Last Friday night my wife and I were driving on the freeway – in the passing lane going about 70 mph – when from out of nowhere a deer came out of the median and jumped in front of our vehicle. I had absolutely no time to react – I hit it broadside at full speed. I saw the deer plainly and clearly the look was that of a “Deer in the Headlights.” My initial reaction was that of anger that my vehicle had certainly been damaged. We just kept going – not thinking of what could really have happened to us – until we got off at the next exit and accessed the damage. It was then – as we looked at our very damaged front end – that I realized that we were extremely lucky nothing more than a little damage (actually a lot of damage) had occurred to our vehicle. However, we both were standing there – not a scratch on us – which was amazing when I really thought about it.
The tow truck has taken our vehicle to the body shop – it will be two to three weeks to repair (they tell me good as new) but I will always think of the damage our vehicle took and the fact, for whatever reason, we were spared a similar fate. For those of you who happen to hit a deer – somewhere in your future – the person at the body shop told me that I (inadvertently) did the right thing by hitting the deer at full speed rather than trying to swerve to miss it or brake to stop before hitting it. The traffic – at the time of the accident – was heavy and corrective action, of this nature, I was told would have created a much more serious outcome.
Yesterday, we drove by where we hit the deer and it was still there in the median. It looked to be a big buck but we did not stop to see for certain. Not certain why – out of all the vehicles on the highway then – that it was we who were involved with this deer. However, after hearing the phrase for many years – I now have first hand knowledge of a “Deer in the Headlights.”
