This fall I came over a hill and hit a beaver. Poor thing didn't have a chance. It did some serious damage, but I'd rather give an animal a quick death than risk doing further damage to myself/other people/cars/etc. around me.

I agree with a previous poster that if you had time to think about skillfully avoiding the dog, you theoretically should've had time to avoid doing other damage. That being said, when you're forced to think on your feet, moments of stress do strange things to people!