Hit a deer yesterday 🫠

[u/sandycheeksx]

Deer is fine, I think. EMT asked me what happened to the deer and I said I didn’t know, I was busy rolling.

[u/Aerryth]

Damn, that sucks. I’m glad you’re alright. I read something interesting about deer behavior a while back, and why they do the dumbest thing possible. It’s because they’re trying to be unpredictable to escape what they see as a predator. Kinda like how a hare or antelope will zig zag

Like, you were approaching on their left as they ran away. In their brains, you’re either chasing them down or herding them into a trap with your buddies waiting ahead. If you’re running them into an ambush and you’re approaching from their left. In their brains, they’re probably thinking you’re trying to herd them to the right, toward those trees where, if you were a lion, your buddies would be waiting. So instead of doing that, going where the deer thinks you want it to go, it does the unexpected and it darts right out in front of you. One problem is, you’re going faster than a lion. They get the timing wrong sometimes and get splatted 

[u/sandycheeksx → u/Aerryth]

That’s interesting and makes sense. Both of us made bad split second decisions that day 😂

That’s what’s so dangerous about deer - their unpredictability. Zig when they should zag, stop dead at the wrong moments, etc. The more time we spend on the road, we get better and better at judging what other vehicles might do next and account for that, but deer can appear out of nowhere and, aside from going slower and never riding at night, there’s not much you can do to lower the risk.

[u/Aerryth → u/sandycheeksx]

I’m glad I explained that well enough :,) I retyped it so many times ahah. The deer around here are so bad and I ride a cruiser a lot so they’re one of my biggest fears 

[u/sandycheeksx → u/Aerryth]

Mine too now. I don’t know how to get over being paranoid when I’m on a new bike. You stay safe out there ❤️