Road- Kill

flexx75 · Post by **flexx75** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:31 am

So this past weekend I'm scooting down the road on the way to Barns & Nobles.
On my way I noticed what appears to be a large rock ahead in the middle of my lane. No problem, I thought I would just swerve to the right.
Well, it turns out the rock was not a rock but a turtle heading straight into my front wheel.

I was wondering what would happen had I ran over the little creature ?
Who would have been in more pain since I was traveling about 40 mph on the scoot ?

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:49 am

Glad you didn't go back to find out!

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Fri May 04, 2012 3:23 am

Poor dude! It truly must be hard to be a turtle.

Glad you didn't hit him and hurt yourself, hope no one else did either.

rsrider · Post by **rsrider** » Fri May 04, 2012 1:58 pm

pain for you, probably death for the turtle. Yes the shells are hard but not designed to be run over.

BeefSupreme · Post by **BeefSupreme** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:08 pm

I 100%, without hesitation, always stop to help our fellow shelled friends the rest of the way across the road. Usually to the tune of drivers honking. You never know, you may be saving a future crime fighter.

TelPerian · Post by **TelPerian** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:24 pm

BeefSupreme wrote:I 100%, without hesitation, always stop to help our fellow shelled friends the rest of the way across the road. Usually to the tune of drivers honking. You never know, you may be saving a future crime fighter.

If this board had a rep system, you'd have earned +1 rep for that one from me.

stASH · Post by **stASH** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:37 pm

I've never had an encounter with a turtle but have run over a squirrel and had a groundhog run into the front wheel on my motorcycle. He just grazed it. Not sure what would happen if you ran over that turtle. In general, when I come across smaller animals, I try to avoid as long as it doesn't require significant evasive maneuvering. A scoot or motorcycle is still significantly larger than those animals and most likely will still continue on it's way and not cause you to wreck. It's more important to maintain steady control. Sorry little squirrel.

AWinn6889 · Post by **AWinn6889** » Fri May 04, 2012 3:19 pm

If it was a big enough turtle, and you hit it, you would probably be in a lot of pain... I'm sure the turtle would be too.

The road that I used to take to get to my bf's house, "Riverview," is covered with giant snapping turtles in the early morning hours in spring and summer. It is also very hilly, and there are many blind turns. It's not a busy road by any means, but it is frequented by sports car enthusiasts, motorcycles, and most of all bicyclists (despite the lack of shoulder on either side of the road).
So one morning on my way to his place from work I came upon a bicyclist that had fallen in the oncoming lane-- so I stopped to see if he was okay, he said "yes, but watch out for the turtle up ahead!" So I proceeded slowly, thinking to myself "a turtle? really?" Sure enough, around the next turn there he was, a big ol' snapping turtle with a shell about 18" in diameter and a head the size of a large man's fist. I just so happened to be wearing steel-toed boots, as I had been working the 3am-7am shift at FedEx Ground at the time. So I parked my car in the next driveway and quickly nudged the big old bugger off the road. He snapped at me a few times, probably could have taken my foot off if he wanted to, but I got him off the road and into the brush on the river side.
There really needs to be a "Watch for Turtles" or "Caution Turtle Crossing" sign on that road. Hitting one that big, or even just swerving to avoid one with a car can be dangerous, hitting or near-missing one with a scooter or motorcycle may be fatal, especially on that particular road.
I'm glad the bicyclist was okay, he wasn't traveling very fast, and fell onto the road rather then over the guard rail into the steep ravine below, or into the trees and pricker bushes that line the farm side of the road.

Here's a picture of one of his smaller buddies that I saw a few days later on the same road. This guy's shell is about 12" diameter.

rkcoker · Post by **rkcoker** » Fri May 04, 2012 4:35 pm

There really needs to be a "Watch for SLOW Turtles" or "Caution SLOW Turtle Crossing" sign on that road.

FIFY

AWinn6889 · Post by **AWinn6889** » Fri May 04, 2012 4:51 pm

rkcoker wrote:
There really needs to be a "Watch for SLOW Turtles" or "Caution SLOW Turtle Crossing" sign on that road.
FIFY

Well, sometimes they are just sitting in the middle of the road sunning themselves-- so they aren't always slow, more often than not they just don't move.
If you meant "slow" as in stupid, then yes. It's not very bright for anyone/thing to just sit in the middle of a 45mph road with lots of hills and blind turns.