i almost hit a raccoon

After judo practice, I drove home on the residential back roads, probably going somewhere over thirty miles per hour. Suddenly, a small lump appeared in my headlights. A raccoon was waddling across the road. As soon as it saw me, it froze. Then it hunched. I don’t know how raccoons can crouch when they are already so close to the ground, but its head and back dropped even lower. I braked firmly and pulled to the right, avoiding a traumatic and damaging encounter. It would be more traumatic for me because I was still alive to suffer emotionally, but more damaging for the raccoon. After the crisis passed, I was peacefully happy, and felt special to have seen a raccoon in the city. (Yes, I later realized this is not as unusual as I was thinking.)
I felt a certain commonality of purpose with the raccoon. After all, we were both just trying to get somewhere without accident. And we did.