[csa]

years ago, in the dark; I saw a deer on the left side of the highway. I knew on the right side, it was a very steep dropoff, so was concentrating on the one on the left. Well, a big doe came right up that steep dropoff, hit the side of the front fender, shattered the windshield on that side. It killed the deer; I was so upset about the deer, but very thankful my husband & I were unhurt. Can't say the same for the brand new car. The highway from here into town is horrible for deer being hit; as they come down to a lake for water, and there are fields that they feed in. That is why I refuse to drive into town at night.

[Auzzie-Phoenix]

Deer are pretty bad here all over. Lots of farms, and lots of woods. I hit a doe in late 2014 and due to shop backlog, didn't get my car fixed until Jan. 2015. As for the raccoon... I've not seen any large ones around here until that particular one. We had huge raccoons living in the storm drains across the street from my apt. complex in Ohio. Things were gigantic from getting into the dumpsters every night. As for the one I hit the other morning, it was about the size of a basset hound in the smaller to medium range. It was tall enough when running to hit the bottom of my front license plate (bent the dealer logo plate on the bottom edge).



You can see in the picture how high up that plate holder is. Fortunately the damage is purely cosmetic in nature, so when I file the claim and go for the estimate, I can ask the shop to just order the parts in, and have the bumper pre-painted so that everything can be bolted on while I wait on the day of the repair.

[Sagitta]

Really unfortunate for you and the raccoon.


I hit a small doe just North of Buffalo, Wyoming a few years back. I was driving an 18 wheeler. It did more than $5,000 damage to the truck. Had to be towed, the highway patrol had to do an investigation, and I spent several days in a motel room.


Good times.

My sister was moving cross country from Seattle to Philadelphia along I-94 when someone ahead of her plastered an elk with their semi. She couldn't swerve in time and hit the now tenderized critter and (according to her) it literally exploded.

Did I mention she was driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse?

Luckily they had minor damage to the car save for a dented fender, but she had to get off at the first exit and pull in to a gas station with a car wash.

She said the conversation basically went "I need to use your car wash."

"Lady, its -10 out there..."

"Look out the window. See that red car? Its actually silver."

"I'll, uh, start it up for you.... give me a few minutes."

[MarkJerling]

My cousin hit a cow once with his International Harvester 18 wheeler. He was going donwnill at about 120km/h and the cow walked out of the grass onto the road. He said that the whole underside was hamburger and he had to spend hours steam-cleaning the truck.
It could be said that the one moment the cow came out of the grass and the next the grass came out of the cow.

[waterfall]

Both my daughters collided with deer in their teen years. I have avoided doing so by watching ditches for glowing eyes. Works for me, at least. Might run over the occasional rodent or skunk in the middle of the road, but what the hell, mass overrules on the road. Plus the crows cleanup the little messes quickly. Eagles take the road kill deer. Anyways, at night, glowing eyes in the ditch means slow down.

[csa]

I have avoided doing so by watching ditches for glowing eyes. Works for me, at least

You don't always see their eyes caught in the headlights.