One circumstance that drivers may face is having an animal cross their path on the road. Whether it’s a wild animal, livestock, or an escaped domestic animal. Furthermore, it is a situation that can occur on any type of road, whether urban, conventional roads, highways or highways.
The driver’s objective is to try to avoid hitting the animal, but avoiding the impact is not always possible. Taking this into account, it is important to know how you should act if an animal crosses your path while you are driving and you cannot avoid it.
The Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE) conducted a survey of 1,300 drivers who suffered mishaps due to the presence of an animal on the road. 73% of users applied emergency braking, while 50% opted to swerve and 24% even crossed into the opposite lane.
Although making a drastic turn with the steering wheel is an instinctive reaction, the truth is that this maneuver must be avoided. If we do so, we run the risk of losing control of the car, entering the opposite lane, hitting another vehicle, leaving the road or overturning.
Therefore, we refer to the action guide of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) for these situations. If an animal crosses your path while driving, avoid swerving hard and making sudden movements. Press the brake hard and hard if you are traveling less than 90 kilometers per hour, otherwise it is better to brake progressively. The objective is for the impact to occur at the lowest possible speed.
There are two dangers when we find an animal on the road: trying to avoid it by swerving or colliding directly with it. Do you know what you should do? We show it to you.
As for the direction of the steering wheel, try to collide with the animal at a non-frontal angle, as this will reduce the consequences for both the vehicle and the safety of its occupants. Try to keep your eyes focused on the direction you want to take the vehicle instead of looking at the animal. Just before impact, lift your foot off the brake, as this will raise the nose of the vehicle and prevent the animal from crashing into the windshield.
Once the inevitable impact has occurred, stop the vehicle in a safe place. Signal properly by activating the emergency lights and put on the reflective vest. Do not approach the animal, as it could be injured or other animals could come after it, putting you in a dangerous situation.
As stated in the DGT’s Traffic and Road Safety magazine, hitting a game animal is the driver’s responsibility. Unless it is a direct consequence of a hunting action, in which case it falls on the owner of the land.
Although there are two exceptions: that the accident occurs due to a broken enclosure fence or that the road does not have specific signage that warns of the presence of animals, in which case the responsibility would fall on the owner of the road. If a domestic animal or livestock is run over, except in marked ravines, the owner is responsible.