The result is spectacular. I won't put a detailed photograph on public display, because it will undoubtedly upset sensitive viewers, but if you'd like to see it, click here.
Here's a video clip of the collision. It's not as graphic as the still image linked above, but it's still pretty raw. Again, sensitive viewers should not watch it.
Yikes! Hitting a deer at any speed is bad enough, but at 114 mph . . . !
Peter
16 comments:
At 114 MPH, you are overdriving your headlights.
No matter who you are, that is an unsafe speed t night without LOTS more (and better) lights.
Yes. Never, ever out-drive your lights (and your brakes!). Asking for troubles.
Sorry, that was a stupid move on the cops part. I fully understand that he was needed somewhere else but he didn't make it because his stupid actions. Fail on two counts.
Living in the heart of deer country I honestly couldn't tell you how many deer I've hit- dozens. I've had them total 4 cars and put me in the ICU once. One survivor of a pickup had a deer body count in the double digits and had 3 entire front clips replaced over its lifetime due to deer hits. When that truck was finally retired the only panels which were not sporting deer strike damage were the tailgate and the roof and the roof just barely made it unscathed.
If you have to drive at dawn, dusk or night around here (which due to work we must) you will hit a deer. It's just a fact of life. Every vehicle I own currently has deer dents and damage. Even if you don't hit them, they can and do run into you with frustrating regularity.
Nothing like pulling into your driveway with your vehicle on a flatbed after hitting a deer and look in your soybean field and see a half a dozen deer eating even more of your money. The crop damage is substantial for me as is the costs of vehicle damage. It has certainly dulled that pang of sorrow I feel when I pull the trigger during hunting season.
I too live where the white tails are thick and have hit about a half dozen through the years. They can come out of nowhere and it can be any time of day. A few years back my daughter was driving back to college when a deer ran out in front of her much like in the video. She hit it at about 70 destroying the car. Fortunately she was shaken but not injured.
Never forget, if a deer runs out in front of you, hit the deer. Never try and swerve to miss it.
Most folks who die in a deer/vehicle mishap die because they swerved to miss the deer, lost control, and hit some other object, usually a tree. A tree, a culvert, or a bridge abutment is much less forgiving than a deer carcass.
And like cockroaches, if you see one there's 10 more behind him.
And those following will have seen one of their number get absolutely annihilated by something big and fast and immediately charge in after him.
I'm assuming it's the same instinct that make wildebeest mass charge into crocodile infested waters, but damn.
That was ... rather colorful. And challenging to identify the non-ruptured bits and pieces.
If it's after dark, I drive 40 - 45 mph because at 55 years old the vision and reflexes ain't what they used to be. Love venison, but a 12 gauge slug is a lot cheaper than my old chevrolet.
40 years ago, crossing from a forest to a farming area, a deer crossed in front of me. I nailed the brakes, and hit one of the following does. Slowing from 70, so actual speed of impact is unknown. Found a trail into the cornfield, about where I saw her stop tumbling. She had made it about 50 yards on three legs. No idea where the 4th leg ended up.
Had to wait about an hour for enough light to jack the radiator out of the fan. In the middle of the road, but no traffic passed me. Drove home, but ended up replacing the front clip. '66 Ranchero.
What was annoying was being chased off the shoulder by a cop, maybe 10 minutes earlier, where I stopped to take a nap. Long weekend due to attending a wedding out of state.
Hey Peter;
I will not criticize the PoPo, he was on a call and at that speed, you will overrun your headlights. I hit a deer at 85 MPH on the interstate and it totaled out my Ford Focus back in 2012 striking a deer is no joke and I do feel for the officer.
That crash bar saved his life, I imagine.
Couple things: RE: outdriving the headlights. I've wondered why there isn't a light package available as part of auto manufacturer's "police package" option, or from a light bar mfg like Whelen, designed specifically for rural-use police vehicles. Anyone who has driven in rallies is familiar with the old Lucas "flamethrower" lights, as well as the Cibie, Hella, PIAA, etc. offerings (IIRC, Luca used to advertise their 200 watt halogens as "daylight in a box" and, yes, I've seen rally cars with dual alternators - large ones - just to feed the lights).
As a side note, I question why that deputy was running at 114, although the end result wasn't much different from what it would have been if he were doing only 80 (actually, I do know why he was running at 114 - 114 was as fast as the car would go because the tiny little engines they're putting in cars today ran out of steam at 114; t'ain't like the old "429 Police Interceptor" days of yore).
Second, no matter how much light one throws down the road, you'll still hit deer because they're stupid. By the time a deer learns running in front of a moving car is a poor life choice it's already in the front seat with you.
Two things saved him... the bull bars and the fact that the impact popped the hood preventing the corpse to hurtle through the windshield.
As we say in South Africa... kudu happens... ;-)
Hard to have time to do more than in a deer hitting situation, but never break for a deer. Makes the nose of the car dip, thus increasing the chances of the deer coming through the windshield. In my area about 20 years ago a man hit a buck. The buck came through the windshield and it's horns decapitated his wife.
Also, when the dispatcher asks if you need an ambulance, and your response is "I don't know"...you need an ambulance!
react...the missing work is: react...
Peter, as a tough old hard core give no quarter dude, what is this "sensitivity" shit?
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