Do you swerve to avoid deer

grumpygy

quote:SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Oregon authorities advise drivers not to swerve when they see deer or elk in the roadway. Drivers who swerve are likely to lose control or crash into another vehicle. Authorities say it's best to slow down and stay in your lane. The advice comes from Oregon State Police, the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as we enter November, the month when the most collisions with wildlife usually occur. An average of 142 wildlife collisions occurred in November over the past five years in Oregon. The Statesman Journal reports there were a total of about 1,200 wildlife crashes last year. Officials say the number of deer trying to cross roads increases in deer rut, the annual fall breeding season

utbrowningman

And then you have a deer/elk who literally becomes a back seat driver.

grumpygy

Reason I ask each time I have swearved I had time to know I would not involve another car. But If I had not I would be dead at least 3 times.

JamesRK

I usually don't have time to swerve, and if I did have time it wouldn't make much difference. About the time you see him/her, one or both of you are dead.

wundudnee

I just aim for the fat part. It's worked so far, two big deer and one small horse. I hit all three doing between 50-60mph. I really didn't have time to swerve, I hit he brakes then hit the deer.

GuvamintCheese

I've hit two, or should I say 2 hit me. No time to swerve.

machine gun moran

I brake going straight ahead. I would rather take on a deer than a grain hauler. But I hold my speed to about 30 on the backroads around here at night. It has saved me from whacking a lot of deer (and 'possums and raccoons). I've had a couple of close ones with deer that bounded across the road in the middle of the day (fairly unusual) when I was doing about 50, and the last one of those was a miss by about a foot.

Mr. Perfect

Never swerve.

Mobuck

I won't drive or slide off the road to miss a deer but I will move to one side if that may help miss the animal. The last year before I retired, I added a super strong winch bumper to the Jeep. Hit one deer w/o doing any damage to the Jeep. Would not be w/o this type of bumper now. This one has a bar at hood level to knock animals down rather than have them come up on the hood/windshield(deer sized animals).

Grasshopper

NEVER---AND DON'T EVER DO IT-

jjmitchell60

Do I swerve, he!! yes!
My late uncle was a deputy sheriff in a rural county here in KY. he worked a wreck one fall where a nice 10 point buck ran into the road and was hit by a lady in a car. One of the tines of teh antlers was embedded 2 inches into the lady's chest when the deer went through the windshield. The lady survived BUT barely. This happened in Bath County, KY in the 1990s in the Salt Lick community area.
So do I swerve, as I said, he!! yes!!!

JustC

insurance company told my pard that he gets more money if there is deer fur in the grill/bumper. This way they KNOW it was a deer, and not an excuse. he swerved, and subsequently broke his ankle when the floor buckled up. Now, and since then, I brake, but don't swerve. But then again, they tend to go under of off the front of a suburban

Waco Waltz

I been lucky and keep my eyes open and reduce speeds in areas where I might expect one to be. So far none have jumped out with no time to take any action.