Fatal crash with deer
Fatal crash with deer
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Austin Prefect

Original Poster:

1,220 posts

10 months

Yesterday (11:22)
quotequote all
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpq19e7d9rdo

This was on a road I use a lot to get to Benson Waterside or the H cafe. Not at that time in the morning though. In the dark on a wet road it seems unlikely he'd have been going particularly fast, so I'll certainly keep even more of an eye out for deer in future.

The whole east Oxfordshire district seems to be a hot spot for foxes and deer crossing the roads. Believe it or not wallabies are far from unknown.

Shooter McGavin

8,416 posts

162 months

Yesterday (11:30)
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Crikey, I ride that road all the time, but never that early in the day. Condolences to the rider's loved ones.

They say that early morning and dusk are the worst times for this.

Having said that we were travelling up to Nettlebed the other Saturday lunchtime, just up the road from this incident, when the car in front of us had to slam their brakes on - an entire family of deer (two adults and two fawns) just ran out into the road from the forest.

It does make me worry because my motorcycle commute takes me through some deer country with a lot of unfenced land at the side of the road. I've even started going a route which is a slightly longer route but the road is more protected by fencing, to manage this kind of risk.

I've had a 'deer whistle' fitted to my VFR800 for the last 10 years. There is some debate over their effectiveness, all I can say is that I haven't had an incident yet.



Edited by Shooter McGavin on Tuesday 21st October 12:01

Linksmas

3,127 posts

233 months

Yesterday (11:34)
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tis the season. Rutland and Lincolnshire are littered with the carcasses of deer, badger and foxes. I think even a bunny rabbit would ruin my day though.

Couple of times recently I've seen 1 deer run our ahead and I've hauled up because somebody told me there are always more running with them, and there always have been.

black-k1

12,559 posts

247 months

Yesterday (11:43)
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Sad news and deer are a real problem. I had a "deer encounter" in 2019 that wrote off my K1300S and left me with 5 broken ribs, a lacerated liver and lacerated lung. That is why I now use an airbag.

The deer, a full size stag, came out of a high hedged drive at full tilt on a country road. I had no chance! I wasn't going fast, well below the 60mph limit and well below what the road could "safely" support. It's certainly made me mor cautious when riding in the dark at this time of year.

Take care out there and enjoy venison at every opportunity in order to make the roads safer! biggrin

ChocolateFrog

33,021 posts

191 months

Yesterday (11:45)
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There's so many deer out there this year. I don't know if there's actually more but I've never seen so many in Lincolnshire/East Yorkshire.

Edited by ChocolateFrog on Wednesday 22 October 12:09

John D.

19,626 posts

227 months

Yesterday (11:45)
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That's local to me too.

When I used to commute early I once had a deer step out in front of me near Henley. Fortunately I wasn't going fast and spotted it early. Wasn't a close call.

Years ago a whole herd crossed the road on the B4494 when I was out at the crack of dawn in a car. Thankfully on a open section where they could be seen coming across the fields from a way off. Does make me always watch for more when I spot one now.

Shooter McGavin

8,416 posts

162 months

Yesterday (11:56)
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I feel that the problem with deer is that by nature they are very nervous/flighty animals, so instead of hanging around by the side of the road doing the ruminant version of the Green Cross Code they just leg it across as quickly as possible without looking, with an obvious risk to vehicular traffic.

Pica-Pica

15,501 posts

102 months

Yesterday (11:58)
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Volvo developed a thermal imaging camera for elks. Not sure what became of it.

HybridTheory

572 posts

50 months

Yesterday (12:18)
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Yep friend of mine had a collision with a deer few years back ended up with a broken leg and has not been back on a bike since

WH16

7,535 posts

236 months

Yesterday (12:27)
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There are more deer in the UK now than at any other time since the middle ages. During Covid no stalking was allowed, so numbers ballooned. There are 40-7000 road vehicle collisions annually.

Also, they are corpuscular, i.e. most active at dawn and dusk, which at this time of year is pretty much peak commuting time. They are more active in the summer, but much earlier in the morning or late at night when roads are quieter.

They are browsers, not grazers, so tend to feed around the edges of woodlands or hedgerows, often placing them close to roads or paths, and they often move in small groups, so if you see one, there may be others around.

FoolsErrand

37 posts

22 months

Yesterday (12:41)
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WH16 said:
Also, they are corpuscular crepuscular, i.e. most active at dawn and dusk, which at this time of year is pretty much peak commuting time.
Assuming our deer behave much like the American ones:


WH16

7,535 posts

236 months

Yesterday (12:42)
quotequote all
FoolsErrand said:
WH16 said:
Also, they are corpuscular crepuscular, i.e. most active at dawn and dusk, which at this time of year is pretty much peak commuting time.
Assuming our deer behave much like the American ones:

Autocorrect. My apologies.

Inbox

651 posts

4 months

Yesterday (12:51)
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Nasty, I think deer are the worst animals to hit whether on a bike or in a car and if you see one there is probably another one just behind it, rarely on their own.

It is like hitting horizontal log on stilts ignoring any head gear it might have, had a close call in a 911, if it had impacted it would be straight in the windscreen.

Edited by Inbox on Tuesday 21st October 13:13

Biker9090

1,602 posts

55 months

Yesterday (13:07)
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I hate the things.

One of the only redeeming features of my K1300GT was the Xenon headlight.

I overtook a car along that road on the way to H Cafe late in the year (dark). As I passed i flipped it on highbeam only to see an entire pack of them right at the end of the throw charging towards the road. I genuinely think it saved my life.

It's pheasants that plague me at the moment - not sure if they annoy me more or the Romans for bringing the things here!

Edited by Biker9090 on Tuesday 21st October 13:09

phazed

22,329 posts

222 months

Yesterday (14:05)
quotequote all
Inbox said:
Nasty, I think deer are the worst animals to hit whether on a bike or in a car and if you see one there is probably another one just behind it, rarely on their own.

It is like hitting horizontal log on stilts ignoring any head gear it might have, had a close call in a 911, if it had impacted it would be straight in the windscreen.

Edited by Inbox on Tuesday 21st October 13:13
Saw a Honda Civic hit a pony in the New Forest. The pony rolled over the car and crushed a lot of of the roof of the car, landed on the road and ran off into the forest. The family of four in the car literally didn’t know what hit them! No one hurt, car written off! Literally, anything can happen when animals are near roads.

Se7enheaven

1,863 posts

182 months

Yesterday (14:39)
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Deer these days have very little fear of being close to human activity, then when they get spooked go demented tearing off in any unpredictable direction. Far too many of them , with major , major cull required to reduce numbers. Absolute s of things.

outnumbered

4,680 posts

252 months

Yesterday (14:54)
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That's a fast bit of road.

As it happens, I hit a deer on an NSL road a couple of weeks ago. Don't remember anything about the collision or an hour afterwards (lucky really as it took at least that long for the ambulance to arrive). From where everything ended up, it must have just run out of the woods right in front of me. This was around lunchtime, so not dawn or dusk...

Got away with a fractured scapula, a badly bruised knee and one deep graze, plus generally beaten-up. Hideout custom kit worked very well, bike I don't know about yet. Lucky compared to the bloke in the story.

hidetheelephants

31,550 posts

211 months

Yesterday (15:20)
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Some apex predators would reduce the numbers and more relevantly for road safety generally move them away from roads, but "it's too hard/unpopular/complex" as far as the govt are concerned.

Inbox

651 posts

4 months

Yesterday (15:26)
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outnumbered said:
That's a fast bit of road.

As it happens, I hit a deer on an NSL road a couple of weeks ago. Don't remember anything about the collision or an hour afterwards (lucky really as it took at least that long for the ambulance to arrive). From where everything ended up, it must have just run out of the woods right in front of me. This was around lunchtime, so not dawn or dusk...

Got away with a fractured scapula, a badly bruised knee and one deep graze, plus generally beaten-up. Hideout custom kit worked very well, bike I don't know about yet. Lucky compared to the bloke in the story.
Hope you are making a good recovery, sounds nasty.

John D.

19,626 posts

227 months

Yesterday (17:40)
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Sorry to hear that outnumbered.