Do you swerve? Animal in the road, no oncoming traffic.

I don't swerve, was in high school, riding with a buddy in his car, deer ran out, he swerved, lost control and he hit a concrete barrier head on. While I had some cuts and bruises and two broken ribs, he ended up with a piece of metal between his teeth, peeled back his skull, broke both ankles, a leg, and his wrist. After that day I vowed to never swerve, not worth it.

 

I live up in the mountains of Colorado right outside a national park, I have seen deer run into cars and then the cars run off the road and hit a tree, The deer would get back up , hit another car, same story. I wonder about these tourists around here. Then there is the moose, they just stand there and stare you down. those will stomp you silly if you give them a chance.

 

Mississippi is the number 1 state in the nation for deer hunting. We have almost 2 million deer, and about 45 per square mile, especially in my county. When I was patrolling on night shift, our shift averaged hitting three or four deer a month. They would sometimes just run straight into the side of your car.

 

If possible, I'll change lanes, just like passing another vehicle or moving over for those that are parked on the shoulder and the gators from a peeled or blown tire and and and.

Deer tend to change lanes too, so far so good on that one but the critters that are blind to your presence is another story.

uncontrollable swerve ? ... no

 

Weighing in at 100k - I'm mowing right on thru.

My kill count is limited, I will grant, (1 deer, 1 turtle, 1 possum, 2 hawks, a variety of little birds, nearly got a moose, and 1 Volkswagen Jetta), but I know I barely flinch.

@tinytim - that turtle - in NY. Poor little bugger. Didn't realize what it was until I saw the 'puff' of red as he exploded under the trailer tandems.

I like the roadside fences & culverts you see for them in places like Terre Haute, IN - that's good stuff.

 

If whatever is in that road isn't worth losing your career or your life, don't be stupid. If it is, don't poll people about it. That's your call to make in the moment. I tried to steer about a cute little bunny the other day. I couldn't get my trailer where I wanted it and shot rabbit all over the car behind me. They pulled up screaming and yelling that I was #1, and how ####ed up I was to have aimed for the rabbit. Truth is I was devastated. I don't even like hitting things that are already dead.

 

Well, I hit a cow last night on Hwy 34 in Oklahoma at 12:25am.
My first large kill with a semi. Pitch black out and it was a black cow..truck had to be towed.

Fact is I've conditioned my mind in preparation for just this type of incident. I want to say that is what saved my butt last night...who knows..

 

My answer would be to never swerve. I'm not in favor of loosing or relinquishing control of my vehicle.

 

Going down a 2 lane in the dark, no shoulder trees, running the posted limit...deer crosses at a 90 degree. By the time you see it with the headlights, it's unavoidable.

Cutting the wheels can cause the load to shift. A load shift can easily put a truck upside down.

There are certain driving jobs where you, the driver have to be buttery smooth at the controls at all times. You see people expressing interest in LTL and tanker and heavyhaul because of the money. The thing that they don't get is, you actually have to be able to drive and drive well. Not only do you never cut your wheel, a good driver won't even register a hard braking.

Ever come up on a truck at night and when you get beside him, you realize that he's pulling a set of doubles? That's a driver! Driver is so smooth that he makes a set of doubles look like 1 solid trailer. Out of all trucking companies, it seems that BusterBrown has the highest percentage of good drivers. Another that comes to mind is R&L.