i feel like being thrown from a moving vehicle would produce a lot more damage

well, I didn't mean fast, but like tossed out of a slow-moving car. a lot of people think a kitten they abandon here will just be okay and go live as a barncat, so they're not actively trying to hurt them.

if they're not actively trying to hurt them and have the courtesy to go slowly, they probably wouldn't toss a cat out of a car.
abandon, yes.
toss out of a moving vehicle, no.
kind of crossing a line between ignorance and maliciousness there.
and those just really don't look like road rash wounds.

we used to have a lot of stray/roaming/feral/barn cats where i lived and they got torn up all the time, everything from wire fences to a particularly mean squirrel they made the mistake of trying to hunt.

you don't understand. this kitten couldn't have been there for more than a few hours at most because the dogs that live there would have killed him. it's right down the road from me, and he was sitting in the middle of the street. people don't just stop and gently let cats out when they throw them out here. they literally toss them from a slow moving car to keep from being identified. we live in a rural area, but there are houses in clear view.
also, these were fresh wounds, my camera just didn't pick them up in the bathroom lighting. he wasn't on asphalt. we live on a dirt/gravel road. not road rash, but I don't think they're from an animal fight. he was tiny. I doubt he knows a thing about hunting, and he wasn't feral at all.. didn't even know to be afraid of big dogs.

lived in a rural area most of my life; dogs n coyotes, roaming cats. it just still seems like a dramatization to me, is all.

but this isn't one of those "roaming cats." we have feral and stray cats. he does not have any "street smarts." all the stray/feral kittens I've dealt with over the past several years living here are at least aware of dogs, like you said. he was not afraid of them. he acted like he was from a home.
plus, this is after a bath, like I said on another submission. he was covered in gravel dust and had a lot of small scrapes and cuts on his back feet and rear legs (which is why I didn't post shots showing that off).

I'm not sure exactly why this matters so much, but if you knew the exact area I lived in and saw the exact way I found this exact kitten, maybe you'd understand.
I drive this road twice a day, every day, except sundays. I drove through the area 30 mins before finding him on my way into town. I found him sitting in the road, in plain view of anyone who'd looked (except it was dark) on my way back. the free-roaming dogs that kill cats (this is why I grab dumped strays and take them to the shelter asap) were on the road not 2 hours later, barking at god knows what.
people come out here and toss out kittens, cats, and dogs all the time. it's not like I said he was thrown from a car going 30 miles per hour... I mean they probably slowed down and literally tossed him out into the gravel on the side of the road. I've seen people do it. they're trying to get out of here before anyone sees them do it and gets their license plate numbers.
a lot of times, with dogs, they're trying to drive off before the dog chases them. but with cats, people mistakenly believe they'll "land on their feet" and be fine and go find a barn to live in. they somehow think cats are just these little wild animals from birth. we've had dozens of fosters over the years go through exactly this. I'm pretty sure that's what happened here.

roaming cats = all cats roaming about my area, including ferals, strays, barncats, lost cats, etc. easier to say.

it doesn't matter that much - i'm just saying it seems like something someone decides has happened to their found rescue animal because it sounds heartwrenching and sad. i said the same thing about a cat we found when i was 11 or so.

I'm not making up some tragic story for him. I'm just saying that's likely to be what happened, given I found him in the middle of the road, covered in dust from the road, and I've seen it happen to many other animals.