PSA: Murder on 447 - Kill The Rabbit!

[Token]

First time driving 447? Veteran driving 447?

This little guy wants to kill you!



He is cute, looks snuggly, but is a sociopathic killer!

Meet the Nevada Suicide Bunny!

The perky-eared guy will wait in ambush on the side of the road and dart right into the lane. Dusk and at night, they are famous for this.

DO NOT HIT THE BRAKES.

DO NOT SWERVE.

DO NOT TRY TO AVOID THE HARE.

Kill the rabbit!

If a deer, sheep or cow do the same - hit the brakes hard! Those will total your ride.

[Corvus]

It's funny, but for seven years, I'd leave the playa for home about 2am on Tuesday or later in the week and I never squashed one rabbit. Then the eighth year, south of Gerlach they showed up in droves. I got to about 25 before I lost count, well before Nixon.

[trilobyte]

I'm moving this over to Bikes & Transportation, since that's a better fit.

Every once in a while, you run across a sensational headline that's actually perfectly appropriate for the post or article. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES! Thanks for posting, Token! From the Transportation Edition of the Jack Rabbit Speaks newsletter that went out last week....

Highway 447 and the other rural highways have very soft shoulders, and the chance of getting stuck is much higher than you might expect, particularly in the soft sands around Pyramid Lake. Only pull over if you absolutely have to, and if possible only on fully developed gravel shoulders. It’s also easy to roll a vehicle if you hit these soft shoulders at high speeds.

That, and slamming on the brakes when you're driving an overloaded vehicle (and may even be towing a trailer) can have disastrous results, so can slamming on the brakes in traffic.... though fortunately the more traffic on the highway, the less the chance of encountering wildlife. For anyone going out early, or traveling at night, this is important info.

If you haven't read that issue of the Jack Rabbit Speaks newsletter, that's actually a particularly good one. Lots of great info for anyone traveling to or from Black Rock City.

[some seeing eye]

I travel from the North from Cedarville. Yep, those bunnies are killers!

That is Nevada cattle rangeland too. It means that cattle can be in the roadway, in fact they like to sleep there at night because the pavement is warm. Drive at a speed on cattle lands you can stop at sight distance. That is how far your headlights can see at night. 35mph is the calculated low beam stopping distance. High beam illuminated further. Your reaction time when you are tired is going to be slower.

A steer weighs about the same as a compact car. So you are colliding with the equivalent of a parked compact car. Friend of a friend collided with a steer in an RV on the way to the event. It was in the shop for a year. No one was hurt but the steer, thankfully.

[Token]

And if you hit a cow, law says you owe the rancher market value for the animal. Fun fact.

Do not hit a cow or deer.

[Autumn_in_winter]

We call 447 "Dead Bunny Road", over the years we've chocked up dozens of adorable bunny murders. One thing that really helps if you want to avoid them is either get a deer whistle for your car or honk your horn every 20 seconds or so. Its annoying to do for 2 hours, but it definitely keeps them from dive bombing the road in front of you.

[Canoe]

(deer whistle/ horn honking: having your buddy calling-for-dinosaurs out a passenger side window for hours of driving to the playa is NOT the same thing.)

Kill the Rabbit!
)'(

I really really really really really want the t-shirt!