Richard B the EMT Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 A boy, on a big Theme-style Amusement park Roller Coaster, took a bird, in flight, to the face in mid ride. Score it as the boy, one (with minor facial and neck injuries), the bird, zero. I "caught" a seagull with the main beacon on a "Caddylance" while travelling 50 MPH on a highway, many years ago. Had some difficulty explaining to the boss why there was blood on top of the vehicle, until I found the feathers. Got me to thinking, today. In the company vehicle, or in your Privately Owned Vehicle, have any of you hit an animal or bird?
paramedicmike Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 Bird strikes at 150 knots don't leave much. I did remove a disembodied leg from under the wiper once. That was all that was left.
Happiness Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 I was driving in front of one of the local restaurants about 15 years ago and hit a seagull with my ford truck. The stupid bird had just pigged out and couldn't make it up in the air and poof it was all feathers. The worst part is that the kindergarden class was on a walk and saw the whole thing. Lots of crying was going on.........
Arctickat Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 Hmm, let me see.... Mallard that just took off into the windshield,. Cracked the glass. Seagull into and through the windshield. Deer strike on the driver side front, took out the headlights, grille and damaged the bumper. Deer strike square in the middle of the front end. Took out everything but one headlight and signal light. Funny story. We'd had a tire tread separation at high speed that destroyed the d/s fender. Ambulance was in the body shop with the Thanksgiving long weekend coming up. Body shop wasn't quite finished, just had to add a flasher and the decals but we needed the ambulance for the weekend. Came back carrying the grille and told him to relax..the body work that he had just finished was untouched. Barn Owl took out my radio antenna and pax mirror, Crow square into the siren on the front of the Ambulance. Pulled into the parking bay at the hospital and the thing was still stuck squarely on the grille. Drove over a fox that bounced off the pavement and hit the floor in the back...my partner swears it hit right under her feet. About a billion insects. At least this hasn't happened to us......yet. http://www.canada.com/news/RCMP+officer+dies+when+cruiser+collides+with+moose+Saskatchewan+highway/6965262/story.html Derek was a great man.
BillKaneEMT Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 I was an over the road truck driver several years ago and I was in west central texas on my way to a slaughterhouse to pick up a load of hanging beef. I'm on a state road heading south when I see the sky go pretty much jet black ahead of me. I keep on rollin and about 10 miles ahead I come to a smallish town that had just been hit by a tornado, which is now off to the east a bit and not really visible anymore. The town was trashed, cops waved me through and told me to watch for the utility poles south of town. So I get through the town, still going south, play the "downed power/phone pole slalom" cuz they're strew everywhere and think I'm past the worst of it. Get up to speed again when a WALL of what I think were grouse, perhaps 5000 of them, rise up from the west side of the road, loop around like a crazy tidal wave and plow right into me. Literally went blind for 4 or 5 seconds due to my windshield being covered entirely in birds. Blood and feathers everywhere, it was a mess. I managed to avoid wrecking my rig, got out and cleaned off the gore as well as I could and continued driving. I get to the truckstop near the slaughterhouse, get out to grab a bite to eat, and smell the nastiest fried chicken ever. I make a mental note to avoid it and go inside. So I sit down at the bar and order a burger, have a nice relaxing meal, and head out to go to bed. It didn't smell at all inside but as I got closer to my truck it just reeked. I saw what looked like oil smoke coming from under my hood, figured I had a busted line, shut off my rig and popped the hood latches. Apparently one of the birds had managed to hit my windshield, slide down under my hood, and wedge himself against the engine block. So I had a semi cooked game bird carcass, scorched feathers and all, stuck to my engine. If only I had known, I could have saved myself the price of dinner! ;-D Also I was right behind a guy on I-80 in Pennsylvania who hit a bear once. Going about 80 mph. The truck, not the bear. Obviously. That was a mess. It was a fairly big bear. Not grizzly size but probably the biggest black bear I've ever come across. Also I almost hit a bull once. In the road. On a gravel/dirt road in the middle of friggin nowhere in Alabama. That's a story for another day though. Time to go grill some chicken. And bake a German Chocolate cake which I've never tried before. Have a good night!
Arctickat Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 (edited) A friend of mine a few years back was driving his brand new '87 Freightliner East of Jasper Alberta on Highway 16 when a bull moose walked out onto the highway. My friend, not realising it was rutting season, lays on the air horn. Bull moose considers this a challenge and lowers his rack charging straight into 80,000 pounds of chrome and steel hurtling towards him at 110 kph. My buddy already had his brakes on and actually slowed to the point that when the moose collided with the truck his antlers went through the grille and penetrated the radiator. Stepping back from the cloud of steam the moose shakes the remaining bits of chrome from his antlers, snorts at the truck and saunters across the road as planned. Moose - 1 Semi Truck - 0 Edited July 30, 2012 by Arctickat
Eydawn Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 Got a couple funnies... One from oh, about 2 days ago, from my SAR team... our response truck looks like an ambulance, 'cept the box on the back is FULL of stuff (we blew out the stock suspension and had to upgrade it was so heavy!) [The Sar Manager who was driving] smacked a deer near the intersection of [dangerous local highway] and [smaller canyon highway] at approx. 55-MPH. Note to [our Ford 550 with gear box full-o-stuff] drivers, if you are forced to hit a deer or other animal, best to take it dead-center of the truck as the winch mount is very beefy and will take the punishment. In this case, the only damage was a bent front license plate however the winch looks like it is growing deer hair from all the cracks and seams now. Eeewww... poor truck... poor deer... The other one is my husband, in his Acura Integra, took out a small airborne duck. Didn't realize the duck was inside the bumper cover, fused to the radiator, until he came out to the garage the next day in 100 degree weather and could smell it... popped the hood and OH MY... Oh yeah. And then we tried SO HARD not to run over all these frogs on the road coming out of a national campsite... it was like real life frogger! No joke! And we missed all except the biggest one... could hear him pop as we hit with the driver's front tire... eeeeeewwww.... Wendy CO EMT-B RN-ADN Student
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