What to do -- and what not to do -- when there’s a critter in the road.

[Matt White]

http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/avoiding-animals/20061102141609990001

By BENGT HALVORSON

As urban areas continue to push outward and displace animals from their natural habitats, and as formerly empty rural lanes become plagued with traffic, collisions between cars and the animals seem an almost inevitable consequence. Car-deer collisions, the most common throughout most of the country, cost an average of $1,500 in damage each, according to Michigan figures, and nationally there are thousands of injuries and more than 100 fatalities each year as the result of collisions with animals.

With those figures in mind, here are some tips on how to minimize the chances of hitting deer -- and other animals -- on the highway:

Take special care near deer-crossing warning signs. Be aware that deer adapt well to living close to humans and that populated areas are as likely to have many animals around. The signs are there for a reason.
Minimize your distractions from passengers, food and accessories like cell phones. If your full attention is on the road, you'll be more likely to spot approaching animals with your peripheral vision. Get in the habit of scanning the roadside as you drive.

Use your high beams whenever possible. They will give you more time to spot and react to animals in the road.

Keep your speed down at night. Most collisions do occur on narrow, two-lane rural highways, but they can occur on any type of road. Just because an interstate highway has animal fences doesn't mean animals won't get inside.

If you see one animal, expect that there are others nearby. According to the Animal Protection Institute, 70 percent of deer-car collisions result after the driver slowed down for one deer and then accelerated, failing to see another.

Know which seasons and times are worse than others. The period each day from an hour before sunset until midnight is the time when the most collisions occur, but the hours around dawn are also risky. Deer are on the move more in fall and early spring, but in the summer they tend to sometimes be out during daylight times. Be especially watchful for animals in fair weather periods before storms.

If you do see a deer or other animal in the road ahead, don't slam on the brakes. Keep your lane position and sound your horn while braking in a controlled manner. Sudden panic stops are not a good idea, as they could spook the animal, perhaps causing it to suddenly dart into the path of another vehicle.

Do not try to swerve around an animal! You could lose control of your vehicle and hit a tree or another vehicle -- both potentially much worse than hitting a deer. If you swerve, there's also a chance that the animal will panic and run into your path.

Always consider if the land along the highway could host large animals, and if you think it could, anticipate that they might run out into the road. It's much easier to anticipate animal encounters and be ready to react calmly than to deal with the costly expenses, injuries and guilty conscience of a collision.

You gotta be careful out there....

Whitetail Deer kill more people every year than Grizzly Bears.....

THEIR KILLERS!!!:mad:

[blonddgirl777]

If you think a deer is a killer... try a MOOSE (actuelly, don't)!

When there is an collision between a car and a moose (especially the huge males), the car gets totaled and everybody in it, dies...

These are scary monsters!

[blonddgirl777]

I am used to see signs (up in the country) with a "beware of the moose"... but when I was in Arizona, I saw some "beware of the snakes". My friends there, told me that it was dangerous to hit a snake with your car as you don't just run over it... you'll get to spin a lot...

When in San-Diego, I saw a "beware of the families" sign on the freeway... now THAT was weird! And of course, sad...

[Matt White]

Yeah...that would be a head-trip...

The problem is, last I heard, the deer heard in MICHIGAN is aboot 4 million deer.....

Just imagine how many there would be if they weren't hunted....

That's what happens when all the natural predators are forced out............

[rustoffa]

Basically, if a stupid fucking deer is in the road in front of you? Abandon hope and stomp the pedal. You don't know what it's going to do..."It" doesn't know what it's going to do. I do know this: The density regarding molecular structure increases with movement. Mass decreases...yadda-yadda...whateverthefuck. It's a pretty stable rule @ that point. The faster you go, the smaller you become. Whatever you do, don't slam-on-brakes.
:D

[Northern Girl]

Originally posted by blonddgirl777
When there is an collision between a car and a moose (especially the huge males), the car gets totaled and everybody in it, dies...

Yeah, moose are the worst because they are darker brown and harder to see, and the long legs. If you hit it straight on, the body will for sure come right through the windshield. An elderly couple just got decapitated that way here about a month ago. :(

[Hardrock69]

I see ex-deer lying around everywhere here. If I see one, there are usually more. I have had to slow down before or come to a halt because the damn deer would be standing in the middle of the road. I had to yell at one and drive right at it from a dead stop in order to scare it off the road. :rolleyes:

I don't want one of them to collide with MY vehicle....

Then there are the usual multitudes of possums, squirrel, rabbit, raccoon, skunk, and the occasional cat or dog. Oh and birds too.
I acidentally murdered a bluejay once when the damn thing flew into the front of my vehicle when I was doing 50.

One night I was driving home, and I saw a car that was several hundred feet in front of me slow down rather drastically.

Once I got to that point I could see why. A bull had gotten out of it's fenced in pasture and was standing in the middle of the road. It was a 2-lane blacktop, and I honked at it, and it wandered over to the side of the road and I drove on by. Got home and reported it to 911, and of course mine was not the first report.

So far I have been rather fortunate, in that only 3 or 4 animals have successfully committed suicide by colliding with my vehicle. The largest being a raccoon that basically jumped out in front of my van just in time to become a has been.

As for the deer, there are 3 of them hanging out in my yard right now.

Good thing I am not a hunter.

[twonabomber]

hit the deer, don't swerve. if you hit the deer your insurance will consider it a comprehensive claim, and that won't hurt your rates as much as an at-fault accident will. any one-car accident is an at-fault accident, and if you swerve and hit someone else you're gonna be at fault anyways...so take Bambi out.

a few weeks ago i was heading out around 1:30 am...on my way to the interstate, through the fog i see something big and white in the middle of the road...someone's horse got loose and was wandering around in the middle of the road. i didn't have my cell on me so i couldn't call the cops, and it wasn't there when i came back through so i didn't bother calling the cops when i got home.

[m_dixon1984]

Cull the herd!! In these politically correct times there have been less and less deer and moose licenses issued in around my city of Ottawa and this has led to a ridiculous increase in deer/moose colisions on area roads.

The key is to cull the herd!! Let the hunters go nuts, well responsibly nuts, and keep the populations down to a reasonable level. The PC fools will have you believe that deer and moose rights supercede human rights. They are wrong!! There's no shortage of deer and moose, they aren't endangered, and they're tasty too.

My best friend from high school was nearly killed by a moose and to this day he's partially paralysed due to the accident (VW Rabbit vs bull moose. Bull moose wins every time). These kinds of accidents can be minimized if the herd is culled and the animals have less reason to venture close to developed areas looking for food.

M

[blonddgirl777]

This acquintance of mine was riding in a car (pregnant) with her husband and her 2 parents...
They hit a moose and everyone (but her and the unborn child) died.

Her life is ruined because of a moose!

[blonddgirl777]

Originally posted by Matt White
... That's what happens when all the natural predators are forced out............

Also, here in the city (of course) there are no deers or moose...
You have to drive at least an hour outside to see one.

2 years ago, the deer population got so big that they couldn't all feed themselves... so a couple of them walked many kilometers, swam in the river that surrounds the city and came here... for food!

Can you imagine living in an urbain environmant, waking up in the morning, and seing a deer on in the street?

They had to be put down...

[rustoffa]

:D

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7582/deeln7.jpg

[Seshmeister]

Originally posted by Northern Girl
Yeah, moose are the worst because they are darker brown and harder to see, and the long legs. If you hit it straight on, the body will for sure come right through the windshield. An elderly couple just got decapitated that way here about a month ago. :(


How was the moose?

[Matt White]

Originally posted by rustoffa
:D

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7582/deeln7.jpg

Oh yes....."Chili today..............."

[Seshmeister]

You people leave the civilisation of Europe to go to the wilderness or because of your god superstions and then when occasionally you run into nature and/or the superstition doesn't protect you then you are all up in arms.

What happened to the adventure of the colonies, pitching man against the elements. Killing the inhabitants and conquering new lands.

A moose dented my SUV, Jesus suffering cunt...

You people have got soft.:)

I blame Al Gores interweb!

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by Matt White
Oh yes....."Chili today..............."

Ha!

More like cooler the next day! Check that dog's expression out....

"fuck it...can ya ya give a brother a hand..maybe a leg?"
:p

[Nitro Express]

I live just south of Yelowstone National Park and Teton National Park. We have elk, moose, deer, and black and grizzly bear. I saw a grey wolf along the road this August. Rarely see deer. See lots of elk and can't keep the damn moose from eating the new aspen trees I planted on my property.

Hitting animals here is not my main concern, they pretty much stay off the roads but closer to Yellowstone you better damn well look for bison! They think they own the place.

When I lived in the Salt Lake City area, mule deer were a constant menance in the wintertime. Dead deer along the Alpine Highway all the time and I avoided driving that in the winter at night because of the deer.

When I lived in upstate New York deer were a problem as well but not as bad as in Utah. Possums were fun to hit. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by blonddgirl777
Also, here in the city (of course) there are no deers or moose...
You have to drive at least an hour outside to see one.

2 years ago, the deer population got so big that they couldn't all feed themselves... so a couple of them walked many kilometers, swam in the river that surrounds the city and came here... for food!

Can you imagine living in an urbain environmant, waking up in the morning, and seing a deer on in the street?

They had to be put down...

Sometimes they do have to be put down. People think hunters aren't needed since we get our food from grocery stores now but without hunters, certain animal populations do get too big. Now I can take a poor deer out quick with my 270 deer rifle with a Nosler partition bullet, or it can slowly starve to death in the winter and die a horrible death.

Around here the meat from special hunts goes to the needy. The prime backsrap roasts and lots of bottled venison which most people think is yummy.

The world is a tough place. Sometimes you have to kill things and there isn't anything wrong with it as long as a code of ethics is there to regulate it. Our modern society has removed the law of the wild from a lot of people and they don't understand that there has to be a balance. If there aren't huge packs of wolves to take the deer out, man has to do it. I can kill a deer faster than any natural preditor can.

[Hardrock69]

I pretty much agree that we must try to manage Deer population as much as possible. Aside from traffic problems, if you have a large deer population, it supports an increase in the population of deer's natural predators.

So if you see lotsa deer, rest assured it is possible there may be other more carnivorous beasts around somewhere as well.