I was driving home down southbound U.S. 41 in the left hand lane, at the one spot where it goes from 55 to 45 (for anybody in the Sarasota / Venice area) and I was driving behind a caddy when all of a sudden he swurves and brakes and runs somehitng over (what looks to be a tailpipe from a car) i swurved but couldn't avoid it and hit it too .. hit it very hard. I yelled some obscenities and pulled over to check for damage, when I see no immediate damage and being somewhat relieved i turned around headed back to find out what I ran over / possibly pull it from the road as I come around, I see that it's not even close to a tailpipe, but instead a Pitbull. This is the point where I feel like complete sh*t (btw. the caddy pulled a U-ie and bolted) .. I pulled my car around in front of the dog and put my hazards on to insure no other drivers would hit it, another driver in a jag who had pulled over as well after seeing it, made sure to let people know that the dog was there and not to run it over .. a police officer happend to be handy and pulled besided me (in the grass) turned on his lights and the three of us pulled the dog from the middle of the road into the grass where we had determined the dog had died.

After coming home I put the car up on the ramps and came to realize one of my covers underneth has been bent, I was able to clean the blood off some parts but I guess I need some help in repairing this item. It's not worth it to report it for insurance reasons.



Thanks.

 

poor doggie. stupid caddie. at least your ok.

 

Looks like a lot of damage from a dog,must of been a bad hit,sorry about the dog and your car

 

What a sad day for you..especially the dog.

 

 

 

Dipwad caddy driver. Poor doggy.

Don't feel bad, it seems clear there was no avoiding it for you.

Good luck on the fix.

 

Its a shame that some people don't understand how important it is to take care of their pets. I know people who will tell you not to let the dog out when you enter their homes for fear the dog will run off.

Heck, my Beagle and I are bonded to each other like glue. All I have to do is call her name and she will come right to me. Her life is so good here with us that she wouldn't even think of leaving. When I take her for a walk in a field or somewhere that I can let her off the leash she runs ahead of me, but she looks back to make sure I am still close by every once in a while. If she gets too far ahead she will stop and wait for me to catch up.

It has taken lots of time and effort to get her this way but most of it is based on trust. It's worth every bit of the effort. When I see or hear of something like this happening to a dog I blame the owner.

I know you probably feel awfull about hitting the poor dog but it's not your fault. It's the owner who is to blame. However I can understand that this doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

 

Sorry to hear, but good to hear you are OK.

 

Sorry to hear about that!

 

That's a sad story Bad day for the poor dog, but at least you weren't hurt and the car can be fixed. You can clean the blood off the car, but it's hard to erase it from your memory.

 

Always sad to hear of an animal being fatally injured on the highway.
I ran over some large rocks recently. Couldn't avoid them. 11pm and cars coming towards me with headlights and mine on dim etc. Anyway did the same damage to that metal guard/splash panel. Thought about replacing, it's welded,or drilling and pulling with a slide hammer then filling etc. Decided to clean and re-spray paint in original semi gloss black and leave with the dent in it. I'm happy with my decision and 4 months on have almost forgotton about it. It doesn't affect the car and at least it's still original underneath including the dent. Road rash!

 

Neables,

At least you were responsible about it and went to check it out. Then, you stayed long enough to make sure the poor dog didn't get ran over again. There aren't a lot of people who would have helped out after hitting an animal. It says a lot about your character and you are to be commended for that integrity and compassion toward another living being.

I hit a dog once in my F-body and I cried for days. The hubby tried to tell me it wasn't my fault (late night on a dark road.) But it does get easier to move on about.

Im glad you are okay and it doesn't look like too much damage to the car.

Take care,

Tanya

 

Not really the Caddy owners fault either, although he was a putz for bolting. The dog owners are really to blame for letting him get on the road in the first place. Most dogs don't understand cars, I know mine doesn't, because he leads a somewhat sheltered life away from traffic. I agree with the above post. Clean the area and repaint it. If it still bothers you in a few months, try a repair. Sometimes the repairs can be worse than the original damage (at least when I attempt them they seem to end up that way )

 

To care for and move the dog that was hit......sorry about the damage to your car!

 

 

You're a good person for attending to the poor animal. It's the animal's owner's responsibility and probably fault. If anything, your car probably insured the animal was put out of it's debilitating misery. The Caddy driver probably bolted for a "reason" and wanted to avoid any confrontation or potential jeopardy.

I'm glad you were the conscientious one....

Best regards,

FDA

 

Should have gotton his plate, it is illegal in Massachusetts to leave the scene of an accident involving a dog. Sounds funny, but it is.

 

You did the right thing taking care of the animal.

 

I'm with you on this one!