Thread: Wildlife are not dumb

Originally Posted by Hall

Emus need to be also excused. Not the smartest bird. Had once a couple running in front of me on a track. Had to eventually stop or they would have most likely collapsed. When I stopped they then veered of into the bush. There was a doco about a wombat fence in Tassie. They had enough juice going through that fence to fry Elephant. You could see the electricity passing over the fur of the wombat. Did not even slow it down. Got it`s nose under the wire and through it went. Not real smart but 10/10 for determination.
Cheers Hall

Have to agree - they are not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I have had them run alongside my vehicle on more than one occasion, only to change direction without warning and run straight in front of me. The road between Leonora and Laverton in WA is well known for emus doing this.

While not road related - a few years back I was running a gold heap leach operation south of Kalgoorlie. We had a couple of kilometers of overland conveyors between the crushing plant and the "heap". The number of times we had the conveyors "trip" in the early days due to "wildlife" was more than I remember. The roos would jump over the conveyors, and often hit the "trip" wire on either side of the conveyor, causing the belt to stop. The emus on the other hand, would try to go under the conveyor. We always knew if an emu had caused the trip when we drove out to re-set the safety switch - there would be feathers for a couple of hundred metres under the belt and limbs wrapped around the return rollers.

Wildlife are not dumb but a lot of people might be classified that way.
Driving,walking or riding on the road as if the law is on your side and will protect you is the dumbest thing a person can do.
whilst teaching people safer driving techniques, one if the first things that I teach people when approaching a set of traffic lights when the green light is in your favour, is to take your foot off the accelerator and hover it over the brake pedal, when you are sure that any vehicles approaching from the side have began to slow or have stopped, then you can proceed through the intersection.
Thinking that because you have the green light and therfore the law will protect you is certainly not driving to survive the law may very well be on your side but may not prevent an incident from happening. As we know many people do not stop at red lights or stop signs.
Thinking that you may be right wil stil not protect you from a three ton four wheel drive that cannot stop in five metres even if he is only doing 40km/h, reaction time alone wil see that theory dismissed quickly.
if you wish to interact with other road users, either as another vehicle driver, rider or pedestrian, you should learn to look out for your own safety first and foremost. Relying on other people for your safety is not very clever and will end in tears very quickly.
Regards
XDrive

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

How true. I know how I feel about people who died while with me. I was not responsible. If I was responsible and negligent I'm not sure if I could live with myself. Each to their own of course. I always note " You don't see things as they are- you see things as you are" Anais Nin I think nailed it a long time ago.

PS I assume every driver might be the ONE when running, riding walking or driving

I posted recently about hitting a cyclist. In no way was this my fault. When I saw this chap's head bend the windscreen pillar on the XF I was driving, and later saw him convulsing on the ground, my life changed. I was shattered. I was inconsolable. I had seen many roadside tragedies, but had never been in one.

Since then, I have been touched a number of times. A woman I adored, not as a girlfriend ( she was my very good mate's girlfriend ) was t-boned by some lowlife who was sniffing lighter gas when driving. She was stationary at lights. This bloke crossed over into the oncoming lanes, mounted the island, crossed two lanes of cars and hit her VW at about 70. She never regained consciousness, and died four days later. It took a little longer for my mate. He took his own life after three months.

I held a kid while he died, after he was thrown from a car that was rear ended as it turned left. He was unsecured. He was seven, I found out later. His neck was broken.

I watched a kid who I had just dropped off on a school bus run decide not to wait, but to run in front of my bus, get thrown twenty metres by a minibus, and land and lie motionless, with blood coming from his eyes and nose. He lived, minus his spleen. He won't walk though.

I lost another mate. He was a cabbie. He was driving an attractive woman home from the King Street nightclubs in the wee hours. She yelled at him to stop as she wanted to vomit. Any cabbie will comply with that one. She got out of the car and vaulted the fence. She had called for him to stop on the Westgate bridge. He took his life as well, later.

Back to the point. Everyone has a story. Everyone thinks that they are a great driver (me, I'm included ), when in fact almost all of us are nothing of the sort. We are hopeless. But it gets worse. Traffic, like climate, is a chaotic system. I mean that in the mathematical sense. It means that it is inherently totally unpredictable. This is why draconian road laws have made absolutely no difference, in the same way that climate theory has had absolutely no influence on the actual climate.

Don't get me wrong. I believe we need road laws, in the same way I believe we need the EPA. Rafferty's rules don't work either.

But. But. Expecting the system to protect you is the utmost folly. Sniffing lighter gas is illegal in any sense, let alone whilst driving. That bloke is walking free, unless his habits caught up with him. System didn't protect Kath.

Having an unrestrained passenger is illegal. I don't know what happened to the grandfather who was taking the kids for fish and chips. I doubt they could do anything to him worse than he was doing to himself.

Overtaking a School Bus, or anything else for that matter, on double lines is illegal in Victoria. When the smartarse in his TOG car turned up, what do you think he did? Three guesses.

NO? I'll tell you. I had moved my bus to prevent anyone else from hitting the kid who was on the road. The brilliant example of Victoria's finest chose, amongst all of what was going on, with traffic control desperately needed, to breathalyse me.

People who have paid attention to what I've said on this forum will know that I am in fervent favour of "sensible" road safety reforms.

I am also aware that I am not unique in this. I put all this up ( believe me, there is more ) simply to show that I am not simply another keyboard opinion. I welcome people's input and will happily debate, but I'll argue against stupidity. Walking when you see a little green man, without looking first, is in my view, stupid. Charles Darwin would love how we live. Lot's more books.

When it comes down to it, the only person with responsibility for you life is you.


Rant. Went far away from where I started. But, I stand by every word, so here it is.

I can emphasise with what you are saying Mate But I will add to your last line of your post " When it comes down to it, the only person with responsibility for your life is you." by saying "When it comes down to it, the only person with responsibility for yours and other road users lives is you."
Too many people are willing to take a risk with their own lives and don't consider the consequences of their actions on other peoples lives

Do the crime pay the fine? The elderly couple I mentioned looked and started safely before being terrorised by an very aggressive driver (who is possibly a very nice person at times). No idea why she was driving like she was. late for her kids? Late for a hair appointment? No mater, Needless agression is simply that.

It is interesting driving walking overseas. In many locations drivers in total chaos are so polite it is almost unbelievable.

I agreed Looking is good/ great and more than fine. Some people with poor vision cross roads. A deaf person in today's paper mentioned a waving fist from a bike rider on a foot path here in Vic who clearly feels entitled to break laws just like the person the nice QLD police are chatting with.


I am very lucky to have great agility, very good peripheral vision and very good hearing. Tens of thousands of people are not as lucky as me and are sitting ducks for people whom treat others with contempt.
I hope none of your freinds or relatives fit the not so lucky "target or sitting duck" for agresive drivers or riders.

Some times thinking of others less able or less fortunate might be worth while. Your rant suggest your blood pressure is up. I hope you can calm it down a lot and enjoy the slow lane like I do most of the time.

In the interest of you B.P. I am off the wild animals are not dumb topic. Good bye and thanks for all the fish

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

Do the crime pay the fine? The elderly couple I mentioned looked and started safely before being terrorised by an very aggressive driver (who is possibly a very nice person at times). No idea why she was driving like she was. late for her kids? Late for a hair appointment? No mater, Needless agression is simply that.

It is interesting driving walking overseas. In many locations drivers in total chaos are so polite it is almost unbelievable.

I agreed Looking is good/ great and more than fine. Some people with poor vision cross roads. A deaf person in today's paper mentioned a waving fist from a bike rider on a foot path here in Vic who clearly feels entitled to break laws just like the person the nice QLD police are chatting with.


I am very lucky to have great agility, very good peripheral vision and very good hearing. Tens of thousands of people are not as lucky as me and are sitting ducks for people whom treat others with contempt.
I hope none of your freinds or relatives fit the not so lucky "target or sitting duck" for agresive drivers or riders.

Some times thinking of others less able or less fortunate might be worth while. Your rant suggest your blood pressure is up. I hope you can calm it down a lot and enjoy the slow lane like I do most of the time.

In the interest of you B.P. I am of the wild animals are not dumb topic. Good bye and thanks for all the fish

Laugh... Don't want to detract from a delightful post, but the accurate quote is "So long, and thanks for all the fish". Douglas Adams was wiser than us all, including, much as I hate to say it, Terry Pratchett.

It seems to me that most posters on this thread equate most humans with animals that are dumb. Thanks for the digression

Animals are nowhere near as dumb as some humans