damage24

Riding down a fairly narrow stretch of country road yesterday and a small to mid-sized dog ran out from it's yard in front of my group. It ran across the centerline (fortunately it passed in front of the lead rider and nobody panicked) and an oncoming truck hit it at about 50 mph right in front of me. Fortunatley I turned my head at the last second so I didn't see too much detail but the sound was awful enough. The people behind me saw it all. The last guy in line almost got hit by what was left of the dog as it skidded across the road.

I guess we're lucky that the guy didn't try to avoid the dog and take us out instead but it was still pretty horrible. My stomach was in knots and my clif bar from an hour before was thinking about making an appearance. I also had to listen to the female rider behind me cry for the next couple of miles. We stopped a few miles up the road and were trying to console her, saying it probably didn't feel a thing yadda yadda yadda. Then one jackass pipes in and says something to the effect of, "oh I don't know it didn't look like a direct hit, it's might still be laying there." I'm thinking WTF dude? And she started up again. Just not a very good day...

Sirrobinofcoxly

Damn, that's horrible. Let's hope it WAS quick.

sancocho

yikes

nun soup!

whitemax

Poor dog, ignorant owner.

blake711

If thats the worst thing you ever seen. Thank God.

KevinTX

no kidding, your lucky thats the worst you have been exposed to.

DrPete 

+1,000,000.

Doesn't make it any easier because everything is relative, but believe it or not you're fortunate.

Chucklehead

i can think of at least one poster on here who would get real kick out of seeing something like that.

diff_lock2

LMAO at the guy who said it might have not been a direct hit.

Did the truck ever stop? Or try? What a shame though.

oboeguy

Allow me to join the chorus of "you lucky, mang" if that's the worst you've seen. That aside, I once heard a cat get squashed though I was riding alone and wasn't in any danger. I can still hear the strangled meow in my mind.

jburnsdo

This Thread Is Worthless Without. . .never mind the tact-filter kicked in at the last minute.

jburnsdo

Actually when I was kid I saw a raccoon get waffled by a panel van and it really was pretty disturbing. . .by no means the worst thing I ever saw, but it definitly stuck with me.

SDRider

Agreed. I hate people who don't restrain their dogs.

robbiedob

sorry you had to experience that. I saw a lil jack russel get run over by a truck while I was painting a house. It was the worst sound I've ever heard. Flipping truck just kept going. My condolences to the doggies owner.

Terex

A cute litte weimaraner ran out in front of us Saturday. Probably just snuck out from a house. First guy in line called it out, we all slowed and spread out. It did a stop/pivot about 4 inches in front of my front tire - close call. We rarely see a loose dog in W. Central NJ. They're either indoors, fenced of invisible fenced. Sorry to hear about your experience. I hit a puppy with my car once...

Xrisnothing

Not every escaped dog makes an owner "ignorant." Maybe a board came loose in their fence or the dog slipped out of the house when they went to check the mail, etc. Everyone here is way too quick to condemn the owners of leashless dogs when they know nothing of the actual situation. Yes, letting your dog roam free is pretty dangerous and very irresponsible but sometimes there are circumstances beyond an owner's control that lead to such things. In short, have a heart. Someone's puppy is dead.

linus

That would be me.

Nessism

Sad story but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for dogs since I’ve been chased dozens of times in my bike and have had friends injured when dogs run in front of them on a bike and take them down. Yea, dumb owner, but dumb dog as well.

arsw1

I hit one head-on once in my car.. not a good feeling at all..

pl8ster

Damn straight. We had a greyhound and a German Shepherd...the Shepherd wedged open the door as my wife came home one day and the greyhound took off. My wife and son went after it in the car and caught up with it just in time to see it get t-boned by a Monte Carlo. In our case, it probably didn't feel a thing, and went out in a blaze of glory at full speed.

So long story short...X speaks the truth.

Okiedave

I ran in to a 450 pound black bear with my Yukon at midnight in Colorado, while driving down the interstate. Now he did get up and leave, so I hope he was ok. We were also very lucky that we were not hurt in the accident. The truck it appeard took the worst of it..... but even it is okay after a visit to the body shop. If I had hit it broadside, things would have turned out differently for all involved.

That was an awfull feeling, knowing I my have hurt or possibly killed a bear.

Viceroy

I'd feel more sorry for your vehicle. Ever hit a deer? Man, those things cause DAMAGE. I can't imagine what a bear would be like.

DannoXYZ 

I would have to say that the chances of an "accidental event" that lets the dog free is a infinitessimally small amount of the causes on why dogs are roaming free and chasing bikers. My dog has a leash on it before the front-door is even opened.

I don't blame the dog at all in this case, it was all the owner's fault. Even IF a board in the fence came loose or whatever happened, it was still the owner's fault for not maintaining his property. If I had been in that truck, I'd back up over the carcass to make sure it's completely dead and not suffering...

Terex

Like I said above, we just don't have free range dogs in Central NJ (Hunterdon County). Probably not the case where you live, or certainly where I used to live in Ohio. Other than the young dog last weekend, the only other dog I've seen running loose in the rural area I ride had it's owner chasing it. Pretty funny.

damage24

Yeah I guess I haven't seen a whole lot of gore in my life but I'm not complaining. I've got a pretty weak stomach for that kind of thing anyway (almost fainted watching my wife get an IV put in not too long ago). The dog didn't even see it coming and I think the sound of it might have been worse that what I saw, though the folks behind me that saw everything said it was pretty nasty. I probably would've passed out on the bike if I'd seen the blood and guts of it...

As for the owner, I'd imagine the dog was just roaming free as there are a lot of of them unleashed in this particular area. It's a semi-rural area but it's still in OKC city limits and only a mile or two from the interstate. And no the driver didn't stop but we didn't either. I kinda felt bad about that but don't know what we could've done either way.