Understanding the でも in 「突っ切る時に万が一子供を轢きでもしたら大変である。」

Question

Consider

でも突っ切る時に万が一子供を轢きでもしたら大変である。

But, if by chance when I break across, it would be awful if I were to run over a kid.

I'm trying to understand what the でも means in でもしたら. The author earlier states:

でもしたら or でもしようものなら--"(even) if you were". This pattern attaches to the 連用形 of a verb.

I'm assuming the でも is not the conjunction particle ("but"), but rather でも = ((the て-form of だ) + も)? So a slightly more literal translation becomes something like:

But even (でも) by chance running over a kid, if it would be done (したら), would be bad.

Is this the case?

Then, this "is-even" (でも) is used to convey a sense of hoping that something doesn't come true:

The conditional たら is used neutrally, while the でもしたら expresses a condition you feel against and hope doesn't come true.

Answer 1

This でも is neither a conjunctive nor で + も, but a particle meaning "～ or something".

• Meaning of "でも" in "食事でもどうですか？"
• The use of でも and ででも in this sentence
• でも and other particles: conjunction, exclusion, and word order

轢きでもしたら is 轢いたら with でも added. If you know how to attach a contrastive-wa (or も, すら, etc) to a verb, this follows the same pattern of 連用形 + particle + する.