A tire iron, a murder, and a car wreck...

[Ludichris]

This is going back some years, but figured I would tell the story here anyway. There was this guy in my class in high school, and he was elected "most likely to race the Indy 500" in those silly mock elections that a lot of schools have for the seniors. This story occurred back in about 1990 by the way. So him and me were driving home from hanging out with some friends one night, and he was driving his mid-80's model Mustang. He had this thing that he liked to do where he would pretend like he didn't see a stoplight, stop sign, object in the road, whatever...and then slam on the brakes at the last possible safe stopping distance (hey...we were only like 17 at the time...). So it's night time, in northern Michigan, on a rural road, and we're tired, it's late, just driving home. Way off in the distance up ahead, I see a dear...it was probably about 3/4 mile-1 mile ahead. So I start saying, "Matt??"...and he wasn't answering, I figured he was doing one of his goofy stunts again and pretending not to see it. The closer we got (and we were probably doing about 60-70MPH knowing him), I said inquired with him a couple more times..."Matt?"..."Matt??!"....."MATT!!!!! DEER!!!!". He didn't see it. We smacked that dear doing probably at least 50MPH. We did two complete 360's and another 180 degree turn in the road, but we at least stayed on the road and didn't go flying off into the woods or anything. The car came to a stop, the front end was totaled, and then we checked on the deer. That poor deer was still alive...badly injured, at least two broken legs, maybe three...trying for all it was worth to stand upright on his one or two good legs. Obviously it was in a lot of pain...and we knew it wasn't going to live, so we looked around for what tools we had to end it's misery. He had a 4-way tire iron in his trunk. One hard knock to the head, and the deer was dead. :-( We lived in a small town (it's still HOME to me, my family still lives there), so he radio'd ahead to the police department (CB radio...it still worked, and a lot of people had 'em in their cars up there back then). The police drove out and gave us a ride into town, took me home, took him down to the station to fill out a police report for the insurance company. When you're that age...you don't want to "call somebody out", because you'll appear scared, and being scared isn't cool at that age. :-) If that happened now, of course, I would have mentioned that there was a deer about a mile up the road as soon as I saw it, and also asked him to slow down because there might be more.

[rustyroger]

I have been advised by people who learned the hard way (in Texas but I guess it applies anywhere), if a deer run across the road in front of you; SLAM ON THE BRAKES!, there will be others following.

That little gem of information might have saved me totalling a car more than once.

When I was travelling in the Australian outback I was advised not to travel at night, apparently wild cattle like to lie on the road for warmth at night.
After I hit two kangaroos I decided it was a good idea.

Roger.

[94SilverSSEi]

Wow! What a story. I'm glad I haven't hit any animals.

The only thing we usually get around here is a lot of squirrels. Those blasted little things.

Now I'm to the point, I'll speed up to take one out. (they get the hint and run real fast)
Have yet to hit anything though.

[00Beast]

Not really sure how you ended up spinning, but I've been told to never swerve for animals. You go in the ditch and wreck the car up, there's no proof you swerved to hit an animal, you could've fallen asleep, etc. Better to hit it and deal with that (Obviously slam on the brakes).

[Ludichris]

Not really sure how you ended up spinning, but I've been told to never swerve for animals. You go in the ditch and wreck the car up, there's no proof you swerved to hit an animal, you could've fallen asleep, etc. Better to hit it and deal with that (Obviously slam on the brakes).

You are correct Sir. An insurance company would NEVER cover the accident if the proof of what caused it runs away and there isn't so much as a chunk of fur in the front grill. Michigan, especially in the northern part, is pretty infamous for their deer. To this day I still get a little nervous traveling by night in northern Michigan. My Dad's hit one, my Mom's hit one, I'm pretty sure my sister has hit one, and dozens of my friends have hit them over the years. You get to where you're always scanning not only the road, but the SIDES of the road, for the reflection off their eyes, moving shadows, etc. Michigan has a lot of deer up there, for sure! Thankfully, there are also a lot of hunters, and once hunting season starts, it thins the deer population at least a little bit. I think the spinning thing was just a reaction, a knee jerk reaction...northern Michigan boys know not to "completely" avoid the animal...ya gotta at least make contact with 'em so there's proof. :-D

[99-SLE]

This might start a whole new debate, but I've been told not to slam on the brakes before hitting an animal. The reason I'd been told was that the front of the car dives down, giving that much more chance for the animal to come thru the window.

I've never had to put it into practice but I can see the theory behind it

[00Beast]

It's a fine line tho, you def. don't want to hit a deer at 70 MPH...

[92BonneSE]

Honestly I think the reaction depends on the conditions of that incident. I've swerved for deer, locked up the brakes, and drove straight at them. I've been driving late at night and swerved and saved my car I saw the deer within inches of the front right of my car, if I didn't swerve I would of nailed it head on. And no less than a half mile down the road more deer crossed in front of me but I saw them crossing from a distance. IN MY OPINION - Don't swerve unless your in an open area and there's no one else on the road, That way if you do loose control you aren't on a crash course for a tree or another driver ect. Brakes if there's a chance to avoid it but remember about the animal coming through the widow lol. And of course drive straight at it but I would avoid doing that unless it was just entirely to late and there is no chance of avoiding it.

And knock on wood since I haven't had to avoid a deer recently

[00Beast]

Swerve and hit ditch, miss deer: Looks like a loss of control, sleep etc. Higher deductible, higher risk, etc.

Hit deer: Dead deer as proof, less damage as risk, incident is "act of nature", etc. Small risk of deer landing in your lap.

I'll take the latter.

[BonneMe]

Having hit a deer at 50mph in a Pontiac Solstice, i'd rather not do it again. Had it been dead on and not a hit on the front corner, I don't want to imagine how it would've ended up.

To swerve or not depends entirely on comfort level with the car, car's performance level, your tires, traffic, the road conditions, weather, the amount of shoulder/run off before any ditch, etc. I recommend everyone get out to atleast one AutoX/performance driving event in their life, just so they can have a true understanding of what a car can do.

This September I almost rear ended someone, I glanced at the radio, and look up to see a car stopping FAST. instincts took over and I looked at the mirror, and JUMPED to the right lane @ 45mph. Before AutoX, I would've just slammed on the brakes. Even in my new-to-me car I wasn't very comfortable in yet, I was able to avoid them by about 6 inches. I almost had to pull over my hands were buzzing so much...

In short, know your limits, and always have your eyes open. Be aware of the road, and always have an "out" just incase.

[Hotwheels]

Swerve and hit ditch, miss deer: Looks like a loss of control, sleep etc. Higher deductible, higher risk, etc.

Hit deer: Dead deer as proof, less damage as risk, incident is "act of nature", etc. Small risk of deer landing in your lap.

I'll take the latter.

I agree 100%. Up here in da North, deer incidents are so commonplace. It's still amazing the number of idiots that completely demolish a vehicle by swerving, and hit trees, or flip a vehicle. Had a coworker that completely laid his full size Chevy van on its side, then plowed through a few trees.....all to avoid a deer. Completely demolished the van. Ugh.

About 3-4 years ago, a buddy was showing me his beautiful blue '77 Firebird Formula before he put it in winter storage. We got on I-35, headed south, halfway between Owatonna and Albert Lea, MN, and, at 75mph, smoked a deer that jumped out of the median. He was a daredevil of a driver, and thankfully, he didn't swerve, otherwise I might not be writing this. Totally smashed the front clip, core support, radiator, shattered the windshield, and jammed the driver's door, so he couldn't get out. I can still see it all in my head. The kicker is, he had just taken insurance off of it, because he was putting it in storage that week - terrible move. He never made that mistake again! Thankfully, he got the car rebuilt, but all out of pocket.