Avoiding deer

[AMonger]

A couple nights ago, traveling through the Hoosier, a bigass doe steps out in front of me. Through quick use of the brake and steering wheel, everybody got out in one piece, undamaged.

Everybody says not to leave the lane of traffic to avoid wildlife, but when she stepped out into my lane and stopped in my headlights in my lane, I didn't want to go around her to the left because she might continue across into that lane. The shoulder was fine and had I not taken it, I'd be minus a grill, a headlight or two, and various other body parts, maybe a radiator even. Had it been winter with a sloppy shoulder, maybe it would have been different.

So what would everybody else have done?

 

[xmudman]

I think you did the right thing.

 

[moose]

getting old here, but, taking a skid pad training is all about avoiding road hazards .
there is no one answer, and it will depends on gazillion of unpredicted situations.
i have radically avoided a big buck last month at 2 am, and can ONLY made it throe, thanks to the training received a decade ago.
when it comes to deers,at nighttime you are overdriving your headlights, and when the deer deiced to showed up, it will all depends on how good the driver kept his eyes moving in the few seconds leading to the deer.
last time i'v clipped a buck, it was bad...real bad !

 

[layoutshooter]

It is always better to hit them than lose control. IF there is a way out I take it but if there is no good choice then I hit them.

 

[Turtle]

I'd have done the same as you. I've done that more times than I can count. The only thing is, when you leave your lane and go for the shoulder or the other lane, the only thing you can hit is the deer who met you over there. If you hit another car or a tree, then it's a preventable accident and you're screwed. If you plow right through the deer never having left your lane, you're golden. Thousands of dollars worth of damage, and maybe dead, but golden. I'll brake and swerve to miss them if I can, but always (hopefully) with the presence of mind as to not have my defensive driving be the cause of an accident. I have probably 3 or 4 near misses a year. So far so good.

 

[Steady Eddie]

If you missed the deer, other cars, kelpt control, then I guess you did the right thing. I, and we all have come close, some hits and some near misses. I have two deer alarms on each side, (Yes Jenny, I replaced that one very easly). Plus I had TV antenna on the right window that makes a lot of noise. I've had them come out on the road and turn back at a full run. Do deer alarms work? Never hit a deer yet, some say no some say yes. If something is chasing them, nothing will stop them. Aim for the rear end of the deer, you did.

 

[tumbleweeds]

If you missed the deer, other cars, kelpt control, then I guess you did the right thing. I, and we all have come close, some hits and some near misses. I have two deer alarms on each side, (Yes Jenny, I replaced that one very easly). Plus I had TV antenna on the right window that makes a lot of noise. I've had them come out on the road and turn back at a full run. Do deer alarms work? Never hit a deer yet, some say no some say yes. If something is chasing them, nothing will stop them. Aim for the rear end of the deer, you did.

We put the deer alarms on our van a couple of weeks ago after nearly hitting a deer. I was told that the Colorado State Patrol used them because of hitting so many deer on the highway between Craig and Gunnison. They said that the number of deer hit dropped amazingly. I don't know how well they work but the deer we have seen since we got them just freeze and watch us go past. Which is okay as long as they don't freeze in our lane.

Did hit a raccoon last night in Missouri. Guess it is time for a brush guard for the deer and flour, salt and pepper for the raccoons.

 

[Turtle]

Deer alerts do not have any more of an effect than the road noise and the noise of the vehicle. Neither humans or deer can hear ultrasonic frequencies above 20,000 kHz, and the decibel level of the sound made by deer alerts are at or below the vehicle noise, anyway. There is nothing in nature that deer are naturally afraid of that makes ultrasonic sounds, especially those ultrasonic sounds they cannot hear, so hearing an ultrasonic sound is not likely to make them run away any more than seeing two points of light off in the distance (your headlights) will make them run away.

Extensive tests reported independently by Washington State University, the Oregon State University Cooperative Extension Service, University of Wisconsin Wildlife Department, the "Road Management & Engineering Journal", the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Georgia's, North Carolina's, Colorado's and Kentucky's Game and Fish Departments, and tests by state police in Ohio, Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin, not to mention extensive testing in Europe and anecdotal evidence of body shops, all show the same results: you have precisely the same chance of hitting a deer with a deer alert as you do without one. The difference between having one and not having on is statistically insignificant, and in some cases the incidence of hitting deer actually rose with the alerts installed (the Ohio State Police and the Utah State Police).

If you want to frighten deer along the road in front of you, record dogs barking and play the recording on a loop though a loudspeaker mounted on the front of your truck, and keep your truck well washed down with wolf pee.

 

[Steady Eddie]

Deer alerts do not have any more of an effect than the road noise and the noise of the vehicle. Neither humans or deer can hear ultrasonic frequencies above 20,000 kHz, and the decibel level of the sound made by deer alerts are at or below the vehicle noise, anyway. There is nothing in nature that deer are naturally afraid of that makes ultrasonic sounds, especially those ultrasonic sounds they cannot hear, so hearing an ultrasonic sound is not likely to make them run away any more than seeing two points of light off in the distance (your headlights) will make them run away.

Extensive tests reported independently by Washington State University, the Oregon State University Cooperative Extension Service, University of Wisconsin Wildlife Department, the "Road Management & Engineering Journal", the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Georgia's, North Carolina's, Colorado's and Kentucky's Game and Fish Departments, and tests by state police in Ohio, Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin, not to mention extensive testing in Europe and anecdotal evidence of body shops, all show the same results: you have precisely the same chance of hitting a deer with a deer alert as you do without one. The difference between having one and not having on is statistically insignificant, and in some cases the incidence of hitting deer actually rose with the alerts installed (the Ohio State Police and the Utah State Police).

If you want to frighten deer along the road in front of you, record dogs barking and play the recording on a loop though a loudspeaker mounted on the front of your truck, and keep your truck well washed down with wolf pee.

Ultrasonic frequencies ?? Who said they were? I can hear mine just fine. Like I said, I do not know if they work or not, but the deer do watch me as I pass, never did before. Cows even look up at me now...

 

[Dakota]

If you want to frighten deer along the road in front of you, record dogs barking and play the recording on a loop though a loudspeaker mounted on the front of your truck, and keep your truck well washed down with wolf pee.

I bet your van smells awful, do other drivers complain when you park near them?

 

[Turtle]

Ultrasonic frequencies ?? Who said they were? I can hear mine just fine.

Not all of them are ultrasonic, but most are marketed as ultrasonic devices. The non-ultrasonic devices don't scare deer away, either.

Like I said, I do not know if they work or not, but the deer do watch me as I pass, never did before. Cows even look up at me now...

I see them watch me as I pass them all the time. Same with cows. But it depends on how close they are to me when I pass. Really close and they look, half a mile away and they don't look. But that's all they do, as they generally don't run away unless I rapidly slow down or do something else that they aren't expecting.

Ever get a new car and then suddenly notice that everywhere you look you see the same car. Never noticed all of 'em before. I recently towed my Sprinter home from Pennsylvania, using a U-Haul dolly because I couldn't find a flatbed trailer big enough to carry the Sprinter. The whole way home I swear about every third vehicle was towing a car on a trailer, and most of them were using trailers big enough to haul a Sprinter. Never noticed them before.

Ever notice that, generally speaking, all the cows in a field are facing the same way?

 

[Steady Eddie]

Not all of them are ultrasonic, but most are marketed as ultrasonic devices. The non-ultrasonic devices don't scare deer away, either. I see them watch me as I pass them all the time. Same with cows. But it depends on how close they are to me when I pass. Really close and they look, half a mile away and they don't look. But that's all they do, as they generally don't run away unless I rapidly slow down or do something else that they aren't expecting.

Ever get a new car and then suddenly notice that everywhere you look you see the same car. Never noticed all of 'em before. I recently towed my Sprinter home from Pennsylvania, using a U-Haul dolly because I couldn't find a flatbed trailer big enough to carry the Sprinter. The whole way home I swear about every third vehicle was towing a car on a trailer, and most of them were using trailers big enough to haul a Sprinter. Never noticed them before.

Ever notice that, generally speaking, all the cows in a field are facing the same way?

Well, they are not made to scare them away, but to ensure they see you. If they hear you, they will see you. Try this, blow your horn at a deer. Sometimes they will look up, but when they do, they are looking at the place where you first blew your horn, not at you as you pass them. If you stay on the horn they follow, watch, you as you drive pass them. I've run onto the rumbler strip and it did nothing to the deer, that was very close to the road.

 

[blizzard2014]

I have hit two deer in the past two and a half years. I think i'm more than qualified to put an end to this argument. Each time I hit the deer it was between 3 am and 6 am in the morning. Oh, yeah, one of the times I hit a deer I had two working deer whistles on the van and they did nothing to stop the deer from running out in front of me. I'm not sure if these deer were posessed or what, but both times they actually made eye contact with me and literally stepped out in front of my van like they were comitting suicide. I had absolutely no time to swerve or react, all I could do is step on the brake and plow right into them.

So, the first one saw me "made eye contact" I had an instinctive feeling it was going to jump out in front of my van "it did" and it all happened so fast I couldn't do anything but hit the darn thing. I also had a deer run out in front of me in Texas 2 months ago, but it was daytime, and even while being distracted on the phone, I was able to slightly swerve into the left lane to narrowly avoid the back end of the animal "and I did!" Deer whistles did not help me in my case. I'm not sure about the rest of you guys, but that is my two horns on this subject.

 

[Steady Eddie]

I have hit two deer in the past two and a half years. I think i'm more than qualified to put an end to this argument. Each time I hit the deer it was between 3 am and 6 am in the morning. Oh, yeah, one of the times I hit a deer I had two working deer whistles on the van and they did nothing to stop the deer from running out in front of me. I'm not sure if these deer were posessed or what, but both times they actually made eye contact with me and literally stepped out in front of my van like they were comitting suicide. I had absolutely no time to swerve or react, all I could do is step on the brake and plow right into them.

So, the first one saw me "made eye contact" I had an instinctive feeling it was going to jump out in front of my van "it did" and it all happened so fast I couldn't do anything but hit the darn thing. I also had a deer run out in front of me in Texas 2 months ago, but it was daytime, and even while being distracted on the phone, I was able to slightly swerve into the left lane to narrowly avoid the back end of the animal "and I did!" Deer whistles did not help me in my case. I'm not sure about the rest of you guys, but that is my two horns on this subject.

Don't think it's an argument.
But hey, Go back to CA where there are no twisters or deer and you'll be safe.

 

[Turtle]

I do know that the sound of a deer whistle and the sound of a vehicle and its road noise move outward, including forward, from the vehicle at the same speed. I also know that whether the deer hear the road noise or a deer whistle, when the look up and "see" you, they only see two points of light. The two points of light could be two flashlights or two headlights, and they will look identical.

 

[moose]

I was told that the Colorado State Patrol used them because of hitting so many deer on the highway between Craig and Gunnison. They said that the number of deer hit dropped amazingly. .

That's nothing...nothing, how'bout avoiding hitting an Elephant when you can't slow down or swing around ?
there's a train in Africa that average hitting 15 Elephant a year .
(there's a youtube clip on it, but it is too graphic for my taste to post the link)

last week a train in SriLanka hit 3 at the same morning :

Cryptozoology Online: Daily News: Three Sri Lankan elephants killed after being hit by train

West Bengal: Seven elephants killed by speeding train

 

[tumbleweeds]

First time an elephant runs out in front of me at 3am, I'm quitting. If I survive. Can't carry enough flour, salt and pepper for an elephant.

 

[Turtle]

I had a tank run out in front of me in middle of the night once. Shot out in front of me at relatively high speed with no warning, and I had to swerve and brake to miss it. I was driving down through the middle of Fort Stewart, GA.

 

[AMonger]

I hear a tank will really mess up your van. Not like a deer where you lose your grill and headlights, a tank makes the whole thing crumple. I've never seen such a collision, just what I've heard.

I had a tank run out in front of me in middle of the night once. Shot out in front of me at relatively high speed with no warning, and I had to swerve and brake to miss it. I was driving down through the middle of Fort Stewart, GA.

 

[aristotle]

Probably the most effective and proactive measure to reduce deer strikes is to reduce driving speed betwen dusk and dawn. Dropping down to 55mph or even 60mph gives a driver more reaction time and a shorter stopping distance. Overdriving one's headlights at night is asking for trouble. Slow down a little, it helps.