Quote:
Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses
Problem with that is your COG drops when you brake, raising the chance that the body enters through the windshield and DOES kill you. The better move is to accelerate and that's what any defensive driving course will teach you.
|
Nope. The nose of the car drops slightly when braking, the CG remains at a nearly unchanged height, and at the end of the day, the biggest (by far) factor is that you hit going slower. Accelerating increases the risk, and increases the likely damage to your vehicle. If any defensive driving course teaches you to accelerate, I would seriously question the advice given in that course. All the actual advice I can find states exactly the opposite. For example:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Minnesota DoT
"It's safer to hit a deer than to risk hitting another vehicle or a fixed object such as a tree," she said. "Apply your brakes firmly, hold onto the steering wheel and bring your vehicle to a controlled stop."
|
(http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/03/10/31deer.html)
You probably wouldn't want to panic brake, for the same reason that you wouldn't want to swerve: you want to minimize the chance of losing control and hitting something else. However, you do want to minimize your energy on impact as best you can, and this is ALWAYS achieved by hitting it at the lowest speed possible (assuming you can't avoid it entirely). Some sources also recommend releasing the brake just before impact, both due to the front end lift this will cause, and (again) to improve the chances you will maintain control throughout and after the impact, however this is very different than advising that you accelerate (which is pretty much never a good idea).