I live in a rural area and travel a FM road each day commuting to and from work. The road is fairly hilly with quite a few blind spots. A few weeks back, I noticed a really large sign posted on the side of the road at an entrance to somebody's property. All I saw was a picture of a dog and the word "ACCEPT", but I came up on the sign too fast to read it. I made a mental note to see what the deal is the next time I pass by this particular stretch. Fast forward, I kept forgetting to slow down at this stretch and finally pull off the road today to check it out. The sign is a picture of these people's dog, and it says in large letters "ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY" and then in finer print gives the details of when they think the incident occurred and to "do the right thing contact them ###-###-#### if you hit their dog".

Now, I understand being upset about this, but should a driver visit all of the surrounding properties trying to find the owner of a dog that was clearly out in a road with cars travelling in excess of 60 mph? Is asking someone who more than likely accidentally hit your dog (and may have damage to their vehicle) to accept responsibility a tactful way to get them to contact you? If it were me who hit the dog, I would be contacting these people and asking where I can pick up the check for my car damage.

So, what is the right thing to do if you hit a domesticated animal, such as a dog or cat out in the boondocks? Pick up animal and rush to vet? Search for owner? What is a decent person supposed to do in this situation?

Leave a note

quote:

---

If it were me who hit the dog, I would be contacting these people and asking where I can pick up the check for my car damage.

---

damned right.

quote:

---

I live in a rural area and travel a FM road each day commuting to and from work. The road is fairly hilly with quite a few blind spots. A few weeks back, I noticed a really large sign posted on the side of the road at an entrance to somebody's property. All I saw was a picture of a dog and the word "ACCEPT", but I came up on the sign too fast to read it. I made a mental note to see what the deal is the next time I pass by this particular stretch. Fast forward, I kept forgetting to slow down at this stretch and finally pull off the road today to check it out. The sign is a picture of these people's dog, and it says in large letters "ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY" and then in finer print gives the details of when they think the incident occurred and to "do the right thing contact them ###-###-#### if you hit their dog".

Now, I understand being upset about this, but should a driver visit all of the surrounding properties trying to find the owner of a dog that was clearly out in a road with cars travelling in excess of 60 mph? Is asking someone who more than likely accidentally hit your dog (and may have damage to their vehicle) to accept responsibility a tactful way to get them to contact you? If it were me who hit the dog, I would be contacting these people and asking where I can pick up the check for my car damage.

So, what is the right thing to do if you hit a domesticated animal, such as a dog or cat out in the boondocks? Pick up animal and rush to vet? Search for owner? What is a decent person supposed to do in this situation?

---

Dick

Depends on a combination of whether the animal is a) alive and b) wearing a collar with tags.

quote:

---

So, what is the right thing to do if you hit a domesticated animal, such as a dog or cat out in the boondocks? Pick up animal and rush to vet? Search for owner? What is a decent person supposed to do in this situation?

---

Etiquette is, assuming the animal is dead, to move it safely out of the way, check for its tags, and make a reasonable effort to locate the owner.

Obviously if injured, you head to the vet.

quote:

---

I would be contacting these people and asking where I can pick up the check for my car damage.

---

If it were my dog and you did this, you'd have no need for checks ever again.

Responsible pet owners don't have a dog in the road.

Fair point

If you are on an FM road, it is your responsibility to understand that you are on a FARM TO MARKET road. The injury of any domesticated animals or livestock is your liability, not the owners of the animal.

HTH.

Interesting clash of ideals. I'm here to watch...

Dogs don't fall under stock. All the livestock/road laws are written with a list of animals defined as stock.

quote:

---

If you are on an FM road, it is your responsibility to understand that you are on a FARM TO MARKET road. The injury of any domesticated animals or livestock is your liability, not the owners of the animal.

HTH.

---

And you would know.


Stoopid cows, amirite?

quote:

---

Leave a note

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

If it were me who hit the dog, I would be contacting these people and asking where I can pick up the check for my car damage.

---

damned right.

---

Your insurance company would consider this an 'act of God' and should fix the damage for free.

Call 311 and report it. I'm not going to put myself at risk telling some redneck I just killed their dog. See below

quote:

---

If it were my dog and you did this, you'd have no need for checks ever again.

---

quote:

---

If you are on an FM road, it is your responsibility to understand that you are on a FARM TO MARKET road. The injury of any domesticated animals or livestock is your liability, not the owners of the animal.

HTH.

---

First, the driver is NEVER liable for damage to the livestock if the livestock is on the road. They will have to repair their vehicle if they hit an escaped animal and the county allows it. The owner of the livestock is liable if they knowingly let their stock roam free or if the county has adopted a law making it illegal to not secure livestock. More detail here for those interested: link

quote:

---

If you are on an FM road, it is your responsibility to understand that you are on a FARM TO MARKET road. The injury of any domesticated animals or livestock is your liability

---

LOL. A person is not liable for injuries caused to an animal in my county on a FM road, and the reverse may even be true. I'm sure comprehensive insurance would cover the situation - just like it does for a deer strike. I just found it funny that someone who owned a dog that entered a public road had the audacity to post a sign telling someone to "ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY".

Not an act of god, but still a claim under your comprehensive auto coverage. I'll give .5 points for effort.

There is a lot of partially correct info in this thread. The short version is that it depends on the county's stock law...

The TX Ag Code only applies to state and federal highways, not CR or FM roads.

"Section 143.102 of the Agriculture Code, which prohibits all owners of livestock from knowingly allowing their animals to roam at large on the right of way of a state or federal highway in Texas; "

The rest is up to the county.

I've heard good things about lint rollers

If it looks like someone's pet (ie reasonably groomed, not bare bones skinny, tags) then I would take the animal to the nearest vet dead or alive.

If it looks like a stray, move it to the side of the road, call the non-emergency police number to report it, then keep on driving.

Post their number so that we can all call and claim responsibility

Proper etiquette is to commit suicide on the spot. Even a stray dog is more precious than your ****ty life.

quote:

---

If you are on an FM road, it is your responsibility to understand that you are on a FARM TO MARKET road. The injury of any domesticated animals or livestock is your liability, not the owners of the animal.

HTH.

---

What about a 150# bike rider


/runs

quote:

---

quote:

---

If you are on an FM road, it is your responsibility to understand that you are on a FARM TO MARKET road. The injury of any domesticated animals or livestock is your liability, not the owners of the animal.

HTH.

---

What about a 150# bike rider


/runs

---

I'd ask around and cry with the owner. I stopped and cried when I hit a dear in the road. TX folk love their dogs. Have a smidge of compassion?

a dear what?

A GD autocorrecting deer.

quote:

---

Not an act of god, but still a claim under your comprehensive auto coverage. I'll give .5 points for effort.

There is a lot of partially correct info in this thread. The short version is that it depends on the county's stock law...

The TX Ag Code only applies to state and federal highways, not CR or FM roads.

"Section 143.102 of the Agriculture Code, which prohibits all owners of livestock from knowingly allowing their animals to roam at large on the right of way of a state or federal highway in Texas; "

The rest is up to the county.

---

I highly doubt any county in the state lumps dogs into stock law.

I've had a couple dogs get run over on our county road while growing up in the country. I was sad, but didn't blame the drivers since our dogs were roamers. That being said, if I hit an animal on some backroad, sorry. It's your fault that it was out. I'll feel bad that it happened, but I'm not spending money at the vet for someone else's failure to secure their pet. HTH

quote:

---

Your insurance company would consider this an 'act of God' and should fix the damage for free.

---

The correct terminology is 'act of Dog'.

quote:

---

Proper etiquette is to commit suicide on the spot. Even a stray dog is more precious than your ****ty life.

---

If I hit a dog I will be upset and try to briefly locate the owner and apologize, if it was a cat I would immediately stop, back up and run it over again

Hit a dog once at 70mph who ran out in front of me from his yard to bark at cars going the other way. I just kept going, but his face when I was 10 feet away and he saw my bumper coming will be with me forever.

Invite the Owners over for dinner