How To Avoid Deer?

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Originally Posted by Passport1
Two years ago there was a really tragic deer collision incident here in eastern NC. A car going down a country road in early morning light hit a deer and the creature was catapulted into the air. It came down and through the windshield of a vehicle going the other way at that exact moment.

The driver was killed. This was witnessed by one of my coworkers and she was very shook up when she got to work. I've heard that deer are the most dangerous animals in North America.

It's elk that will take the front end off a vehicle. They were so numerous in northwestern Colorado that we had to be careful moving around our plant site. They liked to camp out on our admit building lawn during the warm summer nights. In the winter, we had large herds of them just north of town. Winter of 83 we brought in hay and fed them from our main 345 switchyard. They got to liking that daily breakfast service and never left until fall.

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted by bunnspecial
I had a bit of an interesting experience probably a month and a half back.

I was out driving the MG, and ended up being out after dark. It was probably ~10:00. I was driving along one particular narrow, wooded 2-lane road with a posted 45mph limit. I frequently see deer all along this road, and this particular evening was no exception. I'd pulled into a church parking lot to turn around, and as is often the case at that particular church, I saw a cluster of probably a dozen off in the grass. I'd seen several others at various other spots.

So, in deference to that, I dropped my speed down to ~25mph for probably about a mile until I got out of this particular tight, wooded stretch of road. Shortly after doing that, I saw what looked like a Crown Vic run up on me and nearly hit me from behind.

Once the road opened up a bit and I started to speed up(after stopping at a stop sign)-sure enough blue lights came on in my rear view. I was given the 3rd degree about why I was driving so slowly, and apparently deer on the side of the road wasn't a satisfactory answer. In fact, I was told that I needed to drive the posted limit and if I hit one "that's what insurance was for." My explanation of being in a tiny low convertible and that if I hit one, I was probably dead fell on deaf ears.

I honestly wish I'd been given a ticket or at least a warning. It shook me up enough that I didn't think to ask for the officer's badge number or card, as I would have liked to have complained to his agency. I don't see how reducing my speed after dark on a stretch of road with visible deer on the side is anything other than a smart, responsible thing to do, but oh well.


Who says LEO cannot be bhut-holes as well ? I think you had a perfectly sound explanation , and being in a small MG, or a motorcycle or whatever where a deer strike could equal serious bodily injury ? Give me a ticket and lets see what the judge says.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted by JLTD
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Move to Phoenix where we have no deer

What about the jackalopes?
Nah we don't have those either.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted by rubberchicken
I think you had a perfectly sound explanation , and being in a small MG, or a motorcycle or whatever where a deer strike could equal serious bodily injury ? Give me a ticket and lets see what the judge says.


That was my thinking too,

First of all, I can't believe that any officer patrolling in this particular area(I was in the county, and the officer was wearing brown, which means sheriff in Kentucky) wouldn't be aware of the the very serious possibility of a deer strike.

The cavalier "just go ahead and hit it" in any vehicle, much less a tiny car where a deer strike would most likely mess me up pretty badly if I even lived to tell about it, really took me aback too. It's not like I was holding up a long line of traffic either-there wasn't anyone else behind me before he came barreling along, and if it had been THAT important there were a couple of places where he could have(carefully) passed me.

I'd have LOVED to have taken it in front of a judge and see what their opinion on "obstructing the flow of traffic" or whatever the ticket would have been after dark with visible deer.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

Originally Posted by rubberchicken
Originally Posted by bunnspecial
I had a bit of an interesting experience probably a month and a half back.

I was out driving the MG, and ended up being out after dark. It was probably ~10:00. I was driving along one particular narrow, wooded 2-lane road with a posted 45mph limit. I frequently see deer all along this road, and this particular evening was no exception. I'd pulled into a church parking lot to turn around, and as is often the case at that particular church, I saw a cluster of probably a dozen off in the grass. I'd seen several others at various other spots.

So, in deference to that, I dropped my speed down to ~25mph for probably about a mile until I got out of this particular tight, wooded stretch of road. Shortly after doing that, I saw what looked like a Crown Vic run up on me and nearly hit me from behind.

Once the road opened up a bit and I started to speed up(after stopping at a stop sign)-sure enough blue lights came on in my rear view. I was given the 3rd degree about why I was driving so slowly, and apparently deer on the side of the road wasn't a satisfactory answer. In fact, I was told that I needed to drive the posted limit and if I hit one "that's what insurance was for." My explanation of being in a tiny low convertible and that if I hit one, I was probably dead fell on deaf ears.

I honestly wish I'd been given a ticket or at least a warning. It shook me up enough that I didn't think to ask for the officer's badge number or card, as I would have liked to have complained to his agency. I don't see how reducing my speed after dark on a stretch of road with visible deer on the side is anything other than a smart, responsible thing to do, but oh well.


Who says LEO cannot be bhut-holes as well ? I think you had a perfectly sound explanation , and being in a small MG, or a motorcycle or whatever where a deer strike could equal serious bodily injury ? Give me a ticket and lets see what the judge says.

I think you have to chalk this up to someone having a bad day. I received a similar ticket once. Not much choice but to sit there and let the officer vent. Declined to pay ticket and took it to court. Judge threw it out.