I've been happily enjoying my sorted-out '85 w123 turbodiesel for a couple of years now, having fixed a bunch of stuff. Last night I hit a deer on I-64 West in Hurricane, WV. It was a young pronged buck, standing in the middle of the right lane. I was probably doing 75. I swerved to the outside to avoid a head-on, in doing so I clipped the deer on the left, lost traction, and spun all the way around into the median with the car coming to rest on its right side. I climbed out the sunroof. I'm lucky it didn't roll, but the left front is smashed in @ the headlight assy (even though the headlight didn't break) left front turn signal is toast, the driver's door has a crinkle in it from the impact energy transferring from the front quarterpanel to the door, and the right rear rim is destroyed from catching a concrete median drain during my slide. Curiously the tach and fuel guage don't work now either. I am unscathed. Car was lying on its right side in the grass and it didn't even break the mirror. No damage to that side!
Mercedes-Benz made some wonderful cars, I'll tell you. I was hoping to keep this one forever. It looks absolutely fixable, but you never know until you take a closer look. This car has been completely faithful. My father offered to let me have a perfect '91 190E 2.6 that he has sitting in his garage. No way it's as good as the old diesel, those cars are made out of some thick steel. I'm quite unhappy. I may have to fix it, depending on teh extent of the damage.
People, look out for the deer during the fall rut. I saw dozens of them up in those mountains, then one appeared in front of me out of nowhere. WV, MD, KY, VA- all those places are infested with them this time of the year. I wish I had my high beams on, I would have seen the animal farther up and had time to react, and this would not have happened. Be careful out there.

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'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)

Sorry about your loss!

Time for some venison stew!

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Ouch! I almost nailed one on the parkway awhile back. I blinked it was there, blinked again and it was gone...that fast...not 15ft in front of the SDL at 70mph!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Thats why I have my car wired to turn ALL lights (exept my amber fogs, but the sec fogs do) at once when I flip the high beams on. There is nothing safer than ALOT of light

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

I read that there are over 1 million ( 1,000,000 ) deer strikes PER YEAR in the US.... It is time to relocate them to Canada...

Around here they are badly over populated. No natural preditors and to short of a hunting season. The bleeding hearts don't want to extend the hunting season but thats whats really needed.

I remember reading somewhere that CT has more deer now than in the 1600's.

Luckly wolves and other large preditors have been making a bit of a come back in recent years. But they are still to few and far between to really affect the deer.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Ahhh... flash backs of the Taconic Parkway.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Okay we will send you our moose. If you hit them right they fall back through the windshield killing you. Very long legs and quite heavy. Not too common for a person to hit one but can be lethal. Two thousand pounds rings a bell. In the lower north tractor trailors have cutting bars mounted out front to deal with them rather than really damage the truck bad.

Also on occasion they will charge a car. Considered Canadas most dangerous animal. I would have thought polar bears that reside in the far north would have held that title. They will hunt man.

Also the american variety of deer I see lying along your roads is a far smaller specis than ours. At least the ones in the eastern seaboard area. Hits on cars must be very frequent. Dead ones are laying along the american roads at certain times of the year in large numbers.

Good thing Armadillos aren't very tall........

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I've found the fender or bumper mounted deer whistles are very effective at keeping the white tail deer at a safe distance. When I see then, they are already about 50 yards away and running away.

Then there's the one about the lady writting to the highway department to please move the deer crossing signs to a place that would be a safer crossing point for the deer.

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=296386

I used to have a lot of close calls with my NA pickup, and on my bike. With the turbodiesel, I've seen maybe one or two and all as they run away. Maybe my turbo's whine keeps them at bay?

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Here in New Jersey the main hazard is hitting a Mafia underboss crossing the road to get to its natural habitat........a diner.


Sorry that was just stupid.

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'81 300CD - 180K, cannot be killed by any conventional means
'99 Ford Escort - good MPG

This time of year is hunting and rutting season. The deer are spooked from their normal habits and are moving around much more than normal.

They are wonderfully equipped to evade a man hunting them in the woods but a car at night is just totally foreign to their nervous system. If they happen to look toward your headlights they are simply mesmerized and will just stand there until you run into them.

Its best not to try to avoid them by swerving, just use your brakes to slow down so the impact is less and maybe steer at the very last minute without risking loss of control.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

and then crash, be SURE to tell your insurance company that you did indeed strike the deer. Otherwise they can claim it was your negligence that caused the accident.

This happened to a friend of mine once and the insurance guy kept saying "but you did hit the deer, right?" Knucklehead kept saying " No, I swerved and missed it." Again..."but you did hit the deer, right?"

I had to pipe up and say "yes, he clipped the deer." That's when the Agent told us about negligence loophole.

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1981 300TD "The Green Lantern"
1980 300TD
1983 300D Euro "China Cat"

But they are ' trained' to jump straight up when surprised...in an attempt to hit your MB grill....