The Roadkill Experiment

Interesting idea:

Put a rubber turtle on the side of the road... hollow it out, fill it with nails/spikes/etc. Teach these sadistic people a lesson.

One time on the highway I saw some young guy speeding in a sports car. There was a squirrel ahead and he purposely swerved to flatten it. I secretly hoped that he kept speeding and got into a devastating and/or fatal accident lol. I still wonder to this day if he did. He was WAY over the limit.

This is not surprising to me. I drive probably 70,000+ miles every year in work and at home. I have a thing about stopping and moving Woodland Box turtles the most common here in Virginia across the roads or highways. Sometime I am forced to relocate them but I do so rarely.

Once I was standing on the side of a four lane country highway waiting for traffic to clear when this Amish looking girl with her little white bonnet went out of her way to hit tis turtle. I was mad as hell.... but I see it a future psychopaths in training when they go out of their way to kill something which is not a threat.

I have hit animals on the road and I feel bad because I drive looking very far ahead. I have to laugh at myself since I even tried not to hit a rat than ran across the road one time....

I got my last girlfriend because I stopped to move a box turtle out of the road. After that she decided I was worth knowing better.

It figures that the bigger the truck the bigger that attitude and the more likely they would be to run over an animal intentionally. I've seen it happen and I was sorely tempted to ram my car in to their pathetic butts.

Originally posted by RSF77
Interesting idea:

Put a rubber turtle on the side of the road... hollow it out, fill it with nails/spikes/etc. Teach these sadistic people a lesson.

edit on 26-7-2012 by RSF77 because: (no reason given)

GREAT IDEA! Can we PLEASE do this, and video tape it? That would make my day.

There are very few reasons for the average SUV driver to actually have one. They usually will at least know somebody with a truck.

Of the few who do, this next bit isn't for you. Basically the size of the car is a representation of the size of the ego; either measured in HP, else physical dimensions.

There are some exceptions. For instance, I drive a dinky Honda Fit

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
I got my last girlfriend because I stopped to move a box turtle out of the road. After that she decided I was worth knowing better.

It figures that the bigger the truck the bigger that attitude and the more likely they would be to run over an animal intentionally. I've seen it happen and I was sorely tempted to ram my car in to their pathetic butts.

I got my first wife, by coming out of a grocery store with a 2-liter of both Coke, and Pepsi, because I didn't know which one she liked better, LOL! Apparently that touched her heart, but it wore off after about 10 years of dealing with me.

I don't think it makes sense to say the bigger the truck the bigger the attitude. I know LOTS of people with big trucks that wouldn't dream of squishing a turtle and might use their big truck to run over someone that did!

I had some friends in high school that used to abuse their puppy, and run over cats on the road. One day I had enough, and I took the dog away from them, my parents had that dog for almost 20 years! The last time they tried to run over a cat, I took the keys out of the ignition, and gave them a toss into the woods, and I walked, I don't know how they got home. We still talked from time to time, but I didn't hang out with them any longer.

I drive some big SUV's, and a loud Harley, and I own guns, and I hunt, and I have lots of friends that do the same, and NONE of them would intentionally swerve to kill an animal on the road.......... well....... not unless they could take it home and grill it afterwards anyway.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


You will always win a girl quicker pulling over for an animal, instead of literally pulling OVER an animal! It shows you have a heart!

Originally posted by unityemissions
There are very few reasons for the average SUV driver to actually have one. They usually will at least know somebody with a truck.

Of the few who do, this next bit isn't for you. Basically the size of the car is a representation of the size of the ego; either measured in HP, else physical dimensions.

There are some exceptions. For instance, I drive a dinky Honda Fit

Or, like in my wife's case, they want to be able to see good. Or, they are preppers like us. (My wife calls her vehicle the "zombie jeep" and it is complete with a "Walking Dead" machete next to her seat, and a "Zombie Survival Guide" in the doorpouch.) Or, maybe they occasionally go off-road, the nearest gun range to me is about 8 miles down a rough sandy road out in the National Forest. Or, maybe they have 3 or 4 kids that play football, have gear, have buddies that ride with them, etc. Or, maybe they just want the extra protection of some metal around them instead of all plastic? Maybe they own a boat, or a camper, or a little trailer for their lawnmower?

I think we're veering off into some really big assumptions in this thread. I can't think of a single "super-ego" type that I know who drives an SUV? In fact, all the ones I know drive some sort of Volkswagon, Saab, or Volvo.

My dad wasnt a good example of anything, but he was passionate about this topic. He almost whooped someones ass one time when i was a kid, the guy swerved to hit a turtle and my dad chased him down to a stop sign and damn, youd think the guy killed a person.

That said ive hit animals before. Just ask a tanker driver what happens if you swerve with a tanker. Very high chance of rollover so we're trained to never swerve. I lock em up for people......but thats it. Too much paperwork if you run over the moron that pullee out in front of me then stopped on interstate 55 that one time. But hitting intentionally? Youd better be eating it then...

Originally posted by getreadyalready

I think we're veering off into some really big assumptions in this thread. I can't think of a single "super-ego" type that I know who drives an SUV? In fact, all the ones I know drive some sort of Volkswagon, Saab, or Volvo.

Well okay, so how do you explain the stat in the OP? 89% for smashing them, yet I don't think there's nearly as many on the average road.

It makes sense to me.

I remember this one time when I had my first car.
I was letting my friend drive it as I sat in the passenger seat, and we were doing 70 down this one road. Suddenly, a squirrel ran into the road. Remember now, we were going 70 mph: to avoid hitting the squirrel, my friend yanked the steering wheel and hit the brakes, causing the car to somehow do a 180 and then slide off the road. We ended up about half a foot away from a large metal pole sticking out of the ground, and it was in there pretty good. I think that pole would have won in a collision. He risked both of our lives to avoid killing that little squirrel.

And that's the story of how a squirrel almost killed me.

reply to post by unityemissions


I gave my opinion earlier. I think drivers of smaller vehicles realize it could damage their car. Their might be just as many that want to run over the turtle, but they don't do it because it might splatter on their paint, or bounce up and hit something important underneath.

After thinking more on it, there is also the issue of vision. The higher profile vehicle allows for better vision outside, so they perhaps see the target on the road sooner and are able to react to hit it sooner.

There might even be a little bit of the ego compensation thing, but I don't think it is a significant amount. I think the higher profile and bigger tires are the bigger concern. Hell, a little 14" rim on a Honda is liable to not even squish a turtle, it might jam up and skid, or it might just pop it up into the CV axle under the car and cause damage.

What a good way to experiment and see who really does care for those little critters, I for one, almost seem to be on a mission to save those little animals, dogs, cats, whatever, ill pull over and place them on the other side of the road, Here in the dep south, I see a lot of Roadkill, and always wonder whether someone deliberatly hit the animal, Ive heard of guys throwing out bags containing new born kittens,just ecause they didnt want a litter of kittens, SICK, the police started telling people to NOT run over bags, or boxes, because they could contain animals, I swear I ever find those people that did that, or deliberatly run over helpless animals, i'll...........!!!! Most of the time its the barriers in the middle of a highway that prevent animals from crossing and get stuck or cant cross back over that get hit, so sad. everyone should help an animal out, somewhat tells how a person is, Good or Evil

reply to post by getreadyalready


All good points.

Well what I see is people who either have luxury cars, sports cars, or huge vehicles disproportionately in the "asshole" category. That's not to say the majority of them are like this. It's simply something I log and take into consideration when approaching them, or after seeing reason to believe they may bug out.

I think it actually could be the area I'm in. This is upper middle class and above. If I left the area more often, I'd probably have a more diverse view on the issue.

Thanks for the clarification.

reply to post by unityemissions

Well what I see is people who either have luxury cars, sports cars, or huge vehicles disproportionately in the "asshole" category.

I agree with that.

That is why I mentioned the VW and Volvo thing earlier. I can't think of ever meeting a person that I liked in one of those vehicles. Sometimes a little college girl will be in a VW and be ok, but I probably won't like her parents.

Keep in mind, I worked in the car service industry for more than 10 years, I've seen literally hundreds of thousands of people with their vehicles, and the regular ol' pickup trucks, the basic hondas and toyotas, the regular SUV's are all pretty good folks. The Infinitis, Volkswagons, BMW, Volvo, Mercede's crowd are easy to Hate. In the SUV crowd, it is a mixed bag. There are the soccer moms that are a little annoying, then there are the folks living way beyond their means, VERY annoying, then there are the regular folks with big families or living on a dirt road or something, they're fine.

I've never had a big problem with SUV or 4x4 owners, but I've had SO MANY problems with the luxury car crowd. The absolute WORST is the "cheap luxury" car crowd. The brand new Volkswagons, the entry level C-class Mercedes, the cheap BMW's, etc. I'll tell you something surprising, I've never had a problem with the S-500 Class Mercedes folks, they are always very polite and straight-forward.

Oh, I forgot about Corvettes! 20 to 45 year old men in corvettes are the WORST! 50 year old plus are fine, and very young men in corvettes are fine, and women in corvettes are typically just clueless, but that 20 to 45 year old male corvette crowd were the worst customers I ever faced. Sometimes we wouldn't even touch their cars, because the liability and expection levels were just too high, it wasn't worth it.

I drive an SUV, and I don't think I'm a douche. I don't even really like my SUV but I drive it because I got an amazing deal on it. Yes, a car would have saved me a lot in the long run and I would have preferred it anyway, but I couldn't turn down a well running, reliable SUV with brand new tires for $2000. No way. Not a fan of financing cars here so I wanted something I could afford to buy outright.

Anyway, back on topic. People who purposely swerve to kill things infuriate me. I'm a very shy, well-tempered person, but seeing that makes me want to smash into them and tear them a new one.

I want to do an experiment like this on my own and give the people who do pull over to help some kind of reward. Would be so awesome.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I see crazy vehicles all around here. Anything that is exotic, rare, and new is seen within days to a month or two here. Most of the SUV's are luxury SUV's. My mom drove a S-500 for several years, and recently purchased a boxter for Paps, and is driving a different nice benz, SL55 maybe?

reply to post by unityemissions


Older people in luxury cars are usually very easy to get along with. I think it is a combination of experience, humility, and the fact that they can actually afford the car they are driving. Young people in luxury cars are almost always troublesome to someone in the service industry. We would just cringe at the sight of them.

A very interesting experiment. I would also like to know the age of the drivers who ran over the animals. Another neat experiment would be to put the animal in the middle of the road and see how many drivers actually stop or avoid it. Could be unlawful to do, but quite interesting to see the results.