Post Impact Stress Disorder
It took about half a day to do all of the reporting for the deer impact on our car. Police, insurance company, collision reporting. Related services, towing, collision repair and car rental, were also engaged.
The car will need a new bumper, front quarter panel, hood, door and mirror. And it will take about a week or so for the repairs.
It is clear to me that there is a very well defined set of processes to deal with car accidents. What is not clear to me is whether there is a well defined process to avoid deer impacts.
Apparently so. My personal trainer told me about deer whistles. The whistle is an animal alert, deer warning device that aids in accident prevention with animals. Who knew?
I wonder if they work.
they work..
“Work” may be a little strong, but they certainly help. We went through a period where our sales reps (especially in the prairies) were hitting a lot of deer (to the point where it was taking down the corporate safety stats and therefore acheiving high visibility).
So we mandated deer whistles. There was a noticible decrease.
The problem is that deer are not so very smart. So while some will move away when they hear the whistles, for others it merely alerts them of impending doom and they look up to watch their own demise.
Summary: They help, but are no replacement good solid defensive driving.
Hi Dave,
Sounds like there is little harm in giving them a try. The things one learns by living in the country 🙂
dave said “deer are not so very smart”
hey, you’re the guys with all the guns, drugs, and crime. So who are you calling ‘not so very smart’ ? And Rich, every so often, take the car to the carwash and get all the road salt cleaned off, especially underneath. Porcupines and skunks love to chew on salty rubber bits, which can sometimes cause electrical, cooling and braking problems.