Rollover caused by "large owl"

Wonder what is suddenly causing all these critters to commit suicide!

 

Obviously Global Heating from dirty emission trucks

 

I not only keep the truck steady in bird strikes, wildlife strikes etc, once or twice I have had to deliver a death strike to a pet dog or some other animal who is in my lane in the rain with evasion action nullified with cars on both sides of me. Move the wheel a little bit and hope the first impact is on the head so it don't suffer.

That is one reason I will not carry a pet in my home, not for years. Some of those kills have been too much for me. And Im pretty cold blooded in battle, but too soft when it's someone's pet.

 

You just reminded me, driving through some little town one dark night I saw the faint reflections of a bicycle crossing the road in a strange way and laying in the road. What had happened (I think) is the guy was riding his bike and his dog running along side with him, he tried to cross the road or maybe just the dog did, but the dog was run over by a car and the guy must have crossed over and threw his bike down. I couldn't tell what was up only there was a dark figure in the road standing on the yellow line. I came to a stop as I got close enough to see what it was, his dog laying there all twisted up. The poor guy was heartbroken and so was I, he picked up his dog in a cradle position and carried him over to the sidewalk. Traffic going the other way had not slowed down, why should they. But when they saw me on my side stopped everyone slowed down then it dawned on them what was going on. You had to be there I guess it was a very moving moment.

 

I killed Woodsy Owl. Kansas, US 56. He hit my pass side mirror, folded it up to the window and left feathers in the cracked fake chrome plastic back of the mirror. Poor Woodsy!

I-80, almost to I-81. Past the Peelot, PA State Trooper in the median, hit and kill a good sized hawk on my grill. St. Trooper just stared. There was some damage. And feathers. Pretty brown and white ones.

 

Besides the turkey I killed in the hummer, I also killed a peacock out in the country roads west of Stockton CA. This little farm house had a bunch of peacocks running loose, I guess they were used to playing chicken in the road. I was clipping along about 70 like always, I see the peacock in my lane so I ever so slightly start to move over to the oncoming left lane. Well this bird at the last moment did the same thing and destructed my ford ranger grill plastic fake chrome grill. Only about $300 to replace it.

 

Isn't it a bit surprising how many of us have had large bird or animal strikes, yet none of us rolled the truck? Why is that? I have a theory, at least based on my experience.

One of the biggest things beginners AND some veterans need to overcome is constant tension when holding the steering wheel. I ran a team dedicated coast to coast with an experienced teammate that set up with the seat tilted WAY back and his arms almost straight out to the steering wheel. Dealing with broadside winds crossing Kansas every week he developed pain in his neck and arms. When I was in the sleeper birth I could feel his "Yankee Doodle" steering. My confidence in his ability to deal with something like a deer or large bird strike wasn't high. Couple his bad setup with anger management issues in traffic and it's not a good combination.

By comparison I set up with the seat far forward and UPRIGHT, with the steering wheel in a position so my arms hang loose. This way there is no effort fighting a hard cross wind all day, and I am relaxed and able to make SMALL steering corrections when a gust hits or ruts in the road toss you around. This is the way I taught my trainees during my stint as a trainer at Swift. I'm proud of the trainee that didn't waver a BIT when hitting a deer. He kept it straight and true and didn't panic at all.

When I hit that owl yesterday I was relaxed. I can imagine that a driver with tension in his/her arms in a bad setup, or worse with only one hand one the steering wheel, might go "Yankee Doodle" in that situation.

Set up correctly to be able to drive hours on end without tension. Have both hands on the steering wheel in a relaxed grip with your arms hanging loose. The toughest trainees to teach this concept were those getting back in the industry with prior experience.

 

It's also called having a grille guard mounted on the front of your truck and your company telling you to hit the animal if necessary. Bambi's mother was really killed by a 2013 KW! Lmao

 

I refer to the grill guard as "Hamburger Helper".

 

^Makes a great meal. Lmao