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The only thing that's real is that there was a phone call.
The fact that it was a phone call to a 'morning zoo'-type radio show should be a huge red flag. The fact that this deer crossing joke has been floating around among comedians for years before this supposedly-genuine call took place, and has been used before as bits by morning shows, as well as tongue-in-cheek letters to the editor, should be several more huge red flags.
I remember the first day of my defensive driving class I was required to take in high school. One of the first lessons they taught was that you NEVER swerve to avoid an accident. If there is something in front of you, you aggresivley apply the brakes and maintain your lane. If you hit the object, you hit the object. The reason was that vehicles are designed to crash straight into an object, and a full frontal impact reduces more energy than side, or offset impacts. The local Police then came in and showed us horrible crash photos of drivers who tried to avoid an accident by leaving their lane, and caused an even bigger accident. I can still remember those photos 20 years later. I still remember this quote,"class, trees, rocks, bridges, and light poles do not have crumple zones".
You get in front of my truck, and I'm running over you.
There are times that floorboarding the gas and swerving is the only way to avoid hitting something in your path, but only highly trained drivers who keep in practice are capable of this in real life situations.
When at a stoplight in Chicago and a dude comes running into the road holding a brick, THEN you floorboard the gas
Deer collisions in my state happen mostly during two periods -- when the yearling deer are first wandering alone without mom, and during rut.
Late at night I'll sometimes come across young deer just standing in the middle of the road frozen in my headlights. Earlier this summer I had one that just stood there as I all but drove over him, finally started moving when I rolled the window down to throw a water bottle at him (It was ~11PM, I thought honking would be rude to my neighbors).
Quote:
Originally Posted by deb100
There are times that floorboarding the gas and swerving is the only way to avoid hitting something in your path, but only highly trained drivers who keep in practice are capable of this in real life situations.
And for the other 99.999% of drivers out there, hitting the brakes is the more appropriate reaction.
In my decades of driving, only once has "floorboarding the gas" ever been the right thing to do.
Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either, until last year. My wife was talking to our insurance agent, after I bought her a new [to her] Jeep. I paid cash and told her we weren't going to put comprehensive on it, but since the deer are thicker than thieves here she's had a couple of close calls she mentioned her concern, and it turned out to be an option. I was mildly surprised. Who knew? It was fairly inexpensive...I think, maybe $100 to cover all 5 vehicles?
Why not simply drive more slowly in areas where you're likely to get surprised by a deer? The slower you're driving, the less likely the collision will cause serious injuries. And if you have time to hit the brakes, it's much faster to stop from a slower speed than from a higher speed. And if you skid, being slower makes it much less likely that your skid will move you out of your lane into another vehicle. And most vehicles get higher MPG when driving slower. If it's an interstate highway, drive 60 instead of 80. If it's a winding road with the trees close to the road, drive 40 instead of 60.
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When at a stoplight in Chicago and a dude comes running into the road holding a brick, THEN you floorboard the gas
