# Excessive Speed Coupled With Minimal Common Sense



## imp (Jan 2, 2016)

Few days back, overnight, a large group of the wild burros which normally remain at a bit higher elevation, and congregate around the town of Oatman, sauntered down to better pickin's, with the result that 3 were hit and killed overnight. This happens every winter, but this was the worst we've seen in five years of winter here. The animals fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Park service. Last year, permanent warning signs were put up, which produce little cautionary response, apparently. So this time, after the fact, a Park Ranger was stationed in his pickup truck, red and blue lights blazing, to slow the fools down. The burros date way back to the days when they were brought in by the miners working around Oatman, and have managed to sustain over the years despite meager desert grazing materials available.     imp


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## Shalimar (Jan 2, 2016)

What jerks, hope their vehicles sustained damage!


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## imp (Jan 2, 2016)

Two of them were hit simultaneously by the same vehicle, it was said to have sustained significant damage.   imp


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## Shalimar (Jan 2, 2016)

Good!!!


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## Butterfly (Jan 2, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> Good!!!



Agreed!!


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## Debby (Jan 2, 2016)

How can anyone hit animals that size when they're wandering across the road?  How can you not see them or simply not bother to slow down to pass them safely?  What the heck is the matter with some people?


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## imp (Jan 2, 2016)

Debby said:


> How can anyone hit animals that size when they're wandering across the road?  How can you not see them or simply not bother to slow down to pass them safely?  What the heck is the matter with some people?



Good questions, all, Debby. I believe all three of those hit occurred at around 5:00 AM, still totally dark. If you look closely, the pic reveals them to be grazing in the MEDIAN, which is not very wide, perhaps 20 feet or so. I do not picture the animals as suddenly "bolting" into the path of traffic, as deer might. These animals have become accustomed to human presence, and thus are unmoved by the sight and sound of a vehicle coming towards them. Beneath all that, they are still "dumb" animals, but stripped of their "see and flee" mechanism. 

As they walk about the streets of Oatman, people hand-feed them, pet them, as though they were not wild animals, which, I suppose, they no longer are. It's a shame...   imp


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## Don M. (Jan 2, 2016)

Around here, we have to be careful about a cow getting on the road, if they find a hole in the fence, etc.  Hitting one of those at highway speed could be fatal.  It's fairly common to see a mashed deer alongside the road, however.  Those things come out of nowhere...especially in the early morning, or at night.


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## BobF (Jan 3, 2016)

If they were imported there by some folks, then why not gather them up and remove them if a problem.   

I think that is what needs to be done with other animals that become a problem too.   Something that we create we should also be responsible for ending the problem.    Telling folks to not drive on the road we built for them to drive on makes no sense at all.   We have built tunnels under highways so the deer can get along when searching for places to graze.


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## Debby (Jan 3, 2016)

Tunnels under highways are hardly effective for grazing animals from what I've read.  In Alberta and some parts of the US they've finally figured that out and what they've been replaced with are bridges over the highways.  The ones in Alberta are beautiful, rock faced and planted with trees and shrubs.  Wild grazing animals don't like to go into 'dark', enclosed spaces because their instinct tells them there may be a predator in there but the bridges are up in the sunshine and no walls around.  Maybe it's time that the highways where the burro's are get fenced and with bridges over top?  Save lives and cars.


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## Grumpy Ol' Man (Jan 3, 2016)

I guess I view these burros as being very similar to deer.  Our state has over 10,000 vehicle/deer accidents every year.  Last year we saw something like 6 human fatalities caused by deer/vehicle accidents.  What used to be wild animals... deer, burros, wild turkeys, coyotes, etc... have become almost domesticated and have no fear of humans or vehicles.  

My work requires that I drive many early morning hours.  Just about dawn, the deer begin moving.  Certainly, our deer can be as large as small cattle and should be seen by drivers.  That aren't!!  Due to deer moving in low-light times of the day and deciding to cross highways with no regard for vehicles they see day in and day out, there is a "thinning of the herd" by autos/trucks.  Seems like this is the same thing that happened with the burros.  Low/no light and grazing right beside the highway.

As far as putting up signs.... If people in our state drove slow everywhere there is a "Watch Out For Deer" sign, no one would get anywhere.  I like the idea that local law enforcement set up with flashing lights when they had a small group of the burros grazing ahead.  If that isn't the case, I don't know how normal driving habits would allow people to see burros/deer quite a ways ahead when it's dark.  Lowering the speed limit in grazing areas is not something that I see preventing vehicle/deer accidents.  Certainly, if all vehicles were moving, say, at 45 mph there would less vehicle damage in a collision.  That speed, however, could still result in broken legs and internal injuries to animals causing them to be put down.  And, in the dark or low light times of the day, could you see a dark-haired critter even at 45 mph in time to react when they walk out in front of your vehicle??

Yes, it's sad when any life is lost... animal or human.  In this case, I guess I don't see it as preventable as long as we have wild animals and we drive automobiles/trucks on the highways.


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## Don M. (Jan 3, 2016)

Grumpy Ol' Man said:


> Yes, it's sad when any life is lost... animal or human.  In this case, I guess I don't see it as preventable as long as we have wild animals and we drive automobiles/trucks on the highways.



In Missouri, the deer herd is well over 1 million deer.  Each year, hunters take somewhere around 225,000, and over 5,000 are killed by car/truck collisions.  There are usually a half dozen human fatalities in these highway collisions.  Conservation efforts have quadrupled the number of deer in the state over the past 30 or 40 years, and with this rising number of deer, driving through any rural areas requires constant vigilance.


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## 911 (Jan 3, 2016)

Here in Pennsylvania, I believe we average about 40-50,000 roadkill of deer annually on our highways. Some have caused fatalities of the passengers. Just a few years ago, I was called to the scene of an accident involving a deer, which turned out to be a pretty nice size buck. The antlers came through the Jeep's windshield and all but took the driver's head off. Messy, that's for sure.


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## imp (Jan 3, 2016)

*My Only Deer "Hit"*

Driving back to Canon City, Colorado from Vegas, having gone back there to finish some business as I had just moved to CO, driving alone, at night, somewhere around Monarch, the deer were so thick it was amazing. Going only about 50, I saw one straight ahead, in plenty of time to avoid a hit. Deer was facing to the left; I imagined it could do nothing else but leap forward, out of the way, so I started to gradually move to the right. 30, 40 feet from the animal, it instantly did a 180-degree turnabout, and leapt to the right, just in time for it's hindquarter to be impacted by my right-front corner. That spun it around in such a way it's head swung into the passenger side of the windshield, breaking it.

This whole thing happened in only a matter of seconds. I drove on the rest of the way uneventfully.    imp


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## Yaya (Jan 3, 2016)

Humans should be protecting all life on our planet, especially the animals as much as the air, water and land. All four things are living things that our planet needs to be healthy. There is so much cruelty going on - humans should be unified in taking care of all life instead of wasting time and lives on wars, hatred, discrimination, greed, murder, assaults,....  OK. I guess I went off the subject (the photo and article)a little bit. If I did not have to work for a living I would be an animal protection activist for sure. Things I care about a lot I tend to get carried away sometimes.


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## Don M. (Jan 3, 2016)

We live in the deep woods, about 3/4 mile off the highway, and I usually drive the gravel road at about 25MPH.  However, at dusk, and at night, I drop that to about 15 MPH....those deer have jumped out in front of me more times than I care to mention, and I sometimes only have a second or two warning that one is about to jump across the road.  I lost a good friend/coworker in Germany years ago when a deer jumped out in front of his Volkswagen Beetle...the deer slid right up that sloping hood and through the windshield, and mashed him.  I enjoy watching them grazing on the grass in the yard, but I sure wouldn't want to hit one with the car.


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## imp (Jan 3, 2016)

*Another Animal Hit*

*






Train collides with herd of elk in Montana, killing 23 animals

*A freight train charging through Montana at 60 miles-per-hour smashed into a herd of elk on Wednesday, killing 23 animals.
Officials said the animals could not be salvaged for human consumption. No one on the train was reported injured.
“Pretty much when a 60 mile-per-hour train hits an elk, they explode on impact and there’s not much left,” Sgt. Dave Loewen, a game warden with Fish and Wildlife, told the Independent Record. “It’s pretty devastating.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/03/train-collides-with-herd-elk-in-montana-killing-23-animals.html


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## Shalimar (Jan 3, 2016)

Wow, I could really have done without seeing this. Ewwww.


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## imp (Jan 3, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> Wow, I could really have done without seeing this. Ewwww.



I suppose I could have only shown a link. Sorry, Shali. The reality is excruciating, I know. Elk are huge animals, often weighing way over 1000 lbs., sometimes over 2000. I tried to visualize how they lined up on the track, happy to stand in minimal snow, as the spokesman said. In that fashion, the ones farthest from the first-hit had no idea that something impossible to deal with was blasting into them. Descriptive text, but I wanted to understand how so many....

I still don't.   imp


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## Manatee (Jan 4, 2016)

The road through and to Oatman is narrow, crooked and up and down.  There is no justification for going that fast.

The burros are why people visit Oatman.


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## AZ Jim (Jan 4, 2016)

imp said:


> I suppose I could have only shown a link. Sorry, Shali. The reality is excruciating, I know. Elk are huge animals, often weighing way over 1000 lbs., sometimes over 2000. I tried to visualize how they lined up on the track, happy to stand in minimal snow, as the spokesman said. In that fashion, the ones farthest from the first-hit had no idea that something impossible to deal with was blasting into them. Descriptive text, but I wanted to understand how so many....
> 
> I still don't.   imp


You are thinking Moose.  Elk get to as much as 800 but most are in the 600# range.  I used to have both Elk and Moose right in the drive of my cabin in the mountains of Idaho.  I have also had fun feeding the downtown Oatman Burros.  They are prolific beggars.


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## imp (Jan 4, 2016)

Manatee said:


> *The road through and to Oatman is narrow, crooked and up and down*.  There is no justification for going that fast.
> 
> The burros are why people visit Oatman.



That fact is true. What transpired is that about 20 or so years ago, Bullhead City constructed a "bypass" to carry traffic from the Laughlin Bridge area southwards to re-connect with AZ 95 south of the Community College, a distance of about 10 miles. The "Bullhead Parkway", as it's called, sweeps uphill beyond the airport, then proceeds south, passing Oatman Highway, (which is NOT the main Oatman access), then heading south until reconnecting with 95. It is on this 10 mile stretch that the grazing animals have been hit. The road leading up to the town of Oatman is Boundary Cone Road, which is accessed about 8 miles south of the Parkway/95 intersect. The burros wander about unrestricted, and find their way to the Parkway. We have even seen some down at the Laughlin Bridge/95 intersection, browsing (no pun intended) vegetation along the river's edge.    imp


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## imp (Jan 4, 2016)

Roosevelt elk have been reintroduced into Alaska, where the largest males are estimated to weigh up to 600 kg *(1,300 lb*).[SUP][

[/SUP][SUP]Nonetheless, yer  right Jim, I was thinking of something else.   imp[/SUP]


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## Grumpy Ol' Man (Jan 5, 2016)

Okay... enough of the sad.  Can we add a little levity to the discussion???


A fairly long section of Interstate highway was being littered with dead crows.  Hundreds of dead crows along this particular stretch of highway.  The State Highway Department was asking for help in finding out what was causing so many of these birds to be hit by motor vehicles.  After setting up cameras along the highway, it was determined the crows were being hit by trucks... and only trucks.  Why??  So, the State brought in a Orinthologist... a bird biologist... from a University.  Soon, this expert on crows and other winged species had the answer.
Crows are scavengers.  Large groups of crows would congregate on the highway to 'snack' on roadkill.  One of the crows was always assigned as "lookout" to warn the others about approaching vehicles.  The problem was, however, the crows in place as lookouts could not say "Truck, Truck, Truck!!".  All they could say was "Caw, Caw, Caw"....................


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## imp (Jan 5, 2016)

Preeeeety rough...............imp


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## NancyNGA (Jan 5, 2016)

Grumpy Ol' Man said:


> .......the crows in place as lookouts could not say "Truck, Truck, Truck!!".  All they could say was "Caw, Caw, Caw".......................



:lol:


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