It was at night in an area with no lighting and there are no deer signs. I know it's not a big deal but there not being signs may be a point I can use. The thing is I had my high beams on but two deer ran out from the brush right in front of me. I know I should have hit them but when something runs right in front of you what is your immediate reaction? Plus I wouldn't feel right killing a deer. With the car I was driving I think the accident would have been a lot worse had I hit the deer. The car is low and the deer was a pretty good size. Deer through the windshield doesn't sound enjoyable to me. Another point I am going to make is that I had to go off to the left, the hill side, because the other side of the road has a 10 foot drop after the curb and has trees at the bottom.

 

bump for advice

 

well... if you took stunt driving class, you could have tactfully used your ebrake and imaginative steering to do a 180, and crushed the damned beast with your rear bumper, thereby making it the fault of the most likely uninsured deer.

However.

As you say, who thinks of such small technicalities when facing not one, but 2 deer at once? I certainly wouldn't. Maybe afterwards, I would've strangled one or two with my hands, but right before impact... I don't think so.

So... advice wise, as far as I know, the laws are pretty clear (in most states) about wrecking your car in an attempt at humane behavior by avoiding the deer: you are at fault. A lawyer will surely know more than the vast majority of us... did you sign any papers from the insurance company yet?

In any case, if you want a chance at a way out, talk to a lawyer whether you've signed insurance papers or not.

Most likely though, I think you're gonna have to bite it and bend over on this one. To help you relieve the aches and pains of **** pillaging due to this accident, go huntin'.

Otherwise, good luck.

 

What sucks is that if you hit a deer the accident is filed as an "act of God" (why blame God? anyway...) this falls under your Comprehensive Coverage and does not increase your insurance premiums.

If you swerve and miss the deer and then hit a tree or any other object (including curbs/hills/etc...) the accident is YOUR FAULT and falls under your Collision Coverage.

The only advice I can give you is to drive really carefully from here on out. In the future, slam on the brakes, stay in your lane and pray the deer gets out of the way.

 

The dumb thing is, if a drunk had run in front of your car, you'd better swerve or else you'd be found guilty of vehicular manslaughter. What would insurance have done then????

 

The only time you should ever use your brake in the event of a deer is if you see the deer 20-30 secs ahead of you to give you ample time to slow down. But if a deer pops outta nowhere punch your gas hard. Like i mentioned before if you brake you will create a Nose Dive on your vehicle increasing your chances of that deer meeting you face to face. It may seem a little hard to do being that your first instinct is to protect yourself and your car, but in this situation doing so will cause more damage to you. You always need to factor in things like other cars that are travelling in the opposite direction or if there are deep ditches on the shoulder or in animate objects that could cause you to severly hurt yourself if you accidently run into it just because you wanted to avoid the deer.

Your best bet is to just be extra careful next time. But because we can't necessarily visualize your actual engagement with the deer is that your best bet is with a lawyer and your visual description of the area. The lawyer will generally be able to factor in some loop hole based on the area/surroundings/time etc etc. but like everyone has mentioned here has stated that Deer is considered Comprehensive, any act of avoidance would consitute you to be at fault. All i can say is best of luck to you and be more careful. stuff like this can happen to anyone, just be thankful you yourself are ok.

 

wasn't there a police report filed the night it happened? i'm hoping there was and that they placed the fact that u swerved to avoid hitting the deer. if u weren't drinking and everything is kosher i think everything should come out just fine... but i would definitely recommend getting a lawyer to get some legal advice at the very least.

 

...so hitting a deer at 80 mph is better than hitting one at 20 mph?

BTW, the G's nose isn't going to drop 12+ inches in a hard stop.

 

Here is a better perspective, a vehicle under normal conditions travelling at 50pm or less takes generally 4 secs to come to a complete stop. Now we can't assume what the conditions were the night this guy happened to avoid the deer. The vehicle doesnt need to to drop 12 inches under hard stopping. Take for example if you drive in a residential area doing 22-25 mph hour and some kid runs across a street chasing his/her toy or whatever it is your first instinct especially if you are within 15- 20 feet is to hard brake, now whether or not your car does a strong nose dive or not the back end will raise a considerable amount while your front end does a short dive. Back to the deer issue, none the less whether it is 1 inch or 12 inch, those differences can still determine whether you are gonna get an antler to your face or not.

As far as driving lets say you travel at at 40 mph and see a deer in front of you and there is no way to move fast enough without causiong your car to do an oversteer/understeer(depending on situation) you accelerate upto 50-60mph before impact, by accelerating and lifting the front end of your car you are minimizing the chances of the deer going through your windshield.

 

Go back and shoot the deer. Throw him on the hood and take pics. Now call your insurance company again.

If it doesnt work, at least you got even with the bastard.

 

Nobody should be encouraging you to hit the deer.

Deer and Moose are real bad to hit head on because they fall on or go flying into the cabin of the vehicle when hit dead on... or through the windshield due to the height of the animal. The car takes out their legs, and they fall onto the vehicle(especially with cars, more than SUV's).

It happens a million times a year in Maine and a lot of people get hurt or killed.

You should always try to avoid hitting the animal, but it's best to try to make a split second decision as to whats safer given your surroundings. If you swerve to avoid the animal on a wide open straight road, you probably won't be hitting anything, yet if you do it on a windy road next to a ditch, you might end up wrapped around a tree or in a ditch 60 feet below the roadway.

You have to make a decision at the time of the incident, and nobody can really tell you what's the the general best thing to do in situations like this due to the numerous other variables of the scenaria that we can't predict. As someone mentioned above, the best thing you can do is to always try to be in control of your vehicle... so that if something dramatic should happen, you increase the likelyhood of a positive outcome.

If you hit the deer head on intentionally... sure, you might not get faulted with the accident, but what good is that to you if you're in a morgue with chunks of dead deer embedded in your body?

Oh.. and sorry about your car. Sucks to see a 240SX bite the dust... from a fellow 240SX/G35 owner. I always love whipping my 240SX, because of the go-kart feel that it gives you(unlike the G35).

 

No you wouldn't. I've seen it happen before. If you are not at a marked or unmarked cross-walk, then a pedestrian has no business being in the street, let alone trying to run in front of you. If the pedestrian was drunk, then it is even less likely you would be guilty of manslaughter, because public drunkeness is a ticketable offense. (My room-mate got one in college, and he too was a pedestrian)

If I was on a back road, (like the ones on my way home), and if someone jumps out in front of me. If my car can't stop in time, you bet your **** I'll be hitting that person. I'm not about to lose control of my car, and drive off a cliff, slam into a tree, or risk a head-on collision with another car, possibly killing me, my wife, or my family.

 

No one is necessarily encouraging him to hit a deer. The suggestions that are offerred on this thread are based on real life w/no other choice situations. If a driver can avoid it at all cost then it can be avoided by being a more careful and observant driver and to see as far as your eyes will let you see at day or night. But given a situation where its either you or the deer it the drivers discretion/knowledge/ability to know what to do and accept the damges that may follow. Im sure all who went to drivers ed/improvement learned SIPDE (scan/Identify/predict/decide/execute). In a situation with a deer its almost hard to decide what is the wisest decision. But Hitting a deer is still an option if all other options are unavailable to the situation of keeping the driver safe and in tact. It can be a smart move or bad move.

Very well said, i agree in terms of being able to avoid at all cost of hitting an animal especially the likes of a deer. I also agree with the split decision making espeically that it only takes one sec to get into an accident. But also remember that in different scenarios people will be faced with life saving decisions and sometimes the best method can and cannot be helpful, I'd like to think of it as a damned if you do and damned if you dont situation. Either way any driver who makes a decision should definitely be awre of their actions taken and best bet it be a more aware of the surroundings. Like i said a 20 -30 sec look through is imperative in driving. I think alot of people on the road tend to forget to look that far, but then again in instances where you come across a blind bend in the road could equal trouble, so what ever you think bad that could happen will more then likely happen.

 

Central Texas is densley packed with deer, so dealing with them is extremely common. While this isn't a lot of help to you with this car, it might help you and others in the future:

1. If you try to avoid the deer, try to just barely avoid it if anything more drastic is dangerous. Over-reacting is always more dangerous. If you can't avoid it safely, then you simply can't avoid it! Your natural instinct to avoid yanking the wheel at speed should always over-ride your instinct to avoid the deer collision at all cost. Be thankfull you didn't involve another vehicle.

2. This one is pretty easy out here, as you can usually see them ahead, but here it is anyway: IF they're on the side of the road, KEEP your engine speed CONSTANT. The change in sound is what will really spook them. After implementing this advice, I've never had them dart out in front of me.

3. If you have those deer whistles on your car (If it's your G, you deserve to hit a deer ), then take them off! They work at scattering the deer away, BUT they don't work soon enough. Going through the Hill Country late one night (3am during the winter), I finally had to pass a truck in front of me (who had the whistles on) because the deer would freak-out and scatter at the last minute. These things endanger you more than they help. After getting well ahead of that truck and implenting the constant-engine-speed technique, NOT A SINGLE deer scattered when I approached. This was the most tense night of driving in my life (I'm 34) as I probably passed 150 or more deer within 80 miles. 9 out of 10 scattered at the last minute due to the whistles, while I only saw 1 young spike scatter (out of perhaps 100) when it was just me and I kept the engine-speed as constant as possible when I noticed them.

3. Bang #1 into your head until it becomes your natural instinct.

4. If you hit a deer, even head-on, the chances of it coming through the windshield are so slim that you can rule them out. It would be a freak-accident. You're more likely to be killed while trying to avoid one, so drill that into your head. If you can avoid a head-on, great, but NOT "at all cost". A deer's instinct is still to jump out of the way in that last split-second, and it's not going to jump into the lights. It will jump to either side, most likely the direction they are facing.

 

Since your insurance has deemed it your fault, this is what I'd wanna kno. What's the blue book on your car? What's the total cost for repairs? What's your deductible? After you've factored everything, determine if the cost of repairs worth the next 8 yrs of high premiums? If not, junk it and call it a lost.