Was On The Highway When...
 

On the way to work this morning I was coming up behind a truck when he decided to swerve to miss a deer. It did not go well for him!
We were just entering a curve and he dropped his trailer wheels off the shoulder, lost control, shot straight into the 10 foot ditch, flipped upside down and slid about 100 yards.
I pulled over just past him, took one look at the cab and called 911. I was in no rush as I didn't think rescue was going to be an issue and body recovery is not a panic situation.
As I am talking to the dispatcher I look in the mirror and see this dude climbing out of the little space remaining of the passenger side window.
Yep it was the driver! Not so much as a scratch or a bruise on him. I have no idea how though.


On a related note, drywall can really fly when a trailer tips at almost 70MPH.

pretty amazing. and to watch it happen. crazy. but in reality, just another normal day on the roads it seems

JFC!! Thanks for being a good Samaritan. Most people wouldn't stop anymore.

There wasn't another car in sight for miles when it happened but several trucks stopped when they came up to it. There was no shortage of good Samaritans I just happened to be the first one there since I was only about 10 car lengths back when it happened. I was just getting ready to go around him when I spotted the deer up ahead and backed off.
He should have just smoked it.

Woof. I'm glad the driver was OK. I've hit four deer in my life. Swerving, as you know and have seen, is almost universally a bad idea. One can't predict what the deer will do, and swerving compounds that by creating a situation where the vehicle is much MORE difficult to control. In situation with other traffic in the vicinity, even more lives are now at risk. Brake hard, soften (or hopefully avoid) the impact, and live to see another day (and another car if necessary).

I've lived in the heart of serious deer country most of my adult life. I know four deer hits sound like a lot, but I typically see at least two or three every time I get in my car. That is not an exaggeration. That's a lot of deer over almost 40 years of driving. I used to think they were beautiful cute animals. They are.. in the forest. On the highways, not so much. I had one real, REAL near miss on my motorcycle. Scariest thing that's ever happened to me; I though I was dead. I don't ride much at night any more, and that happened about 20 years ago. I still have nightmares about it. Didn't lay the bike down; just locked the brakes, tucked my head, and prayed. It worked, thank God. I pulled over, shook for about twenty minutes, then rode home to my wife and kids, gave'em all hugs, and stopped riding at night mostly.

Stay safe out there. Again, I'm glad the driver was OK.

Barry

The conventional wisdom is to hit the animal and stay on the road as opposed to swerve, although I dont know if I could do that in a car (stupid avoidance instincts). Was the truck driver a newbie? Also, glad he was ok.

Also, you can always tell when there is a deer/truck strike around here. Huuuuuge red stain on the pavement...and not a piece of deer to be seen. Morbid side of me wants to witness that sometime, but I think I may end up vegetarian afterwards.

Wow. Someone was watching over him.

The driver never touched his brakes throughout the whole thing.
The deer scampered away safe and sound and is sitting on a deer forum this minute saying "Well I was crossing the highway this morning when..."


I am always on deer alert on that section of highway since I can see dozens of smears that used to be deer every trip. Only had one near miss in all my years of traveling there though.


Mind you even the smears hold hazards of their own:

Only seen one accident as it happened in my life. Light was turning red I started to slow down it was a 2 lane main road 1 lane side street. As I'm slowing down a semi passes me in the other lane. At that point I knew he was either not paying attention or going for it. either way the old lady in the F150 did not look before pulling out as she had the green light and a lot of people (not including myself) don't look before pulling out on a green. Long story short her F150 gets t boned by this semi going at least 50 mph. No idea how she survived the crash but her unsecured rocking chair basically became a missle and launched out of the bed of the truck exploding into 1 million pieces all over the road about 300 yards down the road.

WOW! I honestly can't believe that guy was OK. Hooray for modern engineering and crumple zones.

I put those stupid deer whistles on my truck, and driving home one night a 4 point buck decided he wanted to get a good listen the the whistle... I saw him coming and knew that no swerving would save me, so I slowed a bit and he put his left ear right to the whistle on my bumper. Snapped his neck and busted up the front right section of my truck.

The fucked up part is that he was flopping in the road, so I retrieved a weapon to finish the poor guy off and drag him to the side. BUT HE JUMPED UP AND TOOK OFF INTO THE WOODS FULL TILT WITH HIS HEAD DANGLING BACKWARDS ON HIS SHOULDER! That image was quite unsettling to say the least.

http://66.media.tumblr.com/748c3ad58...b56zo1_400.gif

I was racing up a mountain and the family of deers had their hats some jumped in the street for a closer look. I think they all knew what was going on no fear.

Yea, I hit a deer with my BRZ a couple weeks ago. :(

I'm proud myself though It was a two lane road with in rural america with no shoulder or run off area, just trees, and I didn't swerve. I just hit it and kept driving.

Actually I was surprised how bad the damage was when I stopped. It seemed to kind of just bounce off.