Driver Stops for Geese and Gets Rear-ended

So there was a somewhat recent case in which a driver and his passenger were rear-ended after stopping for a flock of geese crossing the road. They suffered some minor injuries and filed suit in Fairfax General District Court. They lost as the judge found that they were contributorily negligent in stopping for the geese, failing to give the driver behind them proper warning resulting in the accident.

The plaintiff appealed arguing that they were required by law to stop for the geese as it is illegal to "cause the death of a migratory bird" as the Canadian geese were.

Now, I'm not advocating killing birds or any other animal for that matter, but what if the injuries weren't so minor? What if one of the plaintiffs had died as a result of the accident? I certainly understand the spirit of the law that it should be illegal to murder animals but when driving a vehicle and the choice is between your safety and their life you should always choose your safety. Not to say that you can't try to avoid them or slow down, but slamming on your brakes as they did in this case is simply not worth it and they're lucky on two counts. One, that their injuries were minor. And, two, that they were able to collect for their medical bills, which ended up being the only award received.