Hit A Deer

[Lil4X]

A couple of good friends were riding their motorcycle (a classic Honda 500) on the backroads of Texas' scenic Hill Country northwest of Austin when a little spike buck deer tried to cross the narrow road.

At about 45 mph he seemed to appear out of the roadside brush, and in a last-instant attempt to vault the bike, he managed to slide over the tank under the drivers arms, neatly mounting the bike on the fly. The husband reacted by grabbing the little guy and holding him close to his chest while bringing the bike to a stop. His wife bailed out, leaving her husband to deal with the terrified and struggling animal.

Now he's got a tiger by the tail as the young buck starts slashing with his "rack" to gain his freedom. Thankfully my friend was an advocate of wearing full gear, so he was not injured as he stiff-armed the buck off one side of the bike and he dove off the other.

No one was injured, and after a moment to gather their composure, both man and deer walked away none the worse for the experience. Here was a classic collision of lightweights. I was amazed the bike didn't go over, but I guess there's something to be said for good reflexes and righteous living!

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

Up my way, a deer gets every car at least once. Sometimes its minor, sometimes its not. There is just nothing that a driver can do to avoid it, your time will come. Interesting point made about the bumpers, I hadn't even realized it, (good design I guess). Again shows the necessity of the "autocycle" category, since automobiles are REQUIRED to have a bumper system, even to the point of specifying the design, impact, height, pedestrian 'friendliness', and testing of the systems.

View attachment 1824

Note that deer looks to have joined the passengers. The narrow windshield of the Elio might be an advantage there.

 

[golfsteve]

The best thing is you are ok !!!!

 

[Jeff Miller]

A couple of good friends were riding their motorcycle (a classic Honda 500) on the backroads of Texas' scenic Hill Country northwest of Austin when a little spike buck deer tried to cross the narrow road.

At about 45 mph he seemed to appear out of the roadside brush, and in a last-instant attempt to vault the bike, he managed to slide over the tank under the drivers arms, neatly mounting the bike on the fly. The husband reacted by grabbing the little guy and holding him close to his chest while bringing the bike to a stop. His wife bailed out, leaving her husband to deal with the terrified and struggling animal.

Now he's got a tiger by the tail as the young buck starts slashing with his "rack" to gain his freedom. Thankfully my friend was an advocate of wearing full gear, so he was not injured as he stiff-armed the buck off one side of the bike and he dove off the other.

No one was injured, and after a moment to gather their composure, both man and deer walked away none the worse for the experience. Here was a classic collision of lightweights. I was amazed the bike didn't go over, but I guess there's something to be said for good reflexes and righteous living!

Now that is a biker! Thanks for the great story.

My wife has a story of riding with a group in MI someplace. Most were riding foreign bikes of one kind or another but they had a token Harley sportster rider along. At one point he was in front when a deer came off the side of the road. He stuck his foot out and tagged the deer enough to send it the other way. The deer survived, he had a sprained ankle, and nobody went down

 

[OCS12]

I've hit 5 deer in the last 4 years while commuting back and forth to work. It's a country highway plagued by suicidal, ninja deer. My Elio will be doing the same commute. I'm not worried at all about safety. The two biggest safety issues are 1) swerving to avoid, and losing control or 2) deer getting its legs cut out and coming through the windshield. With the A pillars so close together, the Elio should shovel most deer up and over the cabin. It'll probably be totaled, but that's what insurance is for.

 

[carzes]

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.

wonder if you'd have been killed in a civic? I'm pretty sure civic drivers are no more at risk of death than anyone else. Drivers of cars os ALL makes and models survive their close encounters with the long-legged brown forest rats unscathed the vast majority of the time. Those that don't probably hit something harder than the deer in the process. In the case of the Elio I would be a LITTLE concerned if anything that the wheel/suspension that extends beyond the protection of the body COULD be hit, causing damage to the exposed steering systems, resulting in a catastrophic loss of control. Probably a deer is too tall to make it a likely scenario, but there are perhaps other cases that WOULD be a real risk. Since it'd be mostly just me in the vehicle and not the whole family, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it, but that may be a factor to consider. How much of a hit can those assemblies take without serious compromise? Personally it won't stop me either way. If you want to get 80+ mpg you'll have to make some trade-offs. You might not be AS safe. You might not burn rubber. You might not seat 12 passengers and their luggage. You might not be able to tow a yacht. But with exponentially dwindling world oil reserves, the Elio is looking much more like the future of cars than is the Ford Expedition, so you might as well get used to a few compromises.

 

[Sam]

wonder if you'd have been killed in a civic? I'm pretty sure civic drivers are no more at risk of death than anyone else. Drivers of cars os ALL makes and models survive their close encounters with the long-legged brown forest rats unscathed the vast majority of the time. Those that don't probably hit something harder than the deer in the process. In the case of the Elio I would be a LITTLE concerned if anything that the wheel/suspension that extends beyond the protection of the body COULD be hit, causing damage to the exposed steering systems, resulting in a catastrophic loss of control. Probably a deer is too tall to make it a likely scenario, but there are perhaps other cases that WOULD be a real risk. Since it'd be mostly just me in the vehicle and not the whole family, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it, but that may be a factor to consider. How much of a hit can those assemblies take without serious compromise? Personally it won't stop me either way. If you want to get 80+ mpg you'll have to make some trade-offs. You might not be AS safe. You might not burn rubber. You might not seat 12 passengers and their luggage. You might not be able to tow a yacht. But with exponentially dwindling world oil reserves, the Elio is looking much more like the future of cars than is the Ford Expedition, so you might as well get used to a few compromises.

Now I am pissed. I was sure I would be able to tow my yacht. Thanks for raining on my parade.

 

[Sam]

[Broken External Image]

Worse thing is the SOB ran off with the hood ornament!

 

[Dustman]

Now I am pissed. I was sure I would be able to tow my yacht. Thanks for raining on my parade.

[Broken External Image]

Worse thing is the SOB ran off with the hood ornament!

LOLS... Oh dear lord, thanks for laughs, Sam

 

[Dustoff]

Worse thing is the SOB ran off with the hood ornament!

Now he's a Cadillac DeDeer?
Sorry about your car and glad you're ok.