I didn't stop when I ran over a cat. Is that really so awful?

I didn't stop when I ran over a cat. Is that really so awful? By Anonymous Published: 17:18, 5 June 2024 | Updated: 17:18, 5 June 2024 e-mail 2 View comments Last year, I was driving along a country road in Cheshire at around noon on a sunny day, to visit my grandparents, when I accidentally hit a cat. The ginger and white puss appeared from a field and began running along the grass verge on the opposite side of the road adjacent to my car.

Had it looked as though it might run into the road, I would have slowed down to avoid it. Instead, it seemed about to dart back into the field. So it was a shock when the cat suddenly shot across both lanes, and I felt a thud as it went under the back wheel.

The noise, and the way the car jolted, told me it most likely wouldn’t have survived. Under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, a driver is required to stop and report accidents involving specific animals including horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and dogs, but not cats I say ‘most likely’ because I didn’t stop to find out. I simply continued my journey.

Some will undoubtedly call me heartless, including my animal-loving wife, whose initial reaction was mortification when I told her. But my primary reason for not stopping was that this occurred on the blind bend of a country road, so it wouldn’t have been safe for me — or for other drivers — if I’d stopped my car. That said, had it been a dog, 100 per cent I would have stopped, even if it had meant pulling up fu.