A Russian blogger has caused outrage for saying drivers should run over stray cats and dogs on the road.
Valeria Lyubarskaya, who boasts an impressive 1.3 million YouTube subscribers and 870,000 Instagram followers, made the comments after her boyfriend made an emergency stop when a stray dog wandered in front of the car they were travelling in.
‘We were driving along the motorway and suddenly a stupid dog ran into the road,’ she told her followers on Twitter. ‘My boyfriend reacted badly and slammed on the brakes. The dog managed to run away unscathed.’
Lyubarskaya went on to say that fortunately there were no cars behind then otherwise an accident would have been unavoidable.
She continued:
Dear drivers, remember that if any creature appears on the road while you are driving, especially if there are lots of cars around, just run over it. Do you understand that?
The life of a stray animal is not worth the life of a human being.
The popular blogger recounted a previous incident involving her mum and a stray cat and she concluded by saying:
One last time, remember, if animals are on the road, you continue driving. Do not hit the brakes.
Yes, you may feel sorry afterwards, for sure. But your life is a lot more valuable. A lot more valuable.
However, not everyone agreed with the blogger’s sentiments, with one angry follower responding:
Dear drivers, remember, if you see Lyubarskaya on the road, run her over. She is not worth the life of a human being.
Meanwhile, another follower sided with the blogger, writing, ‘Everything she says is correct. That is what every motorist learns at driving school.’
While I reckon most people won’t agree with her using the term ‘stupid dog’ (erm, dogs don’t know what roads are), what Lyubarskaya said does kind of tie in with what is taught to learner drivers here in the UK.
As a general rule of thumb, drivers are justified in making an emergency stop if the animal is big enough to damage the car, for example dogs, horses, cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys and mules.
The Road Traffic Act 1988 says that hitting any of these animals, whether they are injured or dead, should be reported to the police as they could cause problems for other drivers and further accidents.
However, the law does seem to imply it is acceptable to run over smaller animals such as cats, rabbits, foxes, ducks, pheasants or squirrels because braking or swerving would put other road users at risk.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.