I hate deer - no seriously

dmhenderson · 07-14-2012, 10:06 PM

Of course I used the brakes. I downshifted, braked and turned hard right to attempt to avoid the impact and the deer struck my left front fender dead on. You can pretty clearly see where the point of impact was from the pictures. It drilled my front left fender/wheel well, made a halfassed attempt to jump at the last second (destroying my windshield) then dragged down the side of the car ruining the door panel. ripping off the mirror and dinging the rear quarterpanel

Because the deer literally came charging from off the road to the left (and wasn't already in front of me), I didn't see it until it was on top of me which cost me reaction time. I had maybe a second or two tops to react and I did the best I could to protect the vehicle, myself and my passenger. All things considered, I think I did a pretty good job.

A direct hit to the engine bay or say...having the deer end up in my lap would have been a disaster.

You are correct that you do not swerve to avoid an animal that is in front of you. This deer wasn't standing in the path of the car so that advice doesn't apply here.

UNKNOWN_370 · 07-15-2012, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmhenderson

Of course I used the brakes. I downshifted, braked and turned hard right to attempt to avoid the impact and the deer struck my left front fender dead on. You can pretty clearly see where the point of impact was from the pictures. It drilled my front left fender/wheel well, made a halfassed attempt to jump at the last second (destroying my windshield) then dragged down the side of the car ruining the door panel. ripping off the mirror and dinging the rear quarterpanel

Because the deer literally came charging from off the road to the left (and wasn't already in front of me), I didn't see it until it was on top of me which cost me reaction time. I had maybe a second or two tops to react and I did the best I could to protect the vehicle, myself and my passenger. All things considered, I think I did a pretty good job.

A direct hit to the engine bay or say...having the deer end up in my lap would have been a disaster.

You are correct that you do not swerve to avoid an animal that is in front of you. This deer wasn't standing in the path of the car so that advice doesn't apply here.

I feel you on that... I better understand the situation. But like I said. What's most important is that you're ok. Sometimes we can't avoid an accident no matter what we do? But, in your statement you had said you were traveling at 45mph and tried to swerve. So that's why I gave the advice of trying to brake. But I see you tried to swerve and brake.

Either way... I'm just glad you're safe bruh.

All I was saying in general is we keep building cities because we're allowing our country to overpopulate too quickly. Between unlimited legal immigration, illegal immigration and some of the highest pregnancy rates in the world. We won't have anyplace for our wildlife to live. Eventually, we won't just be hitting deer. We'll be hitting moose, mountain lions, sheep, goat, horses, bears, and all kinds of other shyt. Its getting bad. We are at a point where we are getting all kinds of wild animals walking around inside cities. We never saw stuff like this 30 years ago. And its common now. People are hitting more deer than ever because of the enormous reduction in our forests over the last 30 years. Its just getting outta hand with all this construction. Wildlife has no choice but to travel where we do.

NuffZed · 07-15-2012, 12:09 PM

I investigate accidents for a living and am a certified accident investigator by all north american standards. Armchair second guessing quarterbacks who werent there aside you did the right thing here man. Avoidance maneuvers and braking was 100% the correct thing to do in these circumstances.

Avoidance maneuvers often lessen the seriousness of an accident but not all of them. With large long legged animals like deer, elk, moose which sadly get hit frequently, hitting them directly with a car often results in them coming through the windshield. This often kills, particularly with the bigger ones, or seriously injures the front seat occupants when the front of the vehicle cuts thier legs out from under them and lands them on your hood.

It is a measure of your skill as a driver that you chose the correct action in the split seconds you had to react. Well done. If you had hit the animal directly while trusting entirely on your brakes to avoid the collision I think the results would have been worse.

birdmanx1 · 07-15-2012, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NuffZed

I investigate accidents for a living and am a certified accident investigator by all north american standards. Armchair second guessing quarterbacks who werent there aside you did the right thing here man. Avoidance maneuvers and braking was 100% the correct thing to do in these circumstances.

Avoidance maneuvers often lessen the seriousness of an accident but not all of them. With large long legged animals like deer, elk, moose which sadly get hit frequently, hitting them directly with a car often results in them coming through the windshield. This often kills, particularly with the bigger ones, or seriously injures the front seat occupants when the front of the vehicle cuts thier legs out from under them and lands them on your hood.

It is a measure of your skill as a driver that you chose the correct action in the split seconds you had to react. Well done. If you had hit the animal directly while trusting entirely on your brakes to avoid the collision I think the results would have been worse.

Great stuff.

07-14-2012, 10:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
dmhenderson A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 5,930 Drives: AWD TT 370z Rep Power: 27	Of course I used the brakes. I downshifted, braked and turned hard right to attempt to avoid the impact and the deer struck my left front fender dead on. You can pretty clearly see where the point of impact was from the pictures. It drilled my front left fender/wheel well, made a halfassed attempt to jump at the last second (destroying my windshield) then dragged down the side of the car ruining the door panel. ripping off the mirror and dinging the rear quarterpanel Because the deer literally came charging from off the road to the left (and wasn't already in front of me), I didn't see it until it was on top of me which cost me reaction time. I had maybe a second or two tops to react and I did the best I could to protect the vehicle, myself and my passenger. All things considered, I think I did a pretty good job. A direct hit to the engine bay or say...having the deer end up in my lap would have been a disaster. You are correct that you do not swerve to avoid an animal that is in front of you. This deer wasn't standing in the path of the car so that advice doesn't apply here. Last edited by dmhenderson; 07-14-2012 at 10:14 PM.

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07-15-2012, 12:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
NuffZed Base Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: Canada Posts: 105 Drives: 12 370ZR Blk Rose M6 Rep Power: 14	I investigate accidents for a living and am a certified accident investigator by all north american standards. Armchair second guessing quarterbacks who werent there aside you did the right thing here man. Avoidance maneuvers and braking was 100% the correct thing to do in these circumstances. Avoidance maneuvers often lessen the seriousness of an accident but not all of them. With large long legged animals like deer, elk, moose which sadly get hit frequently, hitting them directly with a car often results in them coming through the windshield. This often kills, particularly with the bigger ones, or seriously injures the front seat occupants when the front of the vehicle cuts thier legs out from under them and lands them on your hood. It is a measure of your skill as a driver that you chose the correct action in the split seconds you had to react. Well done. If you had hit the animal directly while trusting entirely on your brakes to avoid the collision I think the results would have been worse.