On Wednesday I got into a huge accident with my sister's boyfriends car (a 1997 Honda accord). I was in the car with my sister driving home from the casino and going 65-70mph on the freeway when a deer runs past and I quickly swerved to avoid hitting the deer. As I swerved my sister who was sleeping on the passenger side woke up and screamed my name as I gave up on trying to steer the car back in to control. I kept turning the wheel right and left to get the wheels straight back on the road because I did this before and it worked but that time I was going only 45mph this time I was going 65-70mph on the freeway. I couldn't control it no more and the car spun out of control we span around 6 times hitting the rails back and forth and I thought it was over I was going to die. It all happened so fast that I didn't even remember the air bags deploying it was so hard to see the powder from the air bags were floating around the car I couldn't see anything and it was hard to breathe with all the dust and powder floating in the air. I heard my sister screaming my name to get out of the car and I was to shocked to reply back to her (and later she told me she thought I have died because I did not reply back to her) when I heard her screaming my name I thought the car was on fire because of all the dust and powder in the air I thought it was smoke so I hurry and tried to open my door but it was locked and I hit the button to unlock all the doors but it wouldn't budge so I hurry up and pulled the lock up and hurry up and got out of the car. I got out so fast that my right flip flop tore and I hurried to my sister and waited on the side of the freeway for help to arrive. Three minutes later a cop who happened to be just driving past stopped on the other side of the lane and hopped over the rail to see if we were okay. Thank god he saw us because the emergency lights only worked for the back of the car and not the front because the front was smashed in. Ambulance arrived and more cops arrived. It was dark and cold as the officers lit up flares so cars wouldn't drive by and hit us and we talked to the officers about what happened as we waited for the tow truck to tow away the mess. "Cars are replaceable, but life isn't." In the end the car got totaled. I am sore still and so is my sister we were thrown in the car like dummies, but luckily our seat belts were on or it would have been way worse and maybe even death if it was not on. I got a whiplash and am extremely bruised on my shoulder and my neck and arms are so sore. I assume the pain will still be there after a month. My natural instinct was to swerve to avoid hitting the deer. Now I wander how the situation would of turned out if I did hit the deer instead. Would I have died and the deer? Would the accident have been less severe if I had hit the deer instead of swerving and losing control of the car and spinning out of control hitting the rails back and forth. When we went to to tow yard to take a look at the car it was totally damaged and undrivable and the worker who led us to see our car told us he would of took the deer down if he was going to go down too lol. He also told us about a lady who swerved into a ditch to avoid hitting a possum. Crazy right? So tell me guys would you guys have hit the deer or swerved to avoid hitting it? Or would your natural instincts just take over and you wouldn't know which you would do? Thankfully me and my sister are still alive and have a chance to tell you all about my worst car accident ever and be careful when your driving and make sure that area you are driving in don't have deers running around into our roadways. And always always always always wear your seatbelt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should never swerve to avoid hitting a deer. Many cars today are built in such a way that if you do hit an animal it will project up and over your windshield. I'm very happy to hear you and your sister are okay.

Don't swerve to avoid a deer...you and your vehicle will likely be fine after impacting a deer. Where I live (out in the country) this is a regular, nearly daily thing for people this time of year (deer season starts this weekend).

Around here it's when cattle get out of the fence and get hit on the highway that hurts and/or kills people. A deer should be fine...glad you're ok!

I dunno.... If I can keep my noggin' attached, I'd probably just choose to hit the darned thing.... but natural instinct to try and swerve and miss it.... well.... instinct is a powerful thing. But, if I had the choice, I'd choose to hit it.

I'm glad to hear you and your sister are (relatively) unhurt.

I hit a deer a few years back. It was very traumatizing, and now anytime that I'm driving in the dark or at dusk in a rural area I'm paranoid that another is going to pop out. I was aimed at the deer and hit it with the center of my car. I figured if I swerved even a bit the deer might hit the corner of my car and push me out of control, plus I was driving on a two-lane highway and did not want to hit or freak out an oncoming driver.

I hope your soreness goes away soon. ::hugs::

Hit the deer. Hit a squirrel. Hit a dog. Hit an opossum.

I've hit plenty of small animals and if the situation were to be repeated I'd do it again. (not to say that I didn't feel terrible at the time) I've had several body-shop men tell me they've seen MUCH MORE damage from people trying to MISS the animals than from people actually HITTING the animals.

Of course, after having a wreck on Friday as a result of hydroplaning on loose gravel/mud/water, I realize how easy to SAY what you'd do. It's tough when you're actually in the situation!! Plus, I've never, thank GOD, been encountered with a deer on the freeway!

I am so glad the two of you are okay!

I would have hit the deer honestly- a friend of mine actually was driving up north of where we live to give a lecture at an Indian reservation and he hit TWO horses. His car was pretty damaged but he was okay overall.

Just to let you know for the future- here is what you do if your car starts to fishtail or swerve out of control:

Turn into the direction the car is sliding, but don't overcompensate - and ease off the steering as the tail end starts returning to the back of the vehicle. Remember to take your foot off the gas, since if you keep pressing it most likely the tires will spin, leading to even less traction. Apply light, steady pressure to the brakes. (If you have ABS, however, you can put the pedal to the floor.)

As the tail end starts to recover (hopefully) ease off the steering and start steering straight again. If you keep steering hard, the tail will simply slide out the other way and you will have accomplished nothing. It's also how lots of these situations lead to crashes. When you recover, pull over, put the car in park, and give yourself a few minutes to collect your thoughts. Don't continue until you feel safe to do so.

During the panic you were probably making things worse by trying to steer the car- it's better to gradually let go of the wheel and let the car right itself. The last time this happened to you sounds like you were just lucky it didn't get worse because I've always been told let go of the gas and let go of the steering wheel and the car will right itself.

In Ontario, if you swerve to avoid an animal and hit something else, you are in the wrong.

I think the most important part of the advice to hit a deer instead of swerving - is you have to decide ahead of time. In the moment, it's too late. You might even need to visualize doing it or else impulse/instinct will take over in the moment. I bet a lot of people who *know* to do it will still swerve in the moment.

We were always taught to hit the deer... but that's easier said than done when you're in the moment. The natural instinct is to swerve to avoid something, so try not to beat yourself up too bad over it. Glad you and your sis are OK and hope you heal up fast!!

My brother hit a deer at night on an interstate a couple years back in the fog.I never would have thought in a million years a deer would be anywhere near that interstate. The deer ran right in front of him, so he didn't have a choice but to hit it.His car was totaled, but he was totally okay. I don't know what I would have done, but I guess now I know to hit it.


I am so glad you are okay. That must have been really hard for you and your sister to go though. I hope you heal up quickly.

Better to just gun it and hit the deer at full speed than swerve and brake. That way it flips over the windshield.

Now if it's a moose on the other hand...

I agree that its easy to say what we should do but I think my first reaction would be to swerve.

My first reaction would be to swerve. If I were thinking about it, I'd probably swerve. So either way, I'm screwed. I know its not what you're supposed to do, but yeah...I don't think I could just hit the deer. I have no self-preservation when it comes to that.

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about your accident, but I'm glad you are alive with only some bruising and soreness!

I know I had a scary incident once. There was a lot of ice on this back road that I was taking and I had to get up enough speed to make it up a hill. I was only going about 30 mph but right as I got to the bottom, and was about to go back up the hill a deer came out in the middle of the road, and was staring at my headlights. I didn't know what to do, if I had stopped I would have for sure been stuck at the bottom of the hill, but if I kept going without doing something I would have hit the deer..so I remembered my dad saying that deers get mesmerized by the headlights, so I had enough time to momentarily flip them off, and when I turned them back on, the deer was gone!!

Anyway, I doubt that works in every situation...but in any case I always try to trust my brakes over swerving because it is so hard to control an out of control car. It's hard to fight the instinct to try to swerve and miss something that is in the road, but if you swerve instead of just hitting the brakes it usually turns out worse IMO.

Scary situation! Glad you are okay!