For the first time in months I took the weekend off and we headed up to Southerness in Scotland just for a short break. The weather was kind and we had sunshine the whole time, it was great and I really enjoyed it except for one bad incident. When driving back from Dumfries where we had been for the day, it was a long straight stretch of road and all was quiet. Then all of a sudden I saw a deer jumping over the hedge from the left, right in front of the car. There was that moment when time seems to stand still, the deer was looking at me but was in mid flight at least six feet in the air. The deer knew what was coming and so did I but of course neither of us could do anything about it. I braked hard but to no avail the deer landed right on the front of the bonnet. As you can imagine this came as a big shock and I was at a loss as to what to do about the injured deer, the cars that were traveling behind stopped and other drivers agreed that I could not have avoided hitting it. One helped me move the injured deer onto the grass verge and we were just discussing what to do when a car coming from the other direction stopped and a women got out and started to give me grief for hitting the deer. Even the fact that she had not seen the accident didn't stop her from pointing to my taxi plate and shouting that" it must have been his fault" because "look he's a bloody taxi driver". Despite being asked to shut up by other drivers she continued to shout adding problems to an already stressful situation, she shouted that"you ran the deer down now it's up to you to finish it off" and that" this will cost you thousands in fines". Just then the situation was taken out of my hands ,when a local farmer drove up in his truck and within seconds and without saying a word got out and lifted the deer into the back and drove off.
I later rang the local police station and they told me that accidents like this happen with deer now and again and that I was lucky that it didn't come through the screen and injure me as has happened to other motorists in the past.
7 comments:
My wife hit a deer with her Saxo a year or two ago and it did a lot of damage. How did your car fare?
Don't worry about the obnoxious woman - there's always some fool out to create havoc - we have our share of them at work.
phin The car was not too bad I will know better when I take it to the body shop in a day or so. I'm sure they will give me a nice bill
I'm sorry that happened to you. I'm glad that nobody was hurt and that the car isn't too badly damaged.
When there is a lot of shrubbery right next to the road and that can happen so quickly. It happened to me up near Stranraer. It sure gets the heart going!
It is that special time of year for deer and they don't think too clearly.
When I nailed that deer last month, I had the same problem with a "looky-loo". She told me that I was going too fast. I told her that I wasn't even at the speed limit. She responded by saying that that was still too fast.
My closing remark was F*** YOU B****.
On Mau'i, the police won't even take a report unless a human was injured or the damage exceeds $3,000.
We live in the Highlands, loads of deer, happens all the time. I've been lucky, swerved around a couple, one galloped up the road alongside! Unless you drive everywhere at 30 you can't guarantee that you won't hit one eventually, they jump out with no warning.
By the way, we moved here from Kirkby in Furness, enjoy reading about Barrow although I don't miss the Tesco roundabout!
Sorry to hear that... but don't let it bother you. That's one of the commenest accidents over here in the states. They can often be just as dangerous for the people as for the deer.
I reckon that farmer just picked up a good 100 pounds of venison.
I remember the time I was driving in Yellowstone and all the other cars kept flashing their lights at me. I couldn't figure out why until rounding a hairpin turn there stood a buffalo smack dab sideways in the middle of the road.
In most of the USA, the deer population has been expanding, so run -ins are a very common occurrence. Just be happy that nobody got hurt. I once had a friend in Canada hit a bull moose... His pick-up truck was totaled, but fortunately he wasn't hurt.
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