4 ms·

They are more dangerous on the road. Sedans get opened up like a sardine tin. The bumper hits the legs and the body hits the rest of the car.

by di456 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
londons_explore 3y ago
Nearly always, it is the car that hits the moose, not the moose that hits the car. Aka... Driver is darwin'ing themselves..
- di456 3y ago
  Driving at night the animal is nearly invisible in the shadows of the road shoulder. Even in the day they can bolt without warning. Always a good idea to slow down if you do see them, and put hazard lights on to warn other drivers. Dawn and dusk are when they are most active. In a split second they can walk in front of you before you can brake. Add wet, foggy, icy, or snowy conditions and the braking ability is even more limited.
- Broken_Hippo 3y ago
  Aka... Driver is darwin'ing themselves.. I was with you for the first half, but I've seen moose on the road. They sometimes just appear, much like deer would just appear in the midwest. Even when you see them, you might not have much time to respond. It is amazing that they can blend into the woods so readily considering their size.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    Deer can teleport, this is well known to anybody that has done sufficient mileage in Northern Canada.
    - singingboyo 3y ago
      You don't even have to go north, really. Just driving a few nights on a quiet, dark road outside the big cities late at night will convince you that deer 1) basically teleport 2) are stupid 3) can be absolutely terrifying when they show up out of nowhere, despite 2. (And yes, 2 only really applies w.r.t. cars and roads.) Possibly time of year dependent, I guess, but seriously, one weekend of nightly midnight drives out in the Shuswap area of BC was all it took. I now/still respect the effects of the deer, but marvel at their unmitigated stupidity.
      - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
        Re: stupid. I have surprised deer on the road, at night, and had them respond by running toward me. That did not help the probability of a collision...
      - jacquesm 3y ago
        True. I crashed into one somewhere in Iowa, we weren't going fast, maybe 45 mph, the deer probably jumped up from the ditch besides the road. Poor deer. Great people in the village where we ended up with the damaged car, the local bodyshop guy opened up for us in the middle of the night, pulled the front more or less back into shape and plugged a hole in the rad and the valve cover. Total charge for 6 hours of work + materials: $0. So we could continue our trip to friends in the Rocky Mountains with only a slight delay when we originally thought we'd have to abort the trip right there.
    - schlowmo 3y ago
      I guess that people who never hit a deer think you're just joking, but I know what you mean. It's not just that they blend so well in their surrounding, but if they're moving very fast they can jump quite some distances. I hit my first deer during a night-time driving lesson. It just manifested itself in a turn right in front of the car. It happened so freaking fast that even my driving instructor didn't get right away what happened. (To be fair this was his first deer accident too). There were just something flying in front of the car, getting hit and flying away to the side of the road. It was very different from my imagination which formed during my childhood hearing adults talking about split second decisions in case of a deer appearing in front of the car.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Nearly always, but when they do hit it has some serious momentum. I was witness to the aftermath a pretty bad accident on the road between Barrie and Sudbury where a moose ran into a truck on the side. The truck overturned due to the impact, the moose (incredibly) ran on but probably died somewhere in the forest from its injuries. I also came across a moose running across the road that cut through a forest and it never slowed down, they weave with their heads to keep the antlers from ramming into the trees in a way that is quite amazing. They run through a forest that I couldn't run through without clipping the trees and those animals are easily four times as wide. Don't mess with moose.
- twelve40 3y ago
  you try driving for 3-4 hours looking at and scrutinizing every upcoming bush along the way. This is the dumbest and rudest take on accidents i've heard here.
lemonberry 3y ago
A friend of mine that grew up in northern New Hampshire was taught that breaking when about to hit a moose was deadly for precisely this reason. He said to speed up and try to make to the opposite side of the moose so the body didn't land on you. I have no idea if this is really good advice or widely shared. I hope I never have to make that split second decision. I was in my mid-30s the first time I saw a moose up close. It almost caused an accident between me and a logging truck. It was massive to the point of absurdity. If you've never seen one it's difficult to imagine how big they are.
- twelve40 3y ago
  at the very least it's super-counterintuitive because your biggest desire in the world of course is to slam the breaks and try to not hit it at all. I seriously doubt I'll have the balls to floor it when I see one.

They are more dangerous on the road. Sedans get opened up like a sardine tin. The bumper hits the legs and the body hits the rest of the car.

by di456 3y ago

They are more dangerous on the road. Sedans get opened up like a sardine tin. The bumper hits the legs and the body hits the rest of the car.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

londons_explore 3y ago

Nearly always, it is the car that hits the moose, not the moose that hits the car. Aka... Driver is darwin'ing themselves..

di456 3y ago
Driving at night the animal is nearly invisible in the shadows of the road shoulder. Even in the day they can bolt without warning. Always a good idea to slow down if you do see them, and put hazard lights on to warn other drivers. Dawn and dusk are when they are most active. In a split second they can walk in front of you before you can brake. Add wet, foggy, icy, or snowy conditions and the braking ability is even more limited.
Broken_Hippo 3y ago
Aka... Driver is darwin'ing themselves.. I was with you for the first half, but I've seen moose on the road. They sometimes just appear, much like deer would just appear in the midwest. Even when you see them, you might not have much time to respond. It is amazing that they can blend into the woods so readily considering their size.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Deer can teleport, this is well known to anybody that has done sufficient mileage in Northern Canada.
  - singingboyo 3y ago
    You don't even have to go north, really. Just driving a few nights on a quiet, dark road outside the big cities late at night will convince you that deer 1) basically teleport 2) are stupid 3) can be absolutely terrifying when they show up out of nowhere, despite 2. (And yes, 2 only really applies w.r.t. cars and roads.) Possibly time of year dependent, I guess, but seriously, one weekend of nightly midnight drives out in the Shuswap area of BC was all it took. I now/still respect the effects of the deer, but marvel at their unmitigated stupidity.
    - AnimalMuppet 3y ago
      Re: stupid. I have surprised deer on the road, at night, and had them respond by running toward me. That did not help the probability of a collision...
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      True. I crashed into one somewhere in Iowa, we weren't going fast, maybe 45 mph, the deer probably jumped up from the ditch besides the road. Poor deer. Great people in the village where we ended up with the damaged car, the local bodyshop guy opened up for us in the middle of the night, pulled the front more or less back into shape and plugged a hole in the rad and the valve cover. Total charge for 6 hours of work + materials: $0. So we could continue our trip to friends in the Rocky Mountains with only a slight delay when we originally thought we'd have to abort the trip right there.
  - schlowmo 3y ago
    I guess that people who never hit a deer think you're just joking, but I know what you mean. It's not just that they blend so well in their surrounding, but if they're moving very fast they can jump quite some distances. I hit my first deer during a night-time driving lesson. It just manifested itself in a turn right in front of the car. It happened so freaking fast that even my driving instructor didn't get right away what happened. (To be fair this was his first deer accident too). There were just something flying in front of the car, getting hit and flying away to the side of the road. It was very different from my imagination which formed during my childhood hearing adults talking about split second decisions in case of a deer appearing in front of the car.
jacquesm 3y ago
Nearly always, but when they do hit it has some serious momentum. I was witness to the aftermath a pretty bad accident on the road between Barrie and Sudbury where a moose ran into a truck on the side. The truck overturned due to the impact, the moose (incredibly) ran on but probably died somewhere in the forest from its injuries. I also came across a moose running across the road that cut through a forest and it never slowed down, they weave with their heads to keep the antlers from ramming into the trees in a way that is quite amazing. They run through a forest that I couldn't run through without clipping the trees and those animals are easily four times as wide. Don't mess with moose.
twelve40 3y ago
you try driving for 3-4 hours looking at and scrutinizing every upcoming bush along the way. This is the dumbest and rudest take on accidents i've heard here.

lemonberry 3y ago

A friend of mine that grew up in northern New Hampshire was taught that breaking when about to hit a moose was deadly for precisely this reason. He said to speed up and try to make to the opposite side of the moose so the body didn't land on you. I have no idea if this is really good advice or widely shared. I hope I never have to make that split second decision. I was in my mid-30s the first time I saw a moose up close. It almost caused an accident between me and a logging truck. It was massive to the point of absurdity. If you've never seen one it's difficult to imagine how big they are.

twelve40 3y ago
at the very least it's super-counterintuitive because your biggest desire in the world of course is to slam the breaks and try to not hit it at all. I seriously doubt I'll have the balls to floor it when I see one.