The Roadkill Experiment

reply to post by KillerQueen


Interesting experiment, with spooky conclusions imo. I always figured that SUV drivers tend to be bastards sometimes, only by observing them on the road sometimes it is possible to figure that they don't really care about driving safely and considering the cars around them (unless it is a TRUCK of course).

Not all SUV drivers of course, but perhaps some of that mentality is a predisposition in wanting to buy such a strong and safe vehicle.

I'll be in the minority, and I will draw hatred from many of you, but I will also speak the truth. I purposely try to run over small animals - squirrels and snakes mostly - when I see them in the road. I drive a small two-door car, so I suppose I'd be in the minority there as well. For those that think I'm cruel, maybe I am. But I'd rather the animal die than risk a fatal car accident because someone swerves to avoid it. I value human life over that of any other creature, and I have known far, far too many people (myself included) who have gotten in wrecks and suffered financially and physically because someone swerved or slammed on brakes to avoid hitting a small animal.

I only swerve to hit one thing: rattlesnakes. If there is a rattlesnake anywhere near a road, its too close to population. Someone's dog will end up getting bit if you don't do something about it. I value dogs far, far above any other animal life, putting dogs right next to humans in the way i see them.

Never a better animal to exist than a dog. Better than people.

SUV car owners hit animals because their cars can take the hit better.
Normal cars might get wrecked.

So its not about heart here, its about cars.

Give them all SUV cars and then you will do the experiment right.

Originally posted by Manula
SUV car owners hit animals because their cars can take the hit better.
Normal cars might get wrecked.

So its not about heart here, its about cars.

Give them all SUV cars and then you will do the experiment right.

And still, as i mentioned earlier, without knowing what percentage of cars in the entire experiment were SUV's, that 89% number has no context, and therefore no meaning. If we can, first, identify that there is a higher propensity of SUV's to do this, then we can look into the "why".

And i would suspect you are right. It is about damage to vehicles, not that SUV drivers tend to be sociopaths. I drive a truck, but my wife has an SUV. I want her protected in a lot of armor, and to have room to stow various things for trips, etc. Like on Christmas...we cant very well put the food items in the back of a pickup truck.

Run over motionless animals to make sure they're dead 'nuff said

I hit and killed a rabbit once and it almost made me throw up. I came over the brow of a hill on a country road at about 3 or 4 am and it stood and turned to look at me, and froze in my headlights. The thud was heartbreaking.

The next morning i had to force myself to look at the front of the car, and there was fluff and blood in the front grille. I couldnt remove it myself so drove to a motorised car wash...

They should try the experiment again, but put some of these land mines they dig up in the middle east inside the rubber animal. I'm sure that'd make them think twice before doing it next time...

I twice killed a cat, not on purpose, but it was suddenly running in front of my car.

both times i stopped and actually burried it with my own shirt as shroud.

where i live it is bad luck and people believe you will get an accident , if you dont burry a cat in case it is dead by hitting with car

on the east asian island where i live there are also loads of dogs and cats on the street roaming around. people try to avoid dogs as much as possible,since it can cause quite some damage to your vehicle. nevertheless you see a carcass of a run over street dog nearly every day on the streets

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by ReadyPower

 

I wonder if within that 6% there is another 6% that would swerve to hit a human if they were certain nobody was watching?

That would be about 4 people out of 1000. I wonder what percentage of people are socio or psychopaths naturally?

edit on 25-7-2012 by getreadyalready because: (no reason given)

Anywhere from 1 to 4% according to various studies. Its a hard thing to scientifically gauge as psychopaths, while being no more intelligent than normal, have learned through out their lives to fake emotions and lie.

The number is much higher than 0.4% though.

reply to post by CaticusMaximus


The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule has been a very effective tool in my management approach. Within that 20% is another 80/20, and within that 20% is another 80/20, and so on.

This roadkill study could be a great way to zero in on that small section of humanity that likes to inflict pain and suffering on others. 6% will intentionally kill a helpless and harmless animal, of that 6%, the is probably another 6% that would do the same to humans (0.4%), but only if the opportunity presented itself and there was little chance of getting caught (crimes of opportunity), and then within that 0.4%, there is probably 6% that are actively doing harm on a regular basis, and need to be investigated and locked up.

Originally posted by Vedderman
I'll be in the minority, and I will draw hatred from many of you, but I will also speak the truth. I purposely try to run over small animals - squirrels and snakes mostly - when I see them in the road. I drive a small two-door car, so I suppose I'd be in the minority there as well. For those that think I'm cruel, maybe I am. But I'd rather the animal die than risk a fatal car accident because someone swerves to avoid it. I value human life over that of any other creature, and I have known far, far too many people (myself included) who have gotten in wrecks and suffered financially and physically because someone swerved or slammed on brakes to avoid hitting a small animal.

So basically you'll swerve to hit them, but you won't swerve to miss them, because someone else might swerve to miss them, hit a mailbox, and the insurance company will have to dip into their savings?

You're a real public servant.

reply to post by KillerQueen


I absolutely always swerve out of the way to try and save an animals life when I see one in the road! It is sad to know you can swerve out of the way just for a big SuV to come behind you to go out of the way to hit what you just avoided hitting. When I was young I hit a squirrel and literally cried, and to this day still will pull over for any turtle. I guess that is just where people are different though, some people believe life to be precious even if its not their own, and some blatantly don't give a damn. I actually knew boys in high school with those big obnoxious lifted trucks who would make it a sport to hit as many animals as they can, makes me sick. But people will be people I supposed. Star & Flag for this post! I enjoy experiments like this! & Yay to the people who pulled over to try and help the rubber animals, no matter if it was a snake, turtle or whatever!

reply to post by Katharos62191

When I was young I hit a squirrel and literally cried, and to this day still will pull over for any turtle.

When I was little I found a turtle across the street by some railroad tracks. I brought it home and painted its shell, and played with it until my Mom made me set it free. Instead of taking it back where I found it, I just set it out in my front yard. A couple of hours later I heard this tremendous CRACK sound, and I looked out to see the poor turtle splatted in the road in the middle of about a 6 foot circle of bloody splatter. I cried, and I still feel bad about it 30 years later. I should have sat him on the other side of the road. The thing is though, it was a quiet little neighborhood street where kids played in the road, rode bicycles, nobody should have been going more than 10 or 15 mph, so somebody had intentionally put their tires right over that turtle that was obviously painted red. Some sick bastard ran over my turtle on purpose right in front of my house. Still makes me sad and angry today.

reply to post by getreadyalready


OH MY! That is terrible! That makes me sad too! What is even more sad to me is you said you painted his shell, which would obviously make him look like someones pet and not wild, which you think would sway someone to try and miss it! It is the worst when I pull over and one is already, you know, smashed. I also honestly hate the people whose opinions lean towards, "they need to get off the road, etc, etc." Well, they were here before we put down the roads, in my mind, they have just as much right to walk across their own habitat we have made our own, I just wish more people thought and respected that! I am sorry for your turtle loss!! After all the effort it takes to get some off the road, it is sad when people speed through neighborhoods and streets and hit them, it literally feels like it takes away from our efforts sometimes, but I just keep my head up and keep trying! I wonder if your Mom felt bad that day after making you set it free! That was such bad timing. Whats funny is before this post, I have seen quite a bit of roadkill here in my area, of animals of all sorts, baby animals and animals of old, and I have been thinking to myself what we could do to help deter the number, unfortunately enough people just do not care.
BTW, There is some b-e-a-utiful painted turtle shell artwork that I have always enjoyed!

Originally posted by Vedderman
I'll be in the minority, and I will draw hatred from many of you, but I will also speak the truth. I purposely try to run over small animals - squirrels and snakes mostly - when I see them in the road. I drive a small two-door car, so I suppose I'd be in the minority there as well. For those that think I'm cruel, maybe I am. But I'd rather the animal die than risk a fatal car accident because someone swerves to avoid it. I value human life over that of any other creature, and I have known far, far too many people (myself included) who have gotten in wrecks and suffered financially and physically because someone swerved or slammed on brakes to avoid hitting a small animal.

Yes, suddenly breaking for or avoiding animals without knowing if you are going to wreck yourself or others is stupid and I too will not go out of my way if there is a change to create a worse situation. You are excused there.

But why run over small animals puprosely? What is your excuse in a situation you can safely avoid a hit?

reply to post by getreadyalready


Roughly 25% but that is to varying degrees. Not everyone ranks the same on the scale. A zero empathy person ends up being your mass murderer, a 3 on the scale of 10 may not kill anybody, but are generally not pleasant to be around. Most people rank around a 5.

You might find this interesting:

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by TheSubversiveOne


Actually, my step siblings, lived in a neighborhood where a guy in a van would deliberately run over people's pets. One night when I was visiting, he deliberately hit someone's 7 month old lab puppy.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by CaticusMaximus

 

This roadkill study could be a great way to zero in on that small section of humanity that likes to inflict pain and suffering on others.

I know some will disagree, and i also try not to generalize.

But SUV owners are likely also those kinds of people owning guns, "enjoying" hunting redneck-kind of types - so not knowing how representative that study is, the result does not surprise me in the slightest.

One time I saw a stupid cat taking a nap right in the middle of a busy road, on the center line. I stopped my car and saw that it wasn't hurt and started to get out to try and catch it of chase it off the road. It panicked when I opened my car door and ran right in front of a car coming the other way.

I still to this day don't know how that cat avoided getting hit. It twisted its body every which way and somehow managed to squeeze around the tires and get to the side of the road safely.

After that, I've left animals on the road alone for fear of making their situation worse.

I drive an SUV and will go out of my way to avoid hitting any living thing I see on the road.

Wow these people are jerks. I always go out of my way to save an animal. Why would you want to kill one on purpose? Psychopaths