A few weeks into this past fall, I was traveling to an out of town basketball tournament with my children in the vehicle, my son was soundly asleep and my daughter was alert, chipper and in a conversation with me. We were traveling to a location that was no more than forty minutes from our home, on a four lane, divided highway. It was a routine route, one that had been trekked hundreds of times, and I was very comfortable with the familiar drive.

Suddenly, the mood changed drastically, and my driving, as well as my perspective on driving was abruptly changed.

I immediately stopped talking with my daughter when I noticed a huge buck had bounded out of the wooded area and entered the other side of the divided highway, about seventy five yards away from where we were. My gut instinct was to slow my truck speed from 65 mph to 40mph, which would give me ample time to make any needed adjustments or to stop completely. The deer shifted its position to go back the way he came and I thought that was it, that he was a smart deer that didn't want to play in traffic. I could not have been more wrong.

That buck took off across the 2 lane highway, sprinting very fast, making a bee line for our two lanes. I quickly turned on the hazards, and slowed my speed . I assumed the deer would cross ahead of me and I planned to give him plenty of time! As we were slowing down, the smaller compact car behind us had gotten several car lengths ahead. They obviously hadn't seen the deer and were traveling at normal speed. The deer sprinted onto the highway and crossed my lane and into the next, and was directly in a path of collision with the other car. I watched horrified as the deer charged the car, as if to hit the driver door head on. Somehow at the last millisecond, the deer shifted its position and instead of hitting the car door with his head, he turned his body sideways, and side checked the car. The deer was still running, and had rammed his body sideways into the car! It bounced into the side of the car, bounced off and kept running, as if to race the car and nudge its way into a path on the road. The driver of the other car, at impact, had used their brakes, stayed straight in the lane instead of swerving, and had come to a stop. But for those few moments the deer and the car were matching pace, and it was incredibly bizarre to see the deer racing the car, running so close to it like it was the most natural thing in the world to run with. The deer then turned 90 degrees and jumped over the hood of the car, and bounded across the rest of the highway.

With my truck and the other vehicle stopped in the highway, my heartbeat thumping so hard that my shirt was moving; it seemed like time stood still. In those moments, I realized how much life could have just changed for my own family as well as for the people in the other car. Had I not known that deer are more active just after dawn, or not known to be watchful during mating season… had any ONE thing gone differently, it could have been a deadly accident. The sleeping kid in the back could have been abruptly awoken to a collision, not knowing or understanding what had happened. The deer could have misjudged his jump and landed on the windshield, putting a hoof through the windshield or even the driver side window, which could have been fatal. I could have not been paying attention and just collided with the deer as he entered the highway. All of the horrible outcomes flashed in my head, and I was immediately relieved but still in a state of shock. I drove up to the other car to make sure they were alright. I knew that physically they were, but I figured they were pretty worked up emotionally. It was a couple of teenage sisters, whom my daughter recognized from high school. They were still getting their wits about them. Sure enough, there was a large dent from the body of the deer, but otherwise everyone was safe and sound.

This experience led me to realize that steps need to be taken and changes made in my community and the surrounding areas. We are a rural area with a large deer population. Only a fraction of us are deer hunters or know when the mating season is. Educating the public about deer mating season and how it impacts drivers is absolutely necessary to reduce deer accidents. New drivers in both rural and urban areas need to be taught the risks of driving around deer. Urban and suburban areas are not immune as they have wooded areas that are home to deer. All drivers need to know how to alleviate some of those risks and how to handle a situation involving a deer accident. Knowing about increased deer activity during the mating season will help drivers be more alert and prepared for deer running onto roads and into traffic. There are many ways to do this. In addition to added driver education content, utilizing community news stations, radio stations, commercials, billboards, or even a notification with the daily weather would help reduce deer involved accidents. There are many deer accidents in my area, and educating the public would help reduce the occurrences. Lives can be saved by educating the public about safe driving in deer areas. Not everyone is as lucky as my family was, or the other car.