E550 1 Raccoon 0

[Rodriqua]

What a way to end a night. I was driving home with my wife after seeing the Avengers in 3D at an IMAX. We were pumped up, enjoying the ride home and listening to some tunes. Out of nowhere a raccoon appears right in front of me. Poor little fella was running across a main street 8 lanes. I slammed on my brake, but i couldn't stop in time. Needless to say, but that end our night on a bad note. Wife was all shaken up and upset. I had to go back outside and clean off the edge of the front left spoiler. Nothing broken, small dent on the lip. I'll get a better look at it tomorrow in the daylight. I never ran anything over before. Hope it never happens again.

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[BM2BZ]

r.i.p. mr. raccoon. good to hear your wife and you and of course your car are all ok . you'll never know what will happen if you slammed your brake hard. someone behind might not be as responsive as you or their brakes might not work as well. don't even want to think. time to consider a e350, your e550 might be a little too powerful .

[Fung63]

unfortunately roadkill happens once in a while. I had a bird play frogger and it didnt make it. The mercedes front grill tore it to bits.. was quite gruesome.

luckily no one got hurt (except that raccoon) and hopefully the damage isnt that large

[BenzV12]

Sorry to hear this incident , good thing is no one was hurt except racoon .
I have any better idea but may be a night vision could be life saver for such things

Happy safe driving

[hofb99]

Yeah, hitting a raccoon (or anything for that matter) sucks! Takes me back to when I first got my license (>25 yrs ago) and was taking a girl out to the movies and all of a sudden WHAM/CRUNCH/SCREECH!!! Yep..raccoon roadkill. It was quite sickening for us @ the time, especially since it happened @ such an early stage of my driving experience. I'm very careful to lookout for animals near the road now...especially deer. Glad you guys are okay though!

[RobbieRob]

Glad your both OK, lucky you weren't in a Ford Focus....lol

[K-A]

Damn, that sucks. RIP Raccoon and hope your car is okay. I can imagine roadkill being a nightmare in many more ways than one.

[WEBSRFR]

Same things happened to me in the DC area Felt horrible but what can I do... It was on the side of the street, saw me come, went onto the sidewalk and the just moments later stepped back onto the street right when I was driving by. I braked hard but it was too late as I felt the right wheel go over the poor fellow

I've been driving for a long time and this was the first time I've harmed anything bigger than a fly... Wish the car had the Distronic Animaltronic option that might have done a better job of detecting and executing a panic stop for any animal that steps in the way.

The only positive thing is that the car sustained no damage whatsoever. One good thing about keeping the car at the normal height is that you get some protection from road hazards I suppose...

Anyway may your racoon RIP.

[Rodriqua]

Thank you all for the kind words. Wife is feeling better today. We will be avoiding that road for next couple of weeks till the "body" is gone. Can't blame her for not wanting to see it. I drove by today, and it wasn't pretty.

[CEB]

Originally Posted by Rodriqua

Thank you all for the kind words. Wife is feeling better today. We will be avoiding that road for next couple of weeks till the "body" is gone. Can't blame her for not wanting to see it. I drove by today, and it wasn't pretty.

You mean you didn't take it home, dress it and fry it for dinner?

[MB-JIM]

Some years ago I was driving on a two lane road in Indiana when a dog ran in front of the car ahead of me. The driver slammed on his brakes (drum type) and his car slid across the road an hit an oncoming car. The severely damaged oncoming car flew by me as I drove off the road to avoid the debris. Both drivers were severely injured and I doubt if they survived.
When I was learning to drive my dad told me not to turn out or slam on the brakes for animals. I saw first hand how right he was.

[PHML]

can't you call some state or municipal agency to get that roadkill cleaned up?

[hyperion667]

what?? this is an actual thread? LOL

[ttoE550]

One day back in college I was a killing machine. I was in heavy traffic and a medium sized dog slowly walked in front of my car. I was horrified, but there was nothing I could do - as MB-JIM says, it is very dangerous to avoid an animal on the road. It's often better to run over it if you're bigger than it is.

Anyway, after taking my exit, the next road I came to was infested with prairie dogs. The things were everywhere. The sort of funny thing about prairie dogs is that they stand up straight when they sense danger. Otherwise, they are about as tall as a squirrel. So here I am, just having run over a real dog, weaving down the highway to avoid hitting them with the tires (no traffic) and just as I get to them they stand up and get whacked by the bumper. I must've killed a dozen, probably more. I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day...

[Live Oak]

Originally Posted by ttoE550

. . . just as I get to them they stand up and get whacked by the bumper. I must've killed a dozen, probably more. I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day...

The reason they stand straight up is they get 27 virgins . . .

[Case1906]

Did it look like this?

Dispute with Groundhog

[ttoE550]

Originally Posted by Case1906

Did it look like this?

Dispute with Groundhog

Prairie dogs are much smaller. More like a squirrel. There was nothing left after impact

I watched a race on TV at Watkins Glen. They showed a prototype whose front wing seemingly spontaneously exploded. Turns out a groundhog or something wandered onto the track nd got hit at 150+ mph. Instantly vaporized. It was so cool that they kept showing it over and over. There - poof - not there.