On the way home, I had a scare. I was driving Gina and a deer suddenly flashed in front of me. It was a huge buck. He was literally as big as the front of my car. I couldn't even see his head because it was above my windshield. He came out of nowhere -- the first I saw him was when he was directly in front of me, less than two feet away. I was going 40 mph with no chance to stop.
He slid past me a split-second before collision. If we'd crashed, he would have been killed, my airbag would have deployed, and I'd have been shaken up. And Gina would be unpleasantly damaged.
In the blink of an eye, life can change. Dramatically. I am so relieved not to have hit the deer.
Have you ever collided with an animal?
Are you sure you're not back in Minnesota?
ReplyDeleteI've never collided with one, but they're EVERYWHERE here. Most seem to stand on the side of the road and just watch you, like they know better, but occasionally you'll run into one that's not quite as smart. I've never hit one, but last year the guy in front of me did. He was just coming to a stop sign and I think the deer was going faster than he was. It didn't appear to do any damage to the car, but the deer went away limping. So sad...
I have nearly hit a wombat, even though they are small it is like hitting a brick wall and they destroy vehicle. My dad hit a Kangaroo first week when we arrived in Australia almost wrote off his car. Thank god it was a small one.
ReplyDeleteWhoooooo!
ReplyDeleteThe very first time I was out driving a stick I was heading up the largest hill in town and out of the corner of my eye I saw a deer come to the edge of the road, turn around, and then suddenly leap out in front of my car! I came within inches of him! My brain was screaming "CLUTCH! PUSH IN THE CLUTCH!!!!" Thankfully I listened, but then I was stuck on the largest hill in town to paralyzed to move. I knew I was either going to have to roll down backwards or gun it and squeal the tires, which is what I did. My passenger was not thrilled. (Mom would have freaked since I'd only had the car a few hours- My younger sister had just crashed my previous car a week earlier.) Memories...
I'm glad you're alive!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, how scary! So happy you're okay!
ReplyDeleteI myself have never hit an animal (thank goodness) but I've been in a car that hit a deer before. It did a LOT of damage to the car and to the poor deer as well.
when my mom was driving me to my college's accepted students day before i moved to the city (so this was going on five years ago now) we hit a deer somewhere in pennsylvania. our poor little prius (which i loved) was totaled and my mom and i were both completely shaken up. i still can't listen to the song that was on at the time while i'm in a moving vehicle. strangely, the deer survived--at least for a little while, as there was no sign of it anywhere on the road after we had pulled over.
ReplyDeleteReally scary, I'm glad you are ok! I've never been in a car when that happens but the deer near my dad's old house always did that. X
ReplyDeleteThat's so scary but a good outcome overall. I have never collided with an animal but have been scared of potentially ever being in that situation.
ReplyDeleteTruly, thank goodness that you weren't injured, Ally. There is a huge population of deer here in Penticton (very much including in our neighbourhood; it's not uncommon for us to spot them on our front lawn or sidewalk, especially in the early morning hours) and unfortunately many end up fatalities due to vehicles, just as the majestic buck you encountered nearly did. It breaks my heart whenever and wherever such happens. Both for the poor animals and also for the humans, too, many of whom are no doubt greatly traumatized by the experience (and also potentially injured and killed themselves).
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly hope that you never come face-to-face with another big animal on the road like that again.
♥ Jessica
Yikes. That is scary. So glad you didn't collide. That is so very dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe they have deer around where you live!
bisous
Suzanne
Me, neither. It's a suburban area with malls. But we do have a lot of parkland and I heard their are several hundred deer roaming there, mostly unseen.
DeleteSo scary! Megan recently had a close call with a deer while driving, too, and I know she was very shaken up. I am so glad that you didn't collide and everyone is safe. I have never collided with an animal, thank goodness!
ReplyDeleteWe have hit two deer before. The first one was already hit by a semi and we were just unable to slow down and actually flew over it (we were in a very old tank of a car that Nate used to have) and thankfully no damage to us our our car. The second one we hit really hard in Nate's current car, the airbag did not deploy, but it really shook us up. It damaged the hood and thankfully insurance covered repairs. We were also way up in northern MN when it happened, but thankfully were able to drive the rest of the week we were gone and all the way back to the cities. It was certainly scary though, I'll never forget the force of hitting it. And yeah, I didn't see it because it did limp away, but we're pretty sure we killed that poor deer too.
ReplyDeleteWhew!
ReplyDeleteMy old boyfriend hit a deer, once. It was a similar situation to you; he was driving 40 mph and it jumped right out in front of his car, stopped, and there was no way to avoid it. He got out of his car to look for it, but it had run off. He felt so awful.
I've actually hit... a bird. I was driving at night once and saw something light-colored sitting in the road. Since I was alone on the road, I slowed down a lot, and as I got closer, the damn thing took off! It hit my headlight with a *poof*.
I also got out and looked all around and in the shrubbery for it, but all I found was a bunch of little feathers floating in the air. I hope it flew off safe and was just stunned.
ohh lucky you.. have you seen that movie Sliding Doors? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120148/plotsummary
ReplyDeleteor the Sitcom "Being Erica"... all about parallels showing how life would have been if another path was choosen. I always find this so fascinating about life. More reason to be a good person and have good karma! Obviously you do :)
have a great weekend
J
OMGoodness!!!! I am so happy that neither you, Gina nor the buck were hurt!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little we were involved in an accident when our car collided with a HUGE cow. My Dad's car was a write off and it was one of the scariest things I can remember! Poor cow didn't survive the impact.
Sorry to hear, Lynn. I was riding my motorcycle once with some friends and when we came around a corner, we suddenly braked hard for cows in the road. Fortunately we didn't hit any.
DeleteI'm so glad you're alright!!!! Gosh, chance encounters are crazy little things.
ReplyDeleteWOW, that is incredible! So glad you are alright, that is my biggest fear when I drive the country roads!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you guys are okay, if shaken up! Thank goodness I've never collided with an animal (it's one of my big fears when driving, especially here in Poland where no one keeps their dog on a leash and they wander into the street on a regular basis). A few weeks ago I saw a dead baby deer that had been hit by a car and I have to admit I'm still a little bit traumatized.
ReplyDeletexo
styleontheside.com
I live in the Piney Woods of Texas so hitting deer is a pretty common thing. Thank God I've never hit one myself, but I know of people who have and the damage a deer can do to a car is pretty darn bad. I had a friend who was sitting at a stop sign and a deer hit HER car. Smacked right into it and ran off.
ReplyDeleteOh, that would be terrifying - and I would just feel so guilty.
ReplyDelete