It's a beautiful day. You are riding down a shade-dappled road with the windows open and the music on.It's the perfect temperature. Things are going well at work and at home. Life is great.
Then some poor woodland creature ventures out onto the pavement in front of you and bam, you see the critter too late and hit it. Horrible.
Bird photo by Amyjane10/Photobucket
It's a scenario I've tried avoiding. To my passengers' dismay I'd rather slam on my brakes or swerve than barrel through any living thing, even butterflies. (Especially butterflies. So few species of them have a fighting chance anymore.)
Thankfully I've only hit one creature in my lifetime and it was a rabbit that ran under my wheels.
But I've noticed that driving on the country roads that I prefer puts me in more danger of a collision with animals than I'd like.
Of particular concern to me are birds who tend to dart out in front of me as I drive by, likely because they are suddenly scared by my quiet engine. I'm worried about what happens if I hit one of them.
It's not going to collide with my hood or windshield. I don't have a windshield. What's going to hit that poor bird is me: my helmet or my body.
A windscreen is already on my list of must-haves for the scooter, but I don't know if that will make it any better. I'm that much closer to the poor dying creature and trying not to flip over my bike.
My boyfriend says birds have "bounced" off him before. I don't know if that means they were OK afterwards but I wouldn't be. I think I'd have to pull over because I'd be bawling.
Luckily swerving is easier on a scooter, but hitting something could cause me to have a serious accident.
I just hope the deer stay out of my way.
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