UK motor insurance news
21/11/2007

Ducks protecting village from speeding motorists?

A Dorset lady is taking unusual steps to cut the number of motorists who speed through her village, risking both their and the villagers safety.

The 63-year-old postmistress discovered that when she failed to keep to her daily routine of feeding the ducks and geese by the village pond, the birds would get impatient and wait by the roadside.

She realised that her feathered friends could be a valuable tool in reducing the speed of motorists travelling through the village when she saw drivers hitting the brakes in order to avoid hitting the birds.

She said: "I normally feed them in the morning and the afternoon. But it got to the point where if they didn't get fed they would cross the road to remind me.

"When that happened the traffic slowed down or stopped, which was great. So now whenever it gets bad, I don't feed them. It has the desired effect."

However, the news isn't all good for the Dorset village. A previous case of ducks acting as traffic control, this time in South Yorkshire, led to a dog warden declaring them a traffic hazard.

The owner of the ducks involved in this case said: "He told me they were a traffic nuisance and said if I let them out again he would take them away. If that happens, I would have to pay a release fee of around £30 for every duck.

"It was extraordinary. Nobody had said anything for two-and-a-half years, and suddenly you've got the voice of officialdom saying: 'Thou shalt not quack.'"

He argued that rather than being a traffic hazard, the ducks led to motorists protecting their car insurance by driving slower and more carefully.

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