Driver kills dog, sues owners - hm. maybe.

I recently read this article about a man who accidently hit a dog with his car and is now suing the owner for damages.

After reading quite a few of the same old comments on the story like ‘that guy is a fuckwit’, and ‘how could he miss a dog’ - I say shut up. Shut up until you realise what it is really like to hit a dog.

In March last year, I accidentally hit a dog with my car. It ran out in the middle of the road. I was unable to do anything about it as a car was right next to me and there was another car driving too close behind me. I was distraught. I stopped the car and got out to find it. I was crying - I hit a dog. I love dogs. But when I went to get it, it was gone. I doubt it would have lived for long as the impact should have killed it instantly.

I was unaware as to what the true impact was. I felt horrible for weeks thinking about how I killed this poor dog, someones beloved pet and how they must feel. My guilt soon turned to anger and frustration.

My car is a 2004 Holden Astra. It was only 3 years old. I had regular checkups so everything was running smoothly right up until I hit that dog. My car started making a loud noise and seemed to be shaking when I was idle. I was freaked out, so I took it to get inspected. There was no surface damage to the car so I had expected nothing to be wrong. But it turned out I was very wrong.

The radiator had been completely bent in. The fan was hanging by a thread and the plastic underneath had been completely broken off. Had it not been for insurance I would have had to pay $1700 to fix it. Instead I only had to pay the excess which was $800. And in a low paying job, that is not easy money to come by especially since I had just started working straight out of uni at the time.

Since that time my car had been regularly checked by my mechanic and given the all clear up until April this year when I realised my aircon was not working. My heater was not working. What the fuck was wrong with this car? I had my mechanic take a good hard look at it. It turned out that my car had not been fixed properly and there was a huge crack on the side of the radiator from hitting this dog. Water was apparently dripping everywhere which made my car probably not safe to drive. I wasn’t sure if the repairer were just being lazy or they were unable to see it but nonetheless, my car had to be taken back to be fixed over a year after the incident. I was told to watch the water levels of my car to ensure my car didn’t overheat which it was more prone to doing.

So while it is sad that I killed that dog which can be traumatic for anyone, I was more pissed off that I had to spend money I didn’t have to fix the damage caused, losing my car for a week to be fixed, then having to pay for a mechanic to have a look at it, then having to drop it off again for a week…. To sue the owners for damages is not exactly fair, but it is fair to say that their dog is their responsibility and shouldn’t be wandering around at night. It is not fair to say that drivers who accidentally hit dogs and want some sort of compensation are out of their minds either. Hitting a dog is horrible, yes. But the immense guilt you feel for doing it is not even worth the trouble and expense you go through to fix your car.

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Entry Filed under: Opinion