To evade a predator they will run in a zig zag pattern to confuse its attacker in hopes of getting away, most of the time directly in front of it.
Predators will almost always attack head on or in a straight line, thus the fuzzy ones chance of survival is upped by doing some zig-zagging.
This has only happened when they were already in the road when I came around the corner; understandable (except for that idiotic crow that forgot it had wings and ran off to the side
). When they were already off of the road they ran almost straight across it: the only zigzags they might have then are, again, from tire treads.
Animals can't reconize the difference from, lets say, a lion or a car...
The animals you've known must be really stupid. Our dogs, cats, cattle and even the chickens certainly knew the difference (except that our lions are actually cougars).
Think of it as a Dogfight, bogie on your six what do you do to keep him from nailing your arse?
Unless the plane is damaged beyond effective flight, I
stay off the road! 
Ever tried to fit a plane in a parking spot? The manager still wont let me back at Randalls! Not to mention the other patrons have a bone to pick at me for finding a Stuka growing from the roofs of their cars... 
Only it wasnt a headlight after my exhaust was replaced it was a massive hole in my gas tank, then battery replaced, and..........whatever might be next 
Better yet...just hold pants up and run...worry about zipping later 
