Slugs as Road Hazards

[nwilley]

Had an unusual situation happen last Sunday while riding with Ken D (Ratbyke). We were clipping along one of the nice rural roads here on Vancouver Island, going through bands of light and dark, created by a strong afternoon sunlight. I was ahead and entered into a broad curve with a large swath of shade across it. I had glanced at the road surface, but was concentrating on the end of the curve, looking through the curve to the next turn. I had just entered the turn when my front end moved over about 6cm (2"). It was curious feeling, as the road was completely dry, and of course, by the time I realized what had happened, it was over! At the next stop I told Ken about the front end skid, in case he had observed something, then we carried on. It wasn't until later in the day that it occurred to me that I had likely skidded on one of those lovely Slugs! Those of you living in coastal B.C. and Washington will know what I mean. They are about 12-15cm long (~5"), come in various colours, and are well coated with mucus. I had seen a few on the road previous that day, but did not connect the skid with the slugs until later. Not sure what was bringing them out on a dry road in the middle of the day...could be their mating season. If it was a slug, it effectively removed itself from the gene pool

[Mike Hart]

Speaking of slugs and gene pools, it is curious yes that beer has the opposite effect on the gene pools of slugs and humans...

[Dragonrider]

Once and a while we have a really bad year for crickets here in Texas . . . they will be like a plague, clinging all over the buildings downtown, and getting into the basements and such.

I was riding at night, and went to make a hard left under a street light . . . the road looked funny so I glanced down. It was covered with crickets and I nearly lost the bike. They were amazingly slippery, and I did not make the turn, went straight . . . which was ok the road went that way too.

I could only think . . . "Yuck, what if I went down and slid in that!"

Bleck. Creamed crickets . . . or slugs . . . ugh.

[xssiveone]

Hehehe... same thing around here. May flies or fish flies, whatever you want to call them, they're still a real PIA!! Suckers cover everything close to the water, sound like bubble wrap being popped when you drive over them. And major slippery as well.

[crunchbird]

You are lucky it was just a little one. Sometimes in Oregon a whole herd of them will jump out across the road. You have to be careful, when you see one, more will often follow. You hit a big buck slug, you don't forget it ! !

[Jerry]

In the mid-west its grasshoppers. Big ones can get real greasy, but at least you can hear the crunch when you run over them. Just look out for a road full, happens about once a year. Always a few stories in local papers about squashed hoppers making the road slick enough to cause an accident.

Lived in Oregon (Beaverton) and know about those slugs. Thought they were the State Animal....

[nwilley]

In central BC it is Forest Tent Catepillars that cause the problem. They reach "biblical" proportions and will clean out whole sections of the forest. When the food is gone, they move en masse to new feeding grounds. Some years they are so thick that the train cannot get up slight grades because the catepillars lubricate the rails

[JP]

Originally posted by Mike Hart
Speaking of slugs and gene pools, it is curious yes that beer has the opposite effect on the gene pools of slugs and humans...

Beer makes slugs more intelligent, erudite, considerate, improves reflexes and judgement, and makes them more attractive to the opposite sex?

If Slugs had invented beer they might have become the dominant species. Who knew?