I am heartless?
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If you hit an animal or anything else with a vehicle you stop and check to see what you hit. If you don't, you might as well be committing vehicular manslaughter, especially if it is on a road that is dark enough the driver couldn't discern WHAT he/she hit.
If you hit an animal and your first reaction isn't to stop and see what you hit, and subsequently try to help the animal if it is a pet, you're probably an asshole. All legal obligations aside, I'd hope you have a moral obligation to ensure the well being of any living thing that you might inadvertently cause harm to. People incapable of empathy toward animals are a waste of space.
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Should he have stopped, yes.
Can you compare this to a child - HELL No. I agree with Aaron in this case, no reason to feel sorry for them.
If they are out walking at night next to a highway and allow your child to be walking many feet away from you out of your control, I don't feel bad for you either, in fact I blame YOU for allowing that situation to exist. The same goes for the dog... you (the people in the story) were the idiots who allowed their dog to run free while on what they KNOW is a busy street.
Have some personal liability please!
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Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
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@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
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@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Still, we are shocked by how much people let dogs go into the road making cars deal with them. But the culture makes that the norm, very unlike the US. Also, cars go half the speed (often literally) so obstacles are different. It's easier to dodge things when you are rarely going over 35mph.
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Also: "The driver didn’t stop, which is required by state law when a dog is hit."
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@RamblingBiped said in I am heartless?:
Also: "The driver didn’t stop, which is required by state law when a dog is hit."
Yup, it's a hit and run no matter what, it sounds like.
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@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Why does that change the scenario? Why is the geographic location of the event important?
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@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Why does that change the scenario? Why is the geographic location of the event important?
Because Scott said so....
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@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Still, we are shocked by how much people let dogs go into the road making cars deal with them. But the culture makes that the norm, very unlike the US. Also, cars go half the speed (often literally) so obstacles are different. It's easier to dodge things when you are rarely going over 35mph.
I've never been to Europe so I could totally be wrong, but I would think of Scotland is much more open then most of Europe. So I would think they would drive faster there. The article even says people treat that road like a highway so traffic must be at a minimum.
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@IRJ said in I am heartless?:
@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Why does that change the scenario? Why is the geographic location of the event important?
Because Scott said so....
So you skirted my response to you about being able to take the owner/dog to an emergency clinic.
I get the joke about Scott, but let's get back to the topic at hand
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@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@IRJ said in I am heartless?:
@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Why does that change the scenario? Why is the geographic location of the event important?
Because Scott said so....
So you skirted my response to you about being able to take the owner/dog to an emergency clinic.
I get the joke about Scott, but let's get back to the topic at hand
I'm done. I gave my opinion you gave yours. What else is there to say?
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@IRJ said in I am heartless?:
@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@IRJ said in I am heartless?:
@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@Dashrender said in I am heartless?:
@scottalanmiller said in I am heartless?:
Something that people need to understand... this is Europe, not the US. Putting a dog on a leash is an unusual thing here. Dogs in the road is very common, you have to avoid them when driving. Cattle, kids, goats, chickens, horses, carts... all common. Drivers need to be more alert. It's hard to avoid everything, but it isn't the US where you assume that it is the job of people to keep animals off of the road, the assumption is that drivers need to avoid all things in the road.
Well that changes things severely.
Why does that change the scenario? Why is the geographic location of the event important?
Because Scott said so....
So you skirted my response to you about being able to take the owner/dog to an emergency clinic.
I get the joke about Scott, but let's get back to the topic at hand
I'm done. I gave my opinion you gave yours. What else is there to say?
I don't want you to say anything other than what is in your head.
If you think all animals are worthless and stopping to see if there is anything you can do to help is below you then so be it.
But don't act surprised if someone runs you or your child over and doesn't stop either. You essentially expect it from your previous statement.
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In the article it's assumed the driver could not see that it was a dog because of the conditions, but a child could be the approximate size of a dog and been killed just as easily.
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@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
In the article it's assumed the driver could not see that it was a dog because of the conditions, but a child could be the approximate size of a dog and been killed just as easily.
In the article it mentions that the driver didnt try to stop that makes me believe the dog ran out in front in the last second. Otherwise he intentionally hit the dog which I doubt
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@DustinB3403 said in [I am heartless?]
But don't act surprised if someone runs you or your child over and doesn't stop either. You essentially expect it from your previous statement.
You need to go to a physiologist....
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In both cases the driver should have stopped. A child could have easily run out at the last second too.
But in that case we'd likely being sending the parent and driver to jail.
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@Jason said in I am heartless?:
@DustinB3403 said in [I am heartless?]
But don't act surprised if someone runs you or your child over and doesn't stop either. You essentially expect it from your previous statement.
You need to go to a physiologist....
Maybe.
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@IRJ I get it if you hunt or whatever else, animals are sport.
My argument here is that this wasn't a person out hunting, who got clear conditions, knows what they are looking for etc.
They were driving a car, at night, going faster than the posted speed according to the article's OP, and then hit an animal with their car.
(and don't take it personally, just venting)
In this case, the onus is on the person driving the car to see if there is anything they can do to help. Because it could have easily been a child.
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@DustinB3403 said in I am heartless?:
@IRJ I get it if you hunt or whatever else, animals are sport.
My argument here is that this wasn't a person out hunting, who got clear conditions, knows what they are looking for etc.
They were driving a car, at night, going faster than the posted speed according to the article's OP, and then hit an animal with their car.
(and don't take it personally, just venting)
In this case, the onus is on the person driving the car to see if there is anything they can do to help. Because it could have easily been a child.
I don't hunt nor do I shoot animals for sport. I fish which you could argue is the same thing, but fishermen care more about conservation and do more for the environment than people who sit in an office in NYC. I have been involved in Lagoon cleanups, Adopt a mangrove program, and I am hoping to work on an oyster restoration project here in the near future.
https://brevardzoo.org/conservation-programs/mangrove-restoration/
https://brevardzoo.org/conservation-programs/oyster-restoration/
