According to a report from ABC10 TV station in San Diego, California, on the early morning of May 23rd, a driver had to swerve to avoid an animal suddenly appearing on the road, unfortunately hitting a fire hydrant on the roadside, and then crashing through a fence, resulting in his Ford Mustang being completely totaled.
The driver told the police that the accident occurred around 1:30 am while he was driving on West Bernardo Drive in North County San Diego. An animal suddenly appeared on the road, forcing him to swerve quickly, leading to the accident. The animal fled the scene, and while the driver himself was unharmed, his black Ford Mustang GT was completely wrecked.
In another report by NBC7 TV station, on a day at the end of September 2023, on the Coronado Bridge in South County San Diego, a driver stopped his car to rescue a kitten on the bridge, resulting in a 3-car collision: the car behind him crashed into his, which was then hit by the car behind it.
According to an annual report from the UC Davis Road Ecology Center in California in 2021, animal-vehicle collisions on California highways result in economic losses of at least $25 million annually. A report by insurance company State Farm estimated that between 2020-2021, there were two million animal-related car accidents in the United States, resulting in 164 deaths.