Why did the chicken have to try crossing the road?

Any driver will probably know what it is like to have to perform an emergency stop. Any person on a motorbike will know how it makes you heart race. In the villages and towns here there are signs for 30km speed limits. That is less than school zones in NSW and certainly less than Queenslands 80km school zones in rural areas.
But it makes sense in a country where it is the cars, not motorbikes that speed (almost no motorcyclist here goes over 30km, partly due to the poor roads, partly due to the fact that the bikes do have the capability whereas the 4WD rarely drop below 80km/h).
The villages sits on either side of the road that cuts through it and is generally the point which people gather to sell produce, talk or play their version of Boules (Patonque, but don't ask about the spelling please).
However I have come to realise that the limits are not there for the humans who have a sixth sense for traffic, but rather the livestock. In particiular the chickens.
The chickens. Damn them. A few of them have been actually. If they are on the road, fine. Slow down, go around. But it is when they are on the side of the road and they decide to cross when you are 5m away that issues arise. Brakes on my bike are pretty weak, but I had so far managed to avoid hitting them. Or a dog or a Pot Belly Pig for that matter. I did have a close call crossing bridge a few days ago. 20 or so run manically infront of me. Hit the brakes and managed to avoid them. But the 4WD coming from the opposite direction at the mandatory 60km/h min speed did not bother slowing down as he approached me. For some reason the chickens thought that is was preferable to run infront of a Hi Lux than a little 250 bike.
As the white feathers ruffled, through my headphones I could still heard the sickening crunch of bones as the car pulverised it. Amazingly only one was killed. No mourning from his commrades though as they went back to pecking at dirt in search for the grain of infinite hunger satisfaction, or whatever it is that they do.
Today my luck ran out. Yes I was over the speed limit, marginally, but it would not have made a difference as this kamakaze darted out, avoiding my front tyre only for me to feel the crunch as it collided with my boot. I felt bad as I saw it lying there. But no doubt a local somewhere will be feasting on chicken hotpot tonight.