My car was ALMOST killed by a deer last night

[pawoSD]

So last night I was heading home from lansing michigan back to Grand Rapids, about a 71 mile drive from where I go to, and in the last 1/3rd of my drive, all the sudden while I am in the right lane, all by myself, going about 75mph, clear night overall, I see two deer running like mad towards the freeway up ahead, entering into my headlight swath, only problem is that they were about 45 feet away!! So my instant reaction was to swerve left REAL hard, which I did, I cleared the whole left lane and part of the left shoulder in about 4 feet with my massive swerve. (I did not leave the freeway though, I was able to swerve right again and continue on just fine.) The car handled it excellently, I've never had to swerve that hard at that high a speed before. I am 99% sure that if I'd been driving some SUV or something and had to swerve that way it would have flipped and rolled the vehicle. Yet another reason why I will ALWAYS drive a W126/MB.

[Hit Man X]

That would have been bad to see another W126 off the road. I drive pretty slow on the freeway... 65mph max usually. I have no place to go fast.

[pawoSD]

If you go 65 in michigan in a car you'll get run off the road (trucks can pull it off since they're bigger than the speeding SUV's ), even at 75 most people pass me You need to go about 82-84 to "keep with the pack" of everyone going past. But at 75 I can't get a speeding ticket, so thats where I'll stay. I also noted that I am getting almost 28.5 mpg's at 75 or below with cruise control and about 27.8 with it off but speeds kept below or at 75. Very cool!

On a happier note, only 535 miles or so till my car churns over to 240,000 miles!!! Neat!!! I'll probably hit that by the end of this week.

Our '83 is only 290 miles from 271,000, wshew.

[Mismost]

Well flip side.....I almost killed a deer last night! Huge Axis buck I've been seeing crossing into a friend's hayfield. He was there, I was there, and so were about 99 other Axis deer, no clean shot. Oh, well, next time.

Around here, you shoot 'em and eat 'em in self-defense. You use a weapon or your car....I prefere the rifle method!

[nrthrngreaser]

last summer I just about took out a deer here in northern wisconsin, 2 lane road, deep grassy ditches, and a 300d with 4 big guys, 4 bikes on the roof, and a trunk full of gear and beverages. 55 mph, hard braking, hard left and never lost control. bit of body roll, little tire squeal, clean out shorts and continued on our way.

karl

You really have to watch those things, I've come close too many times and I actually totaled a a 914 about 25 years ago (driving too fast, hit deer, lost control, hit tree, etc.). I came very close to hitting one with my 300D in SC last summer.

[Boardmonger]

This same thing happened to me in march. I was driving up in the hills late at night with a friend and was probably going 50 or so and I saw the deer on the shoulder not too far ahead. I assumed he was going to run out, so I applied the brakes and came to a quick stop about 10 feet infront of her just as she walked into the lane. I actually stalled the car because I only remembered it was stick as I came to a stop. I was pleasantly suprised by the braking power.

[pawoSD]

I know I would have never stood a chance stopping from 75mph, since the deer was like 40ft away or so, even a SLR McLaren can't even do that. Along that particular freeway route I counted no less than 13 dead deer along the side of the road, many looked fresh/recent. Pretty scary. Maybe I should have a huge steel-tube assembly built and mounted to the front of my car.

[Rich300TDMBZ]

QUOTE: On a happier note, only 535 miles or so till my car churns over to 240,000 miles!!! Neat!!! I'll probably hit that by the end of this week.

Our '83 is only 290 miles from 271,000, wshew.

Just don't hit a deer before then. I can understand somebody trying to avoid hitting a deer as it can totaled a car. A week ago a SUV in front of me almost went off the road trying to avoid running over a squirrel! Another time a car came over my lane on the highway to avoid running over a piece of wood. It is amazing what some drivers do to avoid things on the road that could not cause any damage to their car, and give other drivers hair-raising experiences.

[pawoSD]

Anything smaller than a deer I won't even flinch, raccoon, bring it on. Deer just happen to be big/heavy enough to do mortal damage, so I avoid them. I was prepared to go into the ravine between the freeways, its pretty shallow and just grass/mud, so damage would have been minor. I had to do the same thing on my way TO where I was going because all the sudden it was a flash thunderstorm and a LOT of water, and I hit the brakes to slow down and not hit the person up ahead,....no brakes!! for about 4-5 seconds, then they came on VERY strong and I stopped very quickly. I was already calculating a ravine path at that point, thankfully I didn't need to use it. Michigan weather and deer create a road-war-zone.

[t walgamuth]

i have had to do the swift lane change three times to avoid certain impact in 41 years of driving.

once on my 72 harley 350 when a person in a car just didn't see me and came right out. it was on woodward ave in detroit area. luckily three lanes to use and i used them all to avoid the car. no other traffic but that was pure luck.

once in my 74 bavaria. again a car coming from the left from a place that didnt allow me to see it til it was right there. i did a swift change into the right lane and back, just missing. i had a client in the car and he never batted an eye. i was impressed. i would have been *****ting if i were him.

once in my 82 300td. this time it was done in a very narrow iron tresltle sided bridge. i was following a car from a great distance, at night with my whole family in it, unbeknownst to me as he came into the bridge he nearly stopped. must have had no brake lights. he was mid span on a 100' bridge and as i entered it i realized he was stopped or nearly so. no time to stop. i switched to the left lane and went right around. this bridge's sides were right on the white lines, so there was no room to spare. the benz just did it, no sweat. precise, instantly.

the deer are really scary animals since they seem to have no defenses against the headlghts. they will freeze in them right in the road so take no chances if you see deer in the headlights stop if possible. they also will run into the side of your car or just in front so you hit them and they come over the hood into the windshield!

tom w
tom w

[mofarmer]

My former boss was driving in town and, with some unbelievably bad timing, had a small buck jump as he was passing by and come in through the open passenger side window. He stopped and bailed out ASAP. Those antlers and hooves did an incredible amount of damage as the deer thrashed and flailed trying to get out.

[vstech]

A city man was driving through a rural town, when around the corner comes a woman driving a truck and she leans out the window and yells, "PIG!", Him being offended and not wanting to let her get away with such a heinus phrase, yells right back "COW!" he looks in his rear view as she passes him and feeling quite pleased with himself promptly slams into a large pig. feeling now like a fool, he calls AAA and when the tow truck drags his vehicle back to town the way he came, he passes the woman in her truck and the tow truck that is pulling her out of the ditch she swerved into, to avoid the "cow" he apparently warned her about.

[vstech]

if you have time... always remember, deer are frozen not just by the headlights, but by the steadyness they are trying to not be seen, if you switch from low to high or vise versa they will dart away, sometimes.

[Mismost]

More deer lore....If you have to hit the brakes to avoid hitting a deer, stay on the brakes even if the animal runs out of the way. Deer are herd animals, where there's one, there is more. You brake for the one you can see, it crosses, you heave a sigh of relief, let off the brakes, and then plow into another deer as it follows the first one!

Deer-thirty is the time between sundown and dark...too light for a deers eyes to shine good, yet too dim for us to see them good...bad time of day to be running fast through deer country.

Deer like to run the creek bottoms and ridge tops...you'll see 'em in the bottoms or just on the otherside of the hill you just topped...head lights come down and there it is, right in front of you...splat/crunch!

That advice was given to me by an old rancher and has saved about a hundred deer from death and saved my cars and trucks. Best thing to do is just slow down. Or get the mondo welded up protective bumpers and just bash 'em....a popular sport around here!!