Wapsi Square Forum

oldmanmickey wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Technically it's the disease, and not the mosquitoes.

I dump standing water too . . . though I used to carefully dump it into the neighbors' fish pond. (Assuming clean water . . . but if it wasn't clean, there likely weren't mosquito larvae in it, either.)

Nobody highlighted to see the answer?



Bambi and cousins . . . in car accidents. Hit a deer, elf or especially a moose and it's going to wind up in your lap. This is generally regarded as a Bad Thing(TM).

--FreeFlier

Yes hitting a deer, moose, elk or even a cow can be a really bad thing. I have never seen though any published statistics on hitting and elf though. Could you provide a link to this information please?

Here you go!

GlytchMeister wrote:

oldmanmickey wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:Hit a deer, elf or especially a moose and it's going to wind up in your lap. This is generally regarded as a Bad Thing(TM).

--FreeFlier

Yes hitting a deer, moose, elk or even a cow can be a really bad thing. I have never seen though any published statistics on hitting and elf though. Could you provide a link to this information please?

Here you go!

So... one incident, then? and the driver lived through it?

Meh. Statistically, that's right down there with "death due to being gored by a pet turtle", well below "death due to exposure to Vogon poetry", and not even a fraction of the risk of having your head explode because you accidentally watched both the Democratic and Republican "town hall" debates on the same night.

oldmanmickey wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:. . . Nobody highlighted to see the answer?



Bambi and cousins . . . in car accidents. Hit a deer, elf or especially a moose and it's going to wind up in your lap. This is generally regarded as a Bad Thing(TM).

Yes hitting a deer, moose, elk or even a cow can be a really bad thing. I have never seen though any published statistics on hitting and elf though. Could you provide a link to this information please?

I don't have statistics offhand, but the various deer are bad because of their long legs. Blacktail and whitetail deer are the smallest, mule deer larger, Roosevelt elk (aka wapiti) next, and moose are the biggest.

When you hit one, it tends to roll right up the hood into the windshield . . . and come right through. The taller the vehicle, the better off the occupants, but a moose is a serious problem for anything smaller than a semi . . . and even a semi will suffer severe damage, because moose are heavy and have very long legs.

Horses are even heavier, and also have long legs . . . cows are heavy, but their legs are shorter, so they're less likely to end up in your lap. They'll still destroy the car, but you're more likely to live.

BTW, moose will attack the car if you blow the horn at them.

--FreeFlier

This is why I get real nervous when driving on roads through woods and cornfields out here... Especially at night. I have learned to slow the heck down and watch for ANY sign of movement or eye shine.

I have been known to slam on the brakes because I spotted a reflection from a pair of soda cans on the side of the road.

I usually drive little zippy cars, so deer wouldn't so much as end up in my lap as they would end up in my face. Deer rib through the eyeball is NOT something I want to experience.

Slightly related: I refuse to get on a powerboat on the Illinois River. Asian Carp like to jump when startled by motors, and they can get pretty big.

F=ma... Large fish to the face when your face is traveling at 30 mph can be lethal. And that is about the least glorious way I can imagine being killed... Being fish-slapped so hard by the laws of physics your neck breaks.

What were we talking about again? Who wants some pie?

GlytchMeister wrote:This is why I get real nervous when driving on roads through woods and cornfields out here... Especially at night. I have learned to slow the heck down and watch for ANY sign of movement or eye shine.

A lot of RV, camping, and other outdoor-type stores sell little doodads that look like tiny horns, which allegedly make a noise that wildlife notices.

Can't say I've ever heard it, but then humans don't have the best high-frequency hearing AND I'm normally in the car.

What I have seen is a much higher percentage of near-the-road wildlife has its head up looking at our car as we go by, than what I remember from before we got the things.

My best friend had a small truck taken from him in a deer/vehicle incident, he hasn't owned a vehicle since without a Deer Warning Whistle on it.

Those things actually work? I thought that was just a gimmick.

GlytchMeister wrote:Those things actually work? I thought that was just a gimmick.

Well i can tell you from personal experience my wife hit 3 deer the first year she was here. I put a set of those on every car we have bought since and have yet to hit another in 17 years. Its not uncommon to see 8 or more deer during a ride at night from here to town, about 17 miles.

Yes, they work. Each whistle of the pair has its own frequency. However, ya gotta read the destructions... the whistles do not chase the deer away. Instead, it makes them freeze so they don't walk into your path.

Your Deer Alerts at work: The warning signal starts working at 30 miles per hour and alerts animals up to 400 yards away from your vehicle. Sometimes deer may continue to graze when you approach. Many times you will notice the deer's eyes and ears turned in the direction of your vehicle. This indicates that the Deer Alert is working. Generally, deer will not panic or stampede if they are not threatened. At night deer will hear the signal emitted by your Deer Alert before they see your headlights. Other animals may disperse. The aerodynamics of every make and model vehicle is different. If you notice no reaction from animals when you pass by, move the units to a location where they will get more direct wind flow.

FreeFlier wrote:When you hit one, it tends to roll right up the hood into the windshield . . . and come right through. The taller the vehicle, the better off the occupants, but a moose is a serious problem for anything smaller than a semi . . . and even a semi will suffer severe damage, because moose are heavy and have very long legs.

Horses are even heavier, and also have long legs . . . cows are heavy, but their legs are shorter, so they're less likely to end up in your lap. They'll still destroy the car, but you're more likely to live.

yeah, my step-brother in Midland MI. says that the mail delivery trucks have roll-cages on the OUTSIDE of the car because they have so many deer-hits up there.

scantrontb wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:When you hit one, it tends to roll right up the hood into the windshield . . . and come right through. The taller the vehicle, the better off the occupants, but a moose is a serious problem for anything smaller than a semi . . . and even a semi will suffer severe damage, because moose are heavy and have very long legs.

Horses are even heavier, and also have long legs . . . cows are heavy, but their legs are shorter, so they're less likely to end up in your lap. They'll still destroy the car, but you're more likely to live.

yeah, my step-brother in Midland MI. says that the mail delivery trucks have roll-cages on the OUTSIDE of the car because they have so many deer-hits up there.

Some of the big rigs, especially logging trucks and canadian rigs, do that too.

--FreeFlier

I still think that part of my lower back issues are from my deer strike accident at the end of 2013.

FreeFlier wrote:

scantrontb wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:When you hit one, it tends to roll right up the hood into the windshield . . . and come right through. The taller the vehicle, the better off the occupants, but a moose is a serious problem for anything smaller than a semi . . . and even a semi will suffer severe damage, because moose are heavy and have very long legs.

Horses are even heavier, and also have long legs . . . cows are heavy, but their legs are shorter, so they're less likely to end up in your lap. They'll still destroy the car, but you're more likely to live.

yeah, my step-brother in Midland MI. says that the mail delivery trucks have roll-cages on the OUTSIDE of the car because they have so many deer-hits up there.

Some of the big rigs, especially logging trucks and canadian rigs, do that too.

--FreeFlier

In Australia, I believe those are called 'Roo Bars. (kangaROO)

GlytchMeister wrote: In Australia, I believe those are called 'Roo Bars. (kangaROO)

Yes, they are. My Aussie LR had one on it when I got it - and that came right OFF. Damn thing was built like a bridge and made getting under the bonnet a right apin in the arse.

Bull bars in the UK and here in the US - except most of the ones sold here are useless - too light.

If you put one on angle it DOWN so that it shoves whatever you hit under the truck. Ugly but safer for the occupants.

If it's a moose...won't matter anyway because it will just land on the car and kill you by crushing. Had a friend of mine lose a car to that once - rollcage was the only thing that kept him and his passenger alive - and it was a hardtop (SCCA racer).

GlytchMeister wrote:Those things actually work? I thought that was just a gimmick.

Those deer warning whistles (thanks Jabber, I couldn't remember what they are called) are among a number of devices that have been marketed in the last few years where it's really hard to tell if they are doing anything. There are several that I have severe doubts about. But this particular one, I believe works. We have two sets, one on the car and one for the motorhome.

They also seem to work on wolves, foxes, bighorn sheep, antelope, and maybe bears (only one instance). Possibly other things as well.

Warrl wrote:They also seem to work on wolves, foxes, bighorn sheep, antelope, and maybe bears (only one instance). Possibly other things as well.

You just have to be careful what tune you have them whistle. If it's a Justin Bieber song, the animals might un-freeze.

GlytchMeister wrote:In Australia, I believe those are called 'Roo Bars. (kangaROO)

The problem with roos is that you generally get them on the rise, as it were.

Some kangaroos can get pretty big, too.

==============

If, as i've been told by a couple of sources, they put one of these at locations where there have been a certain number of deer strikes,



then how do they decide where to put one of these?

This has been an interesting discussion and has parallels to what I quit doing just this month. Most of the recorded deaths "caused" by cyclists hitting cars are crushing/decapitations caused by the cyclist coming through the windshield. Older cars (before 1976) that equates to a speed above 50 MPH, cars made after the '80s generally had to be going about 60 for a cyclist to enter the cabin with enough force to kill, and cars made after 2006 seem to require 70-75 MPH for a cyclist to kill a driver or passenger. Obviously the cyclist is either dead or dying by the time anyone inside the car is hit.

Except for one wreck in California back sometime around 2010-11. Cyclist was riding on the paved shoulder when he got clipped by a car running off the road at a speed well under the speed limit for the road and the car comes to a rest in the ditch with nobody moving inside the car. Cyclist finds his cell phone and calls 911 but has a broken leg so is unable to get to the car, that is still running. Fire department gets there and starts treating the cyclist and someone else goes over to the car to tell the driver to turn the engine off. The middle-aged driver doesn't have a pulse, or a mark on him.

There was just one in Washington where a driver had a medical emergency and ran through a group of kids waiting for the schoolbus.

So far everyone's alive.

--FreeFlier

Opus the Poet wrote:This has been an interesting discussion and has parallels to what I quit doing just this month.

Flying through windshields? Striking quadrupeds and/or bicyclists with your vehicle?

Yes, giving up those activities sounds like a good thing to do.

FreeFlier wrote:There was just one in Washington where a driver had a medical emergency and ran through a groupo of kids waiting for the schoolbus.

Oww. Ungood. Especially so, since the driver is reported to have had a history of seizures and to have been driving with a suspended license. He's been charged with vehicular assault... hope it doesn't end up as vehicular manslaughter.