And I'm really upset with it. I was on my way home from working for the Census in a town called Richfield. It was about 8:45 at night, and it was dark. Obviously. Anyway, I was going 57 in a 55 zone, and an oncoming car flashed its lights at me. My first thought was to check to make sure my highbeams were off. By the time I looked up from my glance at the dash, there was a dog in the middle of the lane. I think it was a yellow Lab, but I'm not sure because I didn't see it for very long before I slammed into it. I didn't even have time for my reactions to jerk the wheel to the side, not that there was much room before going down over an embankment and into a field, but by the time I had started swerving, I was already past the dog. I thought I hit it right in the middle of the chest with the corner of the driver's side of my car, but when I got out of my car, I saw it staggering down the road; at least one of the hind legs was broken.

I had my hazard lights on, and I noticed that the road wasn't lit in one place, and evidently, the dog took out the turn signal and broke some of the grill. However, I'm not really that concerned with it. I feel really bad for the dog. I went up the road a bit and pulled off at a convenience store. From there, I called 911, talked to them, and then talked to the police. Then I called my supervisor for the Census to let him know. Tonight yet, I have to write up a report for the Census, since I was on-duty when I hit the animal. The officer who showed up told me that it wasn't really an incident that required a report as there were no humans injured and my car was driveable under its own power.

It could have been worse, but I'm still pretty shaken about the whole thing.