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Is roadkill - animals killed accidentally by vehicles accidentally running them over - a modern thing, or did it used to happen in the pre-modern era? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 2 weeks ago by gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/askhistorians@lemmy.world

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My assumption is that it's probably been a thing since roads, so possibly since at the least Ancient China, but I don't know, so I was curious if any experts know.

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 weeks ago

Given the data on human survival rates in collisions, high rate of speed is almost completely the causal factor of serious injury and death. So, at least for larger animals I would say it's a modern phenomenon. Maybe some rats or toads or something got hit by a wagon wheel but the scale would be nothing like today.