| Author | Message | ||
     Johnboy777 |
I was stunned to read this! ""Motorcyclists are most at risk when colliding with deer. In only about 2% of car-deer collisions there is a fatality. However, 85% of motorcycle-deer collisions result in a fatality to the human"" ...and this is from a law group. LINK HERE: http://www.washingtoninjuryattorneyblog.com/2008/1 0/autodeer_collision_risk_at_hig_1.html . | ||
| Dentguy |
I guess that puts me in the 15%. The fatality in mine was the deer. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Mine too | ||
| Adrian_8 |
Deer are the main reason I do not ride at night or late in the evening, especially in late October and early November...Last fall around 9 pm a rider hit a deer on interstate 64 near where I live, went down but was struck by a semi... rider D.O.A. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Fookin' ditch rats. I'd offer to work the shift for serious deer hunters if they would kill an extra deer or two for me to think out the population. Hate those damn things. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
""...Last fall around 9 pm a rider hit a deer on interstate 64 near where I live, went down but was struck by a semi... rider D.O.A."" Just as I suspected ... deer and semi drivers working in cahoots. . | ||
| Jphish |
And sometimes those Bastards travel in packs...both deer & trucks. I don't know any longterm rider who hasn't hit one (deer) or had several near misses. I've experienced both. Need serious official national thinning program (deer again)...messy doing it unofficially with Buells. | ||
| Xbimmer |
The only "thinning out" that's gonna be happening at least for the next 2-4 years will be hunters themselves... oops, hijack... | ||
| Billinpa |
I have a hard time believing the stats on that. I hit a deer, deer died not me. Had two friends hit deer, both fatal to the deer only. I realize they certainly can be fatal as in the Larry Grodsky case. | ||
| Jphish |
Yeah - And "Doc's" still with us too. Wonder where they got their Data ? NTSB ? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I wonder how many of the "deer strikes" we know about are full ATGATT. What contributing speed factors are at work? Sport bikes vs. cruisers Alcohol vs. sober I'd say that ATGATT, non-alcohol events with individuals who are used to riding at night/dusk and are looking for deer probably have a higher survivablity rate than those where alcohol is involved, where the rider is in little or no gear, and where the rider isn't vigilently looking for deer. | ||
| Dick_stilton |
3 Million white tail in Texas alone. I saw a shit load when I was there and had no less than 6 run outs and I was only there 10 days and only out 2 nights after dusk. It must be a serious problem for some of you guys. Ride safe. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Run the Natchez Trace Parkway at Dusk. EVERY time I have ridden it, I have seen 30+ deer in the 15 mile stretch near my house. It's spooky. My head's on a swivel the whole time. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
You should come to the WV Buell Rally... They come out of the woods like ZOMBIES... attracted by the "Call of the Buells"... I have heard them chanting... "You have a headlight out"... "You have a headlight out" as they stock us.... We head to the campground to build a fire to keep them away.... Its no use... they keep coming!!! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I hear if you wear a garland of deer jerky around your neck it scares them away. | ||
| Jphish |
Gotta have alot of garlic in the jerk solution though. I'm with 'fatty' - I don't ride at nite or, if I can help it, before dawn. NO stimulants/depressants, of any kind, until parked for the day. I love 'critters' - part of the reason I ride - just don't want 'em attached to the front of my Uly... or in my tent. Ultimately the onus is on US to read the Hurt report and ride in a way that reduces the odds. My riding partner and I trade off the 'lead' about every 30 mins in thick deer or wildlife country - cuts down on fatigue and 'swivel neck' syndrome. Damn near hit a bear and a buffalo inside of 10 mins in NWT last June. Whatever they're standing on...they own, includes the road. Wonder if they pay a fuel tax ? | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Its the middle of the afternoon!! just wait till dusk!!  | ||
| Johnboy777 |
""I wonder how many of the "deer strikes" we know about are full ATGATT. What contributing speed factors are at work? Sport bikes vs. cruisers Alcohol vs. sober "" +1...I'm with Fatty! I think all of those pirate-headed tee shirt wearing Harley-types might be skewing the stats here a bit...just a thought. They might be making up the 85% group whereas, a vast majority of the ATGATT guys end up within 15% group. Once again, seems like Darwin's Laws of Natural Selection is never too far away wherever Harley riders are concerned.  . | ||
| Dentguy |
Maybe they forgot to mention that the deer were driving an automobile. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
when we went out to sturgis on the wife's trike back in 01. we had problems the second day out and some guy who lived in the area stopped to help us had just got home from sturgis cause i buddy of his had just got killed when he hit a dear. a day later we were cruising down the road in i think missouri and a couple dear crossed the road in front of us, went across the medium and one made it the other one got hit by a pt cruiser. watched that deer fly in the air at least 10 feet if not more. the wife was driving so i got to watch the whole thing. | ||
| Portero72 |
Color me 15%. I was fairly well messed up when I hit mine, but ATGATT saved my life. I'm sure the 85% fatality rate is skewed a bit high-I know plenty of guys who have hit deer and either not crashed, or crashed, been okay and just not reported the incident. | ||
| J2blue |
Last October, while training for my CDL, we were coming down from Estes Park and encountered two mule deer in the road. Since I was only doing about 25 I had time to decide how to handle it. The normal horn doesn't work on deer, but two blasts on the air horns and you should have seen them jump! Most of the guys running local deliveries in the mountains have deer catchers mounted on the front of their trucks so they don't have to slow down. I see them all the time when riding, day or night. Some roads are worse than others. I realize that I take my chances on many of these roads regardless of the time of day. Some of the mule deer, and certainly the Elk, weigh more than my Buell and if one jumps out at the last second it will likely be my last second. I wear ATGATT and try to manage the risk, but I can't eliminate all of the risk. I just hope if I collide with one it will have a huge rack for me to catch on so the taxidermist will have something to talk about in his old age. | ||
| Skinstains |
I think we need to hear from the 85%ers so we can do our own poll. Come on boys, post up. Hey Wolfridge, what do they do up there ? play soccer with hay rolls ? Athletic dear must be tough as hell to hit. | ||
| Mnrider |
hey ftbstrd please work ashift for me so i can bow hunt more.i'm doing my part,kill one every year. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I will expect the offending ditch bastard to be terminated with extreme malice. I prefer that you hunt them with a Barrett. Hot, smoking meat rings. | ||
| Mnrider |
I'll make sure he suffers and i'll drag him to town with my bike | ||
| Neurorider |
I would suspect that statistic to not be accurate due to reporting bias: If someone hits a deer and dies, it almost always will get counted. But, how many times does someone hit a deer, limp away, call a buddy with a trailer to come get the bike, fix it himself...and not get counted? I know of several people that have hit deer, ditches, trees (small ones  and did not report their accident because they knew their comprehensive insurance would go sky-high-cheaper to fix the bike yourself in the long run. So I know some of these don't get reported. BTW, I did my part-killed two this season one with crossbow and one with rifle! | ||
| Froggy |
Very true Neuro, my Uly was in somewhere around a dozen wrecks, only got reported once, and I limped away from that one. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I hate deer, love venison and jerky tho. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
They're thick as fleas and getting worse every year. I've never hit one, multiple near-misses, I did hammer a big tom turkey on the BRP this year -- had my shield in the 3/4 slot so when the Uly busted him in half I caught a face full of guts. | ||
| Radiocowboy |
I hit one at 70mph in 03 spent 14 days in the hospital, 3 surgery's, last one 14 hours long and 7 months in rehab learning how to walk and feed myself again. Kill em all, the deer that is. | ||
| Hooper |
I never knew to be so paranoid until my Uly "tripped over" one at 55mph last February...it had - lucky for me - slipped on the pavement and gone down on its stomach when I hit it. Another story of ATGATT and sheer luck coming to save my venison bacon. That a car didn't come over the top of me or that I didn't fly into the oncoming lane is still amazing to me. And no real injuries other than a deep cut and some sore arms and ribs. Today, I look at the scuffs on all sides of my heavily armored gauntlets (Cortech Scarab Winter - the only gear I was wearing then that I still wear now) and just shake my head. I don't know how I got so fortunate. Now, I do ride with a pang of paranoia - I love the roads that deer love to cross. It's just not fair...I don't want to have to become an urban rider. To the statistics: the cops gave me an "incident number", but they said they were not going to create a "report" because I was walking and talking and my Uly was back on the rubber side and ridable. I don't know if MY insurance company cooperates with this "Insurance Institute", but I know that this incident was pretty much a blip as far as the police are concerned. Thin 'em all! |
