re coming out of tall grass or just from behind a trash can you literally won’t see them until they’re in the road. On high speed roads there is literally no chance to do anything at that point. And they DO tend to come out right as a car is about to pass. I’m not sure if their timing is off or the car approaching just scares them from cover, but any time I’ve had a cat run into the road in front of me it literally waited until I was within ten feet. Cats will also bask in the road lying flat on their side and if their fur is a similar color to the road you can’t see them until the head pops up in most cases. They will also sometimes sprint into the road unexpectedly if startled or chasing an insect. There is no way to feasibly avoid hitting cats just by “being aware” because negligent drivers aren’t the only reason cats get hit. The only way to prevent hitting cats is going 10mph everywhere and scrutinizing every piece of foliage instead of looking at the road, which is not safe. Obviously. I… I don’t even know what I would do if I hit a cat. I would stop, of course, and I work at a job where I’m sure my boss would be understanding if I was late because of this - but to kill a cat, to kill a cat in such an awful and preventable way? I would be devastated.I’ve been driving for years now, and been fortunate enough to never have been in this situation, but where I live there’s a course you have to take in addition to [x] amount of hours driving experience to get your license - and one of the things they really emphasized was that do not stop or swerve for small animals. The people creating and teaching this course aren’t heartless animal haters, of course, but their job is to train you to drive safely.Stopping or swerving for a cat isn’t safe. If you slam on your breaks the person behind you might not stop in time, or they might swerve to try and avoid you, which can cause a nasty accident and bodily injury - or death - to multiple, human parties. I’ve been rear-ended by someone going upwards of 30mph and that was horrible - I’ve seen cats, alive and deceased, on roads with speed limits upwards of 55mph. Encouraging people to get out of their car can also be disastrous, as I said - if I see a cat in distress, either because I or someone else hit them, I will stop. I have a bright orange workers vest in my car. Not everyone carries one of these around, and - well, there’s a very real risk walking into traffic to help an animal. I wouldn’t judge someone for not putting themself on the line for this. People have died doing this. -- source link

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