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Driving across the state tonight from Seattle to Pullman (to visit the folks) we hit a deer.
Milepost 125 on State Route 26. It had actually been hit by someone else already, and was laying (most likely already dead) in my lane. Due to the rain, and being late at night (10:45pm) I didn't see it until it was too late.
First impulse was to dodge left, which would have allowed me to avoid the carcas, but there were oncoming cars so it would have been worse. Dodged right as much as possible as I was hitting the breaks, and ended up hitting it primarily with my front left wheel (rear wheel just barely clipped it).
Quite a jolt, but end result was nobody hurt (my wife might have a little whiplash due to my breaking, but nothing serious) and I can't find any damage to the MO. Not even to the plastic tranny scoop. From what I can see with a flashlight, I just have a little bit of deer hair and guts splattered about. No paint scratches, no dents, no flat tire, no nothing. Also didn't seem to mess up the alignment at all. I'm impressed!
The MO handled very well in the situation. Wet pavement, hard breaking, and a pretty hard jolt to the left front wheel. Continued straight and true, I felt like I was in control at all times. I managed to slow down from 65mph to about 30mph before impact, and felt the ABS kick in on the wet pavement.
Two other cars stopped to see if we were OK and help drag the carcas off the side of the road. Still not sure who originally hit the thing, they were most likely worse off than we were.
Anyway, nice wake-up call! Very pleased things turned out the way they did. Tomorrow, in the daylight, I'll check out the MO more thoroughly and make sure to wash off the guts well so they don't eat through the paint.
Milepost 125 on State Route 26. It had actually been hit by someone else already, and was laying (most likely already dead) in my lane. Due to the rain, and being late at night (10:45pm) I didn't see it until it was too late.
First impulse was to dodge left, which would have allowed me to avoid the carcas, but there were oncoming cars so it would have been worse. Dodged right as much as possible as I was hitting the breaks, and ended up hitting it primarily with my front left wheel (rear wheel just barely clipped it).
Quite a jolt, but end result was nobody hurt (my wife might have a little whiplash due to my breaking, but nothing serious) and I can't find any damage to the MO. Not even to the plastic tranny scoop. From what I can see with a flashlight, I just have a little bit of deer hair and guts splattered about. No paint scratches, no dents, no flat tire, no nothing. Also didn't seem to mess up the alignment at all. I'm impressed!
The MO handled very well in the situation. Wet pavement, hard breaking, and a pretty hard jolt to the left front wheel. Continued straight and true, I felt like I was in control at all times. I managed to slow down from 65mph to about 30mph before impact, and felt the ABS kick in on the wet pavement.
Two other cars stopped to see if we were OK and help drag the carcas off the side of the road. Still not sure who originally hit the thing, they were most likely worse off than we were.
Anyway, nice wake-up call! Very pleased things turned out the way they did. Tomorrow, in the daylight, I'll check out the MO more thoroughly and make sure to wash off the guts well so they don't eat through the paint.
