I've hit a RACOON at 55kph !

[Doctorbass]

..

You know what... two days ago during the night, i was riding on a bicycle route (http://www.routeverte.com/rv/index_e.php) and I killed a male racoon!

I'm ok.. my suspensions and bike frame had a hard burst.. but we survived... not him

That happened just after the sun goes down, First, i saw two bright eyes at around 125ft from me crosing the route... then.. i saw two other.. but VERY CLOSE!.. at 10-15ft from me..... but at 55kph... it is nearly impossible to react in time with 300lb weight total on two bicycle tires.... and that happened..."Bwrap!.....".. I passed directy in the middle of his body leaving it no chance to survive and support that pressure..... 300lb on maybe 6sq inches..+ kinetic front energy...ouch

That happened so fast!

I braked and turned back to see what i could have hit... and i saw this racoon suffering right in the middle of the route... like he was asking me to finish him to eliminate his pain...

So i took my courage and killed him fast by broking his neck... There was absolutly no chance he could have survive to that wound. I was disapointed just to feel the heat of his body on my hand.. knowing that is now dead.. that's a very bad feeling... I killed this little animal....

Could i hade avoid it as close as it was?... Does i should ride slower in the next ride to avoid situation like that again... I dont know.. I just feel bad about that..

What i learned is that 10W of led is not enough.. it could have been an human with dark cloth.. i could have had a severe accident...

So i decide to get more visible than enough!.. I will install the 4 x 15W powerfull leds i have on my bike.. maybe that will save someone... no matter what juice that will drain.. i dont care! 1500lumen should be ok

Doc

that learned again!

 

[Johnbear]

My friend has some bright led lights, they are niterider mini newts X2. It is odd that a couple of times people have commented saying "why do your lights have to be so bright"? duhh they are lights to see with. Sorry to hear about your accident, take care.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Zoot Katz]

You did the right thing by ending that animals misery. Around here, since the city's instituted raccoon proof garbage cans, they hunt, kill and eat domestic cats. They don't fear humans either.

Your mass saved your ass. On a bicycle at that speed, which I've often done, you'd have had a short impromptu flying lesson after hitting something that large and not likely to have been able to ride the bike home.

Watch out for squirrels too. They're killers! http://www.chainreaction.com/squirrels.htm

Getting all those lumens we know you're capable of onto to the road where they do the most good is the trick. Ideally a tall narrow beam for high speed road and more peripheral lighting for cities (low beam) and high beam for trails riding.
Be courteous to other bicyclists and drivers lest you blind them. Bright lights on bike paths, at bike path speeds, are unnecessary and rude. Bright lights get lost in the urban mix. A blinking white LED gets more attention.

Glad you're not hurt.

 

[RLT]

Poor thing!
(You AND the raccoon)

Lucky it wasn't a skunk.
Around here, skunks are the #1 roadkill, followed by deer, THEN raccoons.

I don't even want to have a close call with a skunk while I'm on a bike. I get along with them OK out in the yard, even nearly close enough to touch, but I don't want to startle one, much less hit one. I think breaking my body might be better than getting sprayed.

I gotta get my lights built. Thanks for the reminder.

Stay safe!

 

[marvingalaxy]

I'm lucky in that the huge abundance of street lights in this city that I normally despise may act in my favor once I put a bike together. I guess I'm also lucky that we have leash laws and no raccoons and nothing even approaching the size of a deer. About the only wild animal around here that would be found in the road would be a stray cat or a dog not on it's leash. I did have the misfortune to hit a dog in my neighborhood with my truck. I wasn't going fast and it wasn't critically injured but it still isn't a pleasant experience. The neighbors told me the dog's owners had left the dog roaming after being repeatedly asked to keep it on a leash. We have a very high population density so loose dogs would be a serious problem in case you were wondering if we might just be control-freak dog-haters here. I guess I'm also lucky in that the high population density keeps traffic speeds low and people here are generally friendly and courteous.

In my experience there was a bit of good karma circulation. The injured dog bit it's owner drawing blood.

 

[Link]

Aw, poor raccoon. Don't think there's much you could have done at those speeds and short distances, though. It was either run him over or fall on him.

The only benefit of city riding is the abundance of streetlights. The only reason I need a light is to be seen.

 

[Lessss]

I've never hit anything but came close to hitting a fawn when the silly thing stumbled in front of me. However at a law obiding 32 Kph I could easily brake and avoid.

 

[swbluto]

Poor raccoon. But... you broke its neck to end its misery? That would (hopefully) stop the unpleasant sensory information from his body being transmitted to his brain, but I don't think that would've ended his pain as he would've then had a broken neck sending pain signals(for maybe a few minutes as he would've died from hypoxia, if nothing else). Perhaps I'm overlooking something, but I think the only effective way to instantly stop his pain is to take off his brain. Perhaps crushing the brain stem?

I recently narrowly avoided running over this gigantic rat in the middle of the road at night. I never see rats during the day(Ever, really), so I was completely surprised to see a rat, let alone a gigantic one, at night.

 

[Lessss]

Silly swbluto,

That wasn't a rat, that was a politician.

 

[Zoot Katz]

Poor raccoon. But... you broke its neck to end its misery? That would (hopefully) stop the unpleasant sensory information from his body being transmitted to his brain, but I don't think that would've ended his pain as he would've then had a broken neck sending pain signals(for maybe a few minutes as he would've died from hypoxia, if nothing else). Perhaps I'm overlooking something, but I think the only effective way to instantly stop his pain is to take off his brain. Perhaps crushing the brain stem?

Does any animal other than man fear its future?

 

[Anonymous]

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[dogman dan]

Ouch! Breaking the poor things neck was the right thing to do, at least it shortened the suffering signifigantly. I've been going in to work later and later, so I can just see a little bit more than the headlight shows. No telling what some yahoo tossed into the bike lane since yesterday, so I like to be able to see just a little bit more than the light shows.

 

[lepton]

I've had more close calls with Prairie Dogs than I could possibly count. They tend to live around bike paths, and they wait until you're just about to pass them to run out in front of you, crossing the path to get to their holes on the other side. Very stressful, I'd hate to have an experience like you just did

Good lighting will certainly help, but there's only so much that one can do, sometimes.

 

[TylerDurden]

I put two of these on my car:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95059

>3000 lumens
3A @ 12V

~$120

Like Zoot said, you still want your "low-beams" for engaging other traffic.

 

[Dee Jay]

Is it possible that these animals are attracted to your lights? :lol: :lol:

They might be jumping out of the darkness because they can see better with your lights on and tend to follow the beam on the road. Then THWACK!

J

 

[docnjoj]

Actually mammals like raccoons and rodents see well at night! They are probably blinded by the light because of dark adaptation and just run in any direction, sometimes the wrong one!
otherDoc

 

[bikeelectric]

It is possible it was a case of suicide by the racoon. It may have jumped out in front of you on purpose. Out here in Wisconsin you see racoons all over the roads as roadkill. So what you have done now is bikekill.

I used to ride around at night on bike and have seen various critters running across the road in front of me. Some deer scarred the heck out of me when they took off - the clattering of their hoofs on the road made quite a racket. Lucky I never hit any.

Once I was riding across a flooded road in the night. The river was flooding a section of the road and the water was about as high as the cranks. I rode standing up and could feel the current. And guess what crossed in front of me ? A beaver . I remember it looked at me like " what the hell is this ?" But no chance on a collision with the beaver since I was riding so slow.

 

[Lessss]

So is hitting a raccoon at 55 easier than a 2 meter wamprat?

 

[Link]

Only if you can't bulls-eye them in your T-16.

 

[MidniteTweeker]

I hit a German Shepherd one time about 30 mph on my motorcycle. Saw it coming, no chance to avoid, so locked onto the handlebars to maintain control. Didn't crash. Didn't kill the dog, either, since he ran off afterwards. Then I discovered that he had festooned the entire contents of his gastro-intestinal tract, all the way from his throat to his tail, all over the side of the cycle from fairing to saddle bags.

What a pooch. What a mess.

MT

 

[swbluto]

I hit a German Shepherd one time about 30 mph on my motorcycle. Saw it coming, no chance to avoid, so locked onto the handlebars to maintain control. Didn't crash. Didn't kill the dog, either, since he ran off afterwards. Then I discovered that he had festooned the entire contents of his gastro-intestinal tract, all the way from his throat to his tail, all over the side of the cycle from fairing to saddle bags.

What a pooch. What a mess.

MT

So you ran over its belly and the dog just happened to be looking backwards at your bike at the moment of crushing?

That's entertaining.

 

[snowcrow]

Up here in the north country, Owls can be a problem, they like to purch on the telephone lines and swoop down at little fury animals crossing the road at night. I guess they use the car headlights like a side looking radar to detect motion ?

Riding down a country road at night your always looking for deer or moose at the side of the road, but never expect something swooping down from the sky It scared the crap out of me !!! All I seen was a big bright flash of light as the owl spread its wings to come out of its dive, then THWANK!! I turned my GEO Tracker around and found a great horned owl laying in the road, wing span about 3.5 feet. Well.. it don't suffer, the impact had broken it neck .

I probably would not have faired so well if I had been riding my bike, but then again, the bike's dimmer headlights may not have caused the same out come, with the owl using my headlights to hunt ??

FWIW, maybe a little less speed at night, along with something that makes noise is your best bet. It's hard for an animal or a person to judge the speed of a light moving toward them in the dark, without sound to aid them :wink:

Blessings, Snow Crow

 

[ebinary]

Only if you can't bulls-eye them in your T-16.

That's impossible, even for a computer.

 

[Link]

Only if you can't bulls-eye them in your T-16.

That's impossible, even for a computer.

It's not impossible, I used to do it all the time back home.