What is wrong??

[4bfox]

Right! That's the point....you knew the deer were out, and were cautious. I've had lots of close calls, but haven't nailed a deer yet. Now on my wife's deal, like Mr. Incredible said above, it was dark and the buck was jumped right in front of her. No avoidance possible.

[VetteOwner]

lol even at night its called turning the highbeams on when allowed and or having properly adjusted headlights, SO many cars i see have thier headlights down on the ground, in the middle of the road or up in the trees blinding everyone... sposta be left headlight aimed somewher ein the middle and the right one slightly to the right towards the shoulder FOR this deer hitting reason. that and if youve seen deer cross a certian area before there WILL be more sometime later on. or blind cornners, slow down and accually pretend there is a deer around the cornner or a stopped car etc.

[Mayhim]

Easy for you to say, VetteOwner, but sayin' it don't make it so.

You can only slow down so much before you're a hazard to navigation. You can only adjust your headlamps so much before they become unusable. And for the record, my lights are just fine and the deer came from the left.

Whether it's a deer or a Civic or another large vehicle, you're better off in something bigger than or equal to what hits you. FE is only one part of this world.

[VetteOwner]

yes true but you can stop in a relatively short distance if your going 55 or less, especially true in a small car (less mass to stop). also typically small cars handle better than rollover land barges.

you can upgrade your headlights to something brighter and whiter also. that was one if the first thigns i did to my chevette. also rewired my trucks headlamps to have the lowbeams stay on with the highbeams on(its like lookin into daylight!!!) huge beam pattern in almost a 180* range.

also make the horn louder and tap it if you see an animal in the road or somehitng. i think (havent tested too much) i noticed that if i lay on the horn the deer seems to freeze in the road, but if i tap it and make a pulsed loud noise the deer seemed to run off quicker.

BUT

liek you said theres only so much you can do, maybe the deer was suicidal who knows

ALOT of it has to do with the driver, is he/she goign to freeze and keep going if they see a deer in the road or are the immediately going to try to stop/avoid/honk/ to get the deer to move.

and other idiot drivers out there. cant do too much but if you see yourself in a situation where your about to get creamed, try to avoid gettign hit(if it means making an illegal right turn when noones comming then do it!!!) or if your about to get rearended let your foot off the brake slightly so your car has some "give" so it doesnt make the shock go to your body as hard. but if you think your going to get shoved into cross traffic stomp that brake pedal!!!
Or if a hit is inevitable try to make it a glancing blow rather than a direct hit.

but the only way to do that is if your aware of whats around you and paying attention to the road (not your gps, 150+ radio stations, cellphone, food, newspaper, laptop, etc) its scary seeing someone driving next to you going 70+ in heavy city traffic reading a newspaper and drinking coffee while driving...

sorry about my rant/drivers ed lecture but id hate to see or hear about one of you getting into an advoidable accident, they dont teach much of anythign like this in drivers ed...

theres been several stories about people having thier GPS things telling them to turn right and theyve turned onto railroad tracks, into resturaunts, etc...sometimes i wonder just how many braincells they have and why they would think the GPS could control thier car...

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by theclencher

A dog hit me while I was riding motorcycle (yes- it ran into me) and let me tell you, that sucked.

ouch, yea my friends lab ran into the side of my parked truck... i dont even wanan know how that happened as it was parked there over night even...
then another time a dog tried to bite the tire of our 82 escort while we were driving, tried to then wanged its head on the bumper. got up and ran back to its house

[skewbe]

Originally Posted by Mr Incredible

Whether it's a deer or a Civic or another large vehicle, you're better off in something bigger than or equal to what hits you.

I could see a smaller strong wedge shaped car as being a real good defense against SUVs.

[Mayhim]

VetteOwner, I've lived accident avoidance for decades. I've had two of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation safety courses and rode big bikes for about twenty years. Knowing what's going on around you 360* at all times becomes a way of life.

500,000 miles and never had anybody come zooming up from behind me reading a map and going 20mph faster than I was, until That Day. I had just enough time to see her coming up in my rear view and let pure reaction take me to the roadside and out of her way. No time to think, only to react. Again, first time it ever happened to me and I did it right. The deer, on the other hand, came out of the black night and ran right across the front of the truck. Simply no time to react.

There are times when you simply can't avoid what Fate has placed in your path. There are things you can do to mitigate the odds, but having mass surrounding you is very often a good thing.

I understand this forum is all about FE and that many of you hate big trucks and SUVs (and their drivers) with a passion. But there's no denying bigger is often better in an accident.

And that's all I got to say about that...

Skewbe, where is the windshield in that wedge shaped car? About where the truck's rear bumper height its? You'd have to have a solid wedge with maybe video cams for eyeballs to get away with that. Mostly you'd just wedge yourself underneath and be harder for the paramedics to get out.

We have to be realistic. Trucks especially, and SUVs (whose time will come and go like the station wagon) will always be around in some fashion. FE cars will have to be by their very nature small and light (and thus crunchable). To be FE you'll have to give up some portion of your safety just like you do when you hop on a motorcycle. You make the choice and you take your chances.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by Mr Incredible

VetteOwner, I've lived accident avoidance for decades. I've had two of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation safety courses and rode big bikes for about twenty years. Knowing what's going on around you 360* at all times becomes a way of life.

500,000 miles and never had anybody come zooming up from behind me reading a map and going 20mph faster than I was, until That Day. I had just enough time to see her coming up in my rear view and let pure reaction take me to the roadside and out of her way. No time to think, only to react. Again, first time it ever happened to me and I did it right. The deer, on the other hand, came out of the black night and ran right across the front of the truck. Simply no time to react.

There are times when you simply can't avoid what Fate has placed in your path. There are things you can do to mitigate the odds, but having mass surrounding you is very often a good thing.

I understand this forum is all about FE and that many of you hate big trucks and SUVs (and their drivers) with a passion. But there's no denying bigger is often better in an accident.

And that's all I got to say about that...

Skewbe, where is the windshield in that wedge shaped car? About where the truck's rear bumper height its? You'd have to have a solid wedge with maybe video cams for eyeballs to get away with that. Mostly you'd just wedge yourself underneath and be harder for the paramedics to get out.

We have to be realistic. Trucks especially, and SUVs (whose time will come and go like the station wagon) will always be around in some fashion. FE cars will have to be by their very nature small and light (and thus crunchable). To be FE you'll have to give up some portion of your safety just like you do when you hop on a motorcycle. You make the choice and you take your chances.

ah yea seems liek you know exactly where everyone is withina 360* bubble. lol im the same way. granted i havent been driving as long but havent gotten into any accidents or hit another car.

i almost got rearended by someone once, was very close!!! stopped at a red light way back in traffic, cop had someone pulled over on the shoulder, guy come sup behind me and noticed he wasnt slowin down, i started flashing my brakelights and saw the nose of his car dive down and squealling of tires. came within liek 2feet of my bumper i tried following him to confront him but he was off like a bat outa hell...


yea it will be awhile before SUV's are gone...minivans are on thier way out suv's moved in now these dumb crossover things are movin in. trucks are never going to go anywhere tho. been around since the dawn of car and havent dropped since.

yea i agree things just happen and nothign u can do can prevent it.

[8307c4]

Originally Posted by SD26

Fuel prices will change. In March of 2001 or March of 2002, I was paying $0.69 for gasoline in Georgia.

Don't forget the reason for that was because the twin towers had just been dropped to the ground and folks were SO afraid of flying that airlines left a TON of planes grounded. That in itself resulted in far less fuel being consumed, and the prices dropped while the planes stayed on the ground, once the worst of the fear of shock was over, we saw a slow and steady increase.

No, I don't think we'll see another decrease in demand the likes of that, nor do I really wish for one, thou I do think the day we stop fooling around over in Iraq and Afghanistan we might see a small decrease in the price.

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by Biffmeistro

THAT was my point. Why are we doing our best to crush the idea of a high standard of living?

Just don't do it by mandate. I am a libertarian when it comes to regulations, etc. If you can change the attitudes apart from using legislation, then that's great. It's also hard to "crush the idea of a high standard of living" - it's basic, biologically programmed nature to seek that.