Gadling

I've been on a lot of road trips and have seen a lot of road kills. I've never actually hit anything though there were many close calls.

However, I did witness one spectacular carnage while driving through Nebraska. I was behind a truck on the left lane when I saw a deer pop out of the left shoulder. I was still far back so I just slowed a bit. But the truck ahead of me on the right lane kept going full speed and hit the deer s it sprinted across the right lane. The good news was the deer never knew what hit it as it was so quick. The bad news was that the resulting collision resulted in the deer exploding from the huge impact. I'm serious. It exploded. Guts flying out and spewing everywhere. I had to swerve right to hide behind the truck and avoid the pulverized venison scraps from hitting my car.

That's why I hate highways that have trees or dense vegetation too close to the shoulders. It makes it easy for animals to pop out without warning. I don't think animals are that dumb as to willingly cross into incoming cars. Odds are they couldn't see us either because of the dense vegetation.

On the other hand, highways where the shoulders have a good 10-20 feet or more clearance from vegetation are better because we can see the animals easier before they cross and they can see us. Which gives us plenty of time to slow down and the animals to cross safely.

I also prefer to avoid driving at night for similar reasons. Its harder to see at night. Plus, I think animals tend to cross more at night or dusk/dawn.

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