In recent weeks at least two companion animals, a dog and a cat, have been hit and injured on Bowen roads. In both cases, the drivers did not stop. Either the drivers were unaware of what happened or they chose not to help the injured animals. In both cases, the owners faced the shock of dealing with their injured and traumatised animals along with big veterinary bills. And year after year on our Bowen roads, deer are hit, injured and killed. If this can happen to companion animals and to wild animals, it presumably could happen to children and less agile people too. It is only a matter of time.
Are people driving faster and more recklessly than they used to? Opinions vary, but judging from Facebook threads and the report on the front page of a recent Undercurrent, it seems that there is more speeding. Corporal Paulo Arreaga reported that the Bowen RCMP had recorded 85 speed-related infractions so far in 2016. That seems like a lot. At the same time, I believe there is substantial support from Bowen islanders for RCMP enforcing the speed limits more vigorously.
Impaired and distracted driving may also be an issue. ICBC figures show that accidents numbers are up, especially those involving distracted driving. September is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Whether you are impaired or distracted, if your attention is not entirely on the road when driving, you have much less time to react by braking or avoiding an animal in the road. Social stigma is slowly having an effect in the case of impaired driving. But in the case of distracted driving, people seem to live in a bubble of personal immunity. I suspect only a combination of hefty fines and vigorous enforcement will work.
Meanwhile, it's worth considering some consequences of collisions between vehicles and animals. Though I couldn't find any information about vehicle collisions with small animals, there is plenty about hitting deer, elk and moose. US statistics show that more than 90% of collisions with deer result in damage to your vehicle and that the average repair cost of that damage is US$1840. Few collisions with wild animals result in human fatalities (about 1 in 200 according to US statistics), though many of the animals are killed. But if you survive a deer through your windshield, you can easily end up in a coma or disabled.
Studies on car-pedestrian collisions offer food for thought. Studies done in 1979 and in 2010 agree that the transition point from causing mostly slight to mostly severe injuries to a pedestrian is 30 km per hour. The probability of serious injury to a pedestrian rises drastically at speeds of 40 km per hour. The transition point from injuries that are mostly survivable to mostly fatal falls between 50 and 60 km per hour.
I know from my days as a Bowen Speed Watch volunteer that a surprising number of vehicles travel at speeds in the range 50-60 even though our highest speed limit on Bowen is 40. In fact, speed limits on Bowen range from 20 to 40 and for good reasons. They are not numbers pulled out of the air by the Municipality. The most densely populated area is the Cove, where there is a 20 km per hour sign. The rest of the Cove along with Miller Road and Tunstall Bay are currently regulated at 30 km per hour. The takeaway from all this is that a difference of only 10 km per hour makes a huge difference in road safety.
But to return to where I started, there is the issue of taking responsibility for our actions. It's hard for me to imagine someone knowing they have hit a cat or a dog and not stopping. It might well not be your fault - cats in particular can suddenly dash across the road in front of a car. The anguish for the pet owners is extreme; getting quick medical attention for the animal is the best possible action in a horrible situation.
