I'm surprised they didn't try a ewe turn when confronted by the 4 legged road flock
Flock of sheep ends NZ high-speed car chase
A high-speed car chase in New Zealand's south island ended rather improbably when a carload of perps was brought to a halt by a flock of sheep. The police pursuit began at 8am last Friday when cops unsuccessfully attempted to pull a Honda Integra for speeding and having no numbers plates. During the subsequent race around …
COMMENTS
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Friday 22nd January 2016 15:18 GMT Dave 126
NZ Rally
I was watching a NZ stage of the World Rally Championship a few years back. The camera was mounted in the cab of a car that was absolutely hooning it down a mountain road. At that speed, there was a small speck of white in the distance, that within the blink of an eye was a flash of red across the windscreen.
"And that was one of New Zealand's 30 million sheep" observed the commentator.
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Friday 22nd January 2016 16:07 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: NZ Rally
"And that was one of New Zealand's 30 million sheep" observed the commentator."
Bullshit. An animal the size of a sheep hitting a vehicle at high speed will near destroy it. There would be no 'flash of red across the windscreen' - there would in fact be no windscreen - the carcass of said sheep would definitely end up in the car, no doubt seriously injuring the driver/co driver in the process.
I'm from New Zealand, and I recall many reports of fatalities involving cars hitting livestock which had wandered into the road. its no joke.
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Friday 22nd January 2016 20:53 GMT runyod
Re: NZ Rally
Watching the video, looked like a glancing blow on the sheep. Reminds me of hitting a red-tail hawk at about 65mph. Windscreen flexed in briefly and I had feather prints for a few days. I told my 8-year old daughter about it that evening. Her response, "was the hawk OK?" I thought about turning it into a teaching moment about mass x velocity**2 mixed with the hollow bones of a bird, but (wisely) decided not to..
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Friday 22nd January 2016 20:35 GMT Charles Manning
Re: NZ Rally
I too am from NZ You don't go rallying in a Daihatsu or your average family car which, indeed can be totalled by hitting a possum.
Most of those rally cars have re-enforced front ends and underside to help strengthen them as well as make them less prone to rocks being flicked up etc. That's why people can often roll the damn things, tip them back on their wheels and keep going.
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Friday 22nd January 2016 23:08 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: NZ Rally
> Bullshit. An animal the size of a sheep hitting a vehicle at high speed will near destroy it.
Well, they lost the brakes(!), the radiator, and the intercooler after the sheep strike at 180-185 km/h¹. Don't know how close to your idea of "near destruction" that is², but certainly not a good day out.
¹ All the above according to the video posted below. I'm fluent in Spanish (and I loved the "¡Hostia! ¡La oveja!" bit).
² I assume you refer to the car, not the sheep.
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Friday 22nd January 2016 20:53 GMT Refugee from Windows
Herdwicks? Just come round a bend in the Dales and meet a flock of Swaledales. These are the ones that chase sheepdogs (in fact they gave mine some grief before she decided she'd had enough and put them in the corener of the field). The sheep here are just stubborn, or is it just plain thick?
One flock of Herdwicks saw me (and dog) come over the hill and then decided to leg it - we must have been at least a quarter of a mile away. That's Cumbria for you.
Belgian Blue cattle or Limousins would make the best roadblocks, you wouldn't want to hit one.
Time for me coat, those cows won't milk themselves tonight.
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Friday 22nd January 2016 19:22 GMT Anonymous Coward
"The bloody thing looked at me, [...]"
A friend was driving fairly fast on a twisting road on the Isle of Skye at night. He said being dark made it easier as one would see any oncoming car's headlights. Highland cows don't have headlights - particularly when they are standing with their backs to the car's direction. Brakes were slammed on - and the card ever so slowly touched the cow's backside.
The contour of the backside and legs fitted nicely into the shape of the car's radiator and bumper. The cow turned a horned head to see what had hit it and ambled off. The car's entire bonnet had been shifted back a quarter of an inch - an expensive repair for a Mazda rotary only a few weeks old.
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