This guy swerved. What would you do?

Its still better to total ur own vehicle and or risk death urself than to risk swerving and still hitting the animal and then go head on with somebody in the other lane . obviously if that oncoming lane is clear thats where ur out is at but it may not be clear in the next 5-6 seconds, if that animal didnt turn the other way he wouldve hit that truck swerving or not and then that truck wouldve been stuck in oncoming lane and now u got a real mess on ur hands, i guess watever choice keeps u on the road and damage free and everybody is safe is the right choice, hard to know, i think sometimes our human instinct is to swerve but we all know that could be the worse decision sometimes

 

that appeared to look like a moose, and a female one at that.

i knew of a driver-trainer up in the Kittery, ME area (he was actually MY trainer back then)

he had a fairly new Dodge pick up at the time.

he, wife and son were riding, female moose jotted out.

he hit it, she rolled onto the hood, cab, bed, then the ground. DEAD.

tells the wife to get out with son, and walk back down the road to get a trooper.

she wanted to stay..

he yelled at her to walk back down the road.

few minutes, BIG male moose mate comes.....

sniffs his mate, smells death.

starts ramming that new dodge pick up truck, nearly rolling it over.

trooper comes, fires several shotgun blasts into the air, male moose runs away.

i saw the pics of all of this.....

truck was of course totaled.

female weighed about 900 pounds...

male..??

well over 1,300 pounds...

that female moose, in this video, at about 700-900 pounds, would have totally destroyed that pick up truck, and most likely all would have died.

my reasoning for wanting ALL states to up the hunting seasons and kills/bagging of all 4 legged animals.

 

Yes, in a smaller vehicle you have to miss it.
Saw a mini van that hit a moose. The moose landed right on the driver and passenger seats, collapsing the roof and killing both occupants.

 

and what's funny in a way, is that i personally do not hunt, barely even go fishing (not once this year, and my fishing license was free, due to my age)

but i RESPECT hunters, REAL hunters, not some hacks, just going and shooting anything that moves in the woods.

many LOVE fresh meats, many hunt specifically for that reason. some donate the kills to lodges, or "soup kitchens"....

 

Agreed. Maybe just smack the head if lucky. Hold the course. If I took damage, then pull over and asess the damage and decide for I could go. Swerving can put the truck on its side or worse killing oncomming traffic.

 

Never had a moose or elk or anything "big" come out in front of me, but earlier this year I hit a bunch of deer in Northern ND near Rugby. No matter how big it is, hold the lane, brake steadily (but not hard/emergency) and brace for impact.

Insurance covers animal collisions, but will go after the driver at a moment's notice if there is any indication that the driver left the lane. And if you leave the lane and put the truck upside down in a ditch, or slam it into a rock face and die, that's a whole lot worse than a dead animal.

 

I've never had to worry about hitting anything that big but I made a decision when I started driving 18 years ago that if there is a bad situation and it's gonna be me or someone else it's gonna be me. If I was worried about something coming in the on coming lane I would have tried to hit it on the right side so that way if it knocks me off course it puts me in the ditch.... again if I kill myself in a accident that's one thing but I never want to be the reason someone's mom, dad, sister, brother, child didn't come home today. Swerving into the oncoming lane on anything other than a long ### straight interstate seems risky. It worked for him and I'm glad it did but still risky.

 

of course where you live, slow moving gator road blocks are to be avoided at all costs!!!

and always remember to stay IN the vehicle, them SOB's can run pretty darned fast

 

THIS is the problem w/ the "center up" option. I had a co-worker years ago that hit a dear in a pickup heading home one night from a family gathering. Her husband was sleeping in the passenger seat. The fully grown dear was over 400 lbs rolled up over the hood came through the windshield and landed in the passenger seat killing the husband.
Given that popular modern semi-trucks are all about the aero shaping - say like the Freightliner Cascadia - and a moose is bigger and taller than even a dear I'm wondering if this scenario could happen? If so you could have a situation where a large animal like this goes crashing through the windshield of a truck and then truck goes careening out of control.

I certainly don't know the answer b/c I'm still new to all of this but it seems sometimes there just aren't any sure fire good answers.