Hit A Deer

[saint451]

I am not an automotive engineer or anything related. Have known many people to hit deer here in Louisiana in many a variety of vehicles and speeds, all times of day, etc. No one was ever hurt, most vehicles not totaled, but a lot of repair work.

Just like someone said earlier, I feel a head on, the Elio will throw it over!! Now clipping with open axels or one side, that would be the scarier hit. Still believe with the crush zones, air bags, seat belts...the driver and passenger will be safe.

Of course I say the same thing when I fly commercial that "Joe/Josie the mechanic on the wide body 747 properly performed all maintenance even after the weekend blowout at the local pub!"

 

[Dustoff]

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Anybody know if those deer whistle thingies really work?
Had to get another car and couldn't wait on the elio to get built, so we bought a 2014 Ford Fiesta w/6 speed automatic. Took it driving all day yesterday. Was impressed. Lot of fun, looks nice and got good MPG. With the two of us going on flat highways at 70 mph, hilly curvy country, and tooling around in some small towns, we got 39 mpg. First new car since I bought a brand new 1972 Pinto station wagon, brown w/wood grain exterior trim. Joined the Navy 3 months later and left car with 1st wife. Car ended up being sold.
After we got this Fiesta, present wife asked if I stilled planned to buy an Elio. When I said yes, she said good!
Think I'll keep her.

I was bored so spent a ton of time researching this and reached the following conclusions:
1) The traditional air whistles are 100% useless
2) There are only 2 electronic whistles that were proven effective. The AA Motorcycle and the Hornet. However they are only effective in deterring pregnant deer. They produce an aggressive response in young male deer, causing them to charge the vehicle emitting the sound - particularly in late fall and early winter. They have no effect on other deer. They produce an aggressive response from dogs.

 

[Mark Ambrose]

This morning running 65 going to work I hit a large deer dead center. I was in my wife's Cadillac Deville. Car is probably totalled. I usually drive a Honda Civic, but it needs a new radiator, which it will get tomorrow. I wonder if I would have been killed in the Civic. The Caddy's crumple stuff probably saved the day. Didn't slow me down and airbag didn't deploy. Thanful for that. Wasn't a safe place to stop so went for another mile. Later I got to thinking what might have happened if I had been in an Elio. I gotta say, I think it would have made for a very bad day. But who knows, if I had been in an Elio, the critter might have just bounded over me.

I hit a deer in my Mazda Miata which is actually smaller than the Elio length-wise. The top was down. The deer went over my head and landed in the street with two broken hind legs. Had to call the cops who had to dispatch the poor creature. I was lucky I wasn't beheaded by it's hooves. I think the Elio with it's full body, crumple zones, reinforced cage and air bags will be a LOT safer than my convertible Miata ever was. Having said that hitting a 150 lb animal at 65 mph in anything less than a Hummer is not a good day.

 

[Lil4X]

I've had friends who hit all kinds of deer, elk, numbers of livestock, etc. but in Louisiana you have another problem.

'Gators. One of my service techs (born and raised in Cajun country, shoulda known better) got out of his service truck to shoo a huge bull 'gator off the gravel road to his customer's location around Merryville. When I got to my office in Houston my phone was ringing. He'd been "treed" on the hood of his pickup a couple of hours before daylight. It seems the 'gator was NOT in the mood to have his nap disturbed. He eventually ambled off in search of a nice juicy feral pig for breakfast when it looked like the terrified guy in the red coveralls wasn't coming down.

 

[saint451]

True, I was in Lafitte a few weeks ago and a 3 footer just scramble across, luckily it was a backroad and slow traffic. Would have had a custom "alligator wheel cover" on the rear wheel of my soon to be Elio!!!

 

[Brian1362]

One thing to keep in mind about car deer crashes - more people die trying to avoid them than actually hitting them. Brake, but don't swerve.

4 legged, corn eatin, beady eyed rats with horns is all they are.

But those "rats" are mighty tasty!! I know, I am a lifetime member of PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals!!

 

[Dustoff]

Then you have the "road alligator".
'

 

[Lil4X]

Then you have the "road alligator".

Yeah, I had one of those monsters thrown into the air by an 18-wheel lo-boy in front of me on the freeway a few weeks ago. As it departed my line of vision skyward, I hit the brakes, there being traffic on either side of me but not behind. I knew it was coming down, I just didn't know where. Then it landed in the road directly in front of me. With cars dodging all over the road, I had no choice but to center it. It felt like I'd hit a pig - that thing must have been heavy - and it landed flat with a loop about a foot high, giving me a good bounce and taking an 8" chunk out of my spoiler lip.

Not the kind of thing you want to hit in a car, let alone an Elio or a motorcycle.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Tapped a deer tonight, thankfully no damage. I was skidding to a stop as I hit it and barely made it stumble as it ran across the road.