Have you ever been involved in a deer/vehicle collision?

If I may be the 1st, great topic, although I'm not sure what your intent is. It's a topic that routinely gets shoved under the table, only to resurface when some official hits one. I live in Colorado, where the mule deer are an increasing threat. It costs the drivers an estimated $80 Million bucks a year, nationwide, over $1BILLION in damages, estimated, because many collisions go unreported. They have few enemies, eat like kings from food we throw out, and breed like rats. It's a huge problem. Comparatively speaking, with as many miles I have, I only had a few collisions with the truck, I believe the sound scared many away, same with my Harley( loud pipes do indeed save lives), but on my GoldWing or in a car, I've had many more hits, or near misses. Wisconsin has an aggressive hunting policy and keep it somewhat in check, but the tree hugger PETA types here won't allow it, and the deer population is overwhelming. To me, the deer are nothing but crap machines, and this may sound a bit harsh, but whenever I see one sheared on the highway, I feel bad for the driver that hit it, but good riddance to the deer.

 

I have hit 5 deer in 15 years of driving trucks, in Nebraska, Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas and Ohio. The one I hit in Georgia was the most devastating. I had to get towed and the whole coolant system got destroyed. That was almost 10k in costs, hotels, and damage.

 

I hit one deer almost every year, when driving nites for an LTL company, never had damage enough to not be able to continue my route for the nite. Did call the Sheriff Dept. every time to have a record. Hit one deer about 3 years ago with my Suburban, just a slightly bend front fender. Had an uncle decades ago hit one with his sedan, it landed in the front seat. He was banged up, broken collar bone, cuts, etc.

 

If I may be a testimony to deer guards, this was after hitting 2 in one go when a pack of average sized white tail deer ran across US20 in Iowa a few years ago. I might have knicked a third, but i can only confirm two. For a small deer guard, it did pretty well. Only down time was the company replacing the front grille with a spare and then a small crack was left over on the left front, but was hardly noticeable.

 

Ewww, guts a hangin'. You know, at my union bread job, a deer collision was considered a chargeable unless you had proof, and I think guts would work. I remember years ago when deer guards first came out, a guy passed me with one, I grabbed the mic, and said "how's that deer guard work for ya'"? He said, he hadn't hit one yet , but was kind of looking forward to it.

 

I hit 6 that I can remember with all the gore details: IA (1) MO (2) MT (1) WY(1) NM (1).
Every collision happened at night time.

Each time, the damage was substantial but the truck remained drivable. Not every incident damage was claimed to the insurance for the concern of raised premiums (even though it is not at fault damage) and whenever the repair was quoted for less than $2000. The deductible was $1000.

I assure you, that the incidents were unavoidable. The animals just popped up on the road unexpectedly and there was no other option left but driving through them.

Important!!!
When you drive a big rig, you don't attempt swerve away from deer (a rookie mistake) because that can put to a ditch.

I finally installed a deer guard but, ironically, since I did, no deer crossed my way, so I can't talk about its effectiveness. Unless, somehow, it sends a paranormal signal to nearby deer to stay off the road.

 

Was a strategic picture for safety at the time lol. I was also worried they wouldn't believe me. Also left the hairs in there til I got back to the terminal lol.

I've always been curious about the cost vs reward of deer guards. Seems to have become pretty much the standard in the upper Midwest to run them if running plastic trucks. I know Hirschbach, Halvor, Schuster, Van Wyk, etc. all run the small ones. On the flipside, ATS and JR Schugel hasn't been convinced yet, apparently, and they're still doing well.

 

I have never had a collision with a deer and the front end of what I was driving, however, I have had multiple incidents where a deer jumped out of a ditch and hit the side of what I was driving. It's unfortunate that the poor deer did not see the largest, slowest moving thing on the road driving directly in front of them before they bounced off of it. If there was any meaningful damage it was easily corrected in a body shop, to the best of my knowledge all of the deer survived but they may have been claimed otherwise by natural selection in the future.

 

Hit a deer on January 27th 2023 in Ironton, Ohio on route 52. This was at 5:30 AM on a 55 mph road.

Had a load of steel on I had loaded just west of Indianapolis. I was fortunate no other vehicle was beside me or even in sight. I seen the deer in the distance in the right lane and eased over into the monfort lane as I slowed down, just as I approached the deer they decided to go back to the other side running directly in front of me.

With 36,000 lbs on my back I could only swerve so hard and still felt the trailer flex as I turned the wheel to the right trying to avoid them.

Deer was undoubtedly dead from the impact. The impact was hard enough to push the bumper back into my right steer tire, and broke 1 of the mounting ears on the heavy aluminum spring hanger.

I was only 40 miles from home at this time, and was able to shim the bumper forward enough to safely drive on home.

As an Owner Operator with my own authority, I made the decisions as to what needed to be done in order to move on. The damage would undoubtedly been more extensive if I had been in a little car.

Once home I was able to straighten the bumper enough to use it till a new bumper was installed….