I've been driving for about 4 years now, a nice little '02 Cavalier. She's never seen a lot of damage (unless you count an old lady backing into the bumper and scraping paint off) .... until now! I live in the northwest corner of Missouri.. our area, and the area around Hamburg, Iowa, is notorious for its huge deer population, and the numbers of yearly deer-related car accidents and fatalities.

I was driving on a small highway in the country, just as it was really starting to get dark. Brights on, cell phone OFF. The speed limit was 55, but I was going 30, because I knew it was that time of night. I never saw anything come out in front of me, but I heard the most horrible thudding crunch, and the car shook rather badly. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a deer on its back. It flipped itself over, and staggered into a ditch, then up into a bean field.

I inspected the car to find no blood, 2 little deer hairs, a destroyed passenger side mirror, and the passenger door had two massive dents in it. The window, fortunately, is intact.

I have no idea how much it's going to cost, but dad didn't sound very happy. I feel fortunate to have not been hurt... I know lots of people who have been injured, some seriously, in deer strike accidents. I can't say as much for the deer. I wound up calling the conservation agent. If he goes out there and finds it flopping around, he'll shoot and kill it... which would be a kinder fate than just leaving it there to die in pain... meanwhile, the car sits in the garage... x.x

ANYWAY.... I'm telling this story because I want people to be careful driving at night. I know it's a common sense thing, and I know there's really no way to see a deer coming from the SIDE in those conditions, but it's the ones that hit the front of the car that are dangerous. They go through the windshield, sometimes, and strike and kill the driver. I'd also like to know if anyone else out on the IOBoard has ever hit a deer, or has a burgeoning deer population in their area.

D: Poor Shad!

I hope your car isn't too hard to repair.

Man that sounds like it sucks! We have what we call "smart deer" around here and they wait to cross the street when cars are going by. Hope your car gets fixed real soon man.

I'm taking it to the insurance office in about 5 minutes, so, we'll see.

Edit: It looks like the entire door will have to be replaced.

Edited by Shadowfire on July 24, 2006 at 11:00:32.

Out of curiousity: What did the sides of the road look like? How much is the space between the road and the trees/bushes? Are there any safety measures taken on the road?

The road I was on? Well, the side the deer came from... There's a ditch about two feet deep and six feet wide, followed by a rise of about 7 feet into a bean field... It's just like that on the turn where the deer hit me, though. No fences on that side that I could see.

GZAOHIRAFIOHIOHFDADFOAI <-----Yes, that was me hitting the keyboard in sympathy for you. Since I don't have my license yet (sad, isn't it?) I've been in a car that's hit a deer twice before. Yes... we have a h00j deep population up here in western New York... I live way out in the sticks, too, so I see them even more. Even have had them running through my yard. Yes, people need to be way more wary about deer and other wild animals running out in the road- or even domestic ones... There's lots of cows up around my area, and THOSE will total your car. People gotta remember- the speed limit is the MAXIMUM speed, not the MINIMUM.

-Ri

Ah yes, someone else who lives in deer country. I live in a part of Ohio where we have white-tail everynight and we're 20 minutes from downtown. >_>. Either way, you're very lucky it wasn't worse, the door is the only major thing, correct?