At least those weren't real cows in the truck that goes off the bridge.
You've seen Guy Standeven in something because the man was in everything.

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This.

A Russian dashcam has provided us with decent confirmation.

I think that even more ridiculous than the cows is the scene in the bar near the beginning. A tremor happens and they show the guys in the bar playing pool. The light fixtures are still swaying, but their pool game remains uninterrupted. Balls all still in placemagic!

^^^
Thank you sir. I agree wIth you. . It's all about gravity. .;-)

Actually, it made sense. The speed at which the truck was falling, the momentum would have had the cattle in place till the trucks trailer had finally hit the ground, and I think they edited it before that point. It would be like the elevator dropping. You don't go floating to the top because the elevator is falling. Things fall at the same speed, unless they are feathers or catch air a certain way, and cows and people fall like elevators and trucks.

The cows in the truck sequence was about 1.5 seconds, hardly enough time to notice whether cattle, which do not move a lot anyways when penned in were moving. They look quite real in this picture.
http://www.jimusnr.com/q12b.jpg

Thats true - you see that when she looks up before the glass strikes her. Also check out the hideous clothes that mom and especially her daughter ("Mother! Mother!") are wearing. Good grief - they look like they rummaged through a Salvation Army box outside of a Wal Mart in the Ozarks.
"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

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I re-read the shooting script and, believe it or not, the cows in the truck were in it!
The FX guys were merely following the script.
"It's people"

Yeah, I agree scruffy!
As far as I'm concerned, the scenes about the L.A. downtown and the Royce inc. at the Sunset & Vine Tower are my favorite ones. I watched them again yesterday night and discovered the Italian dubbed version is more crowded with voices and yells than the original one. I'm bothered the way the man who dies in the elevator - Cameron - keeps on staring at the skyscrapers collapsing, while his room seems to remain all undamaged. The skyscrapers in the distance themselves seem to be completely empty, without any furniture or human being inside and all the green stuff behind them isn't shaking at all! Besides this, the building nearby the Capitol Records Tower with a triangular shaped roof on it crashes too swiftly and its windows dont shatter either: its too much obvious all of them are poorly made by paperboard material to be believable. Anyway, I love them. LoL
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You are correct concerning the road sign. What bothers me the most concerning the realism of the special effects is the utterly absurd scene in the office tower as Remy's father attempts to hang out the window to try and rescue the window washer's from the scaffold. All the office tower's would have been shaking so violently, especially the higher up one went. There would have been no way that he would have been able to even stand upright, let alone reach out the window. I guess thats some of the charm's of the film - some truly terrific miniature work and outstanding matte paintings are balanced out by numerous absurdities and some absolutely awful effects.
"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

I think that the filmmakers could have used mechanical cows, to make it more real. Anyway, motionless cattle isn't the only thing spoiling the scene since everything in the background seems to remain steady. You can notice it by looking at the road sign, for example.
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I think the whole cattle thing was suppose to reiterate the horror of the quake and all the lives lost (human or otherwise). I did see the movie on the big screen and although I noticed the cow mistake, it didn't take much at all away from how real the freeway collapse looked (especially on the big screen) in 1974. They should have just stuck with a regular, covered cargo trailer. The scene would have worked perfectly then.
I have a great old book about the making of Earthquake with some cool pictures of some of the miniatures. They were actually pretty good size. The Capitol Records building looks like it was at least 10 feet tall, and the house that rolls down the side of the hill was probably the size of a small bedroom.

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I watched it last night, and this is how they looked on tv.
http://www.jimusnr.com/q12b.jpg

What made me laugh is that the cow looked Grey. At least paint the damn things.
Le Roi Est Mort,
VIVE
Le Roi! - E N I G M A
3

Having seen this on the big screen last year (in "Sensurround," no less) at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the scene you mention actually plays much better. Yes, it's bigger and supposedly more noticeable on the larger screen, but it's much more impressive and realistic.
Although, why they chose cows of all things, I'll never know. They should have chosen a city bus or something like that.
"It's people"

Yes the bending of the office building was crappy.
I thought one of the best effects at the time was the shot of the city in flames straight after the quake,it still looks quite impressive viewing it these days even though it was done with paintings.

I saw this movie in Sensurround during it's theatrical run in December 1974. I was 12 and saw it a week after Towering Inferno, which had amazing effects. On the big screen, even as a 12 year old I laughed at:

1. the fake cows glued to the truck
2. the animated blood when the elevator crashes
3. the way the office building containing daddy Lorne Greene bends and warps during the quake
4. the cardboard houses that almost fall on Bujold.
   that being said, I still had a good time, got swept up in the post disaster and was impressed with the spoiler heavy ending. I just wished that the effects weren't so uneven.

The funny thing is, for a film that has some VERY uneven special effects, the highway collapse scenes are among the best in the film. The miniature automobiles and trucks are perfect. It really does look like a concrete highway and metal vehicles. The only thing that distracts were the cattle staying put in the truck. Of course, I first saw this during its original theatrical run with sensurround, and that terrific sound device actually effected ones senses in such a way that you weren't just staring at the screen. I'll take expert miniature effects work over most CGI any day.
"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Howdy
Well the effects are from 1974 so all we had were minatures to work with.. I think it would have looked funny if the little fake cows flew out of the truck as it went over the side of the highway people would have laughed at seeing that i bet
The King of TV Comedy : John Ritter

i thought that when i watched it earlier in the week, maybe some escaped when it landed.