OTR18WHEELER

In the 928, just a few miles from the house after a non eventfull 350 mile drive this past Sunday, I am driving about 50 mph in the right lane of a non divided 4 lane highway, suddenly a grey cat comes running accross the road, I hit the brakes and still I know I am going to feel a thump under the front tire, I swerve to the right, and crank the wheel back to the left, rear tires squeeling (I got a little slideways) I manage to keep control and stay in my lane, no thump, and in my left side mirror I see the cat running back across the road to where it began the test of it's 9th life. I was relieved, as I am a cat person, I have three. On the other hand my wife reminded me about how I preach about people getting killed in crashes from avoiding animals. I just told her I had it under control.

SteveG

Glad you were able to save both beasts. I also have 3 and a "free roamer" lives under the deck.

MainePorsche

Got sideways for a cat ! Your chin spoiler would've survived a cat well.
Seen to many people in my trauma rooms with mortal or morbid injuries from over correcting and rolling to spare a dog ! Don't get me wrong, I'm a dog guy but I went to the funeral of an 18 year old daughter of some dear friends back in Cali because she over corrected and rolled into a utility pole in order to avoid a coyote.
Your wife is right.

littleball_s4

I'm midways from ignore to evade.

If I'm sure I'm alone on the road, I stab the brakes, but keep it straight. At 130kph, there is not much you can move the car laterally without risk anyway. Maybe a meter or so. But if you concentrate on stopping, sometimes you can give the animal a lot more time to clear the road.

But if in doubt, I just grab the wheel strong and not even lift. Animal has little chance, but I try not to risk anybody's life.

I once had to avoid a rim sitting in the middle of the road, while I was side by side with a semi-trailer. We were cornering and at night, so the thing kind of appear in the middle of nowhere. I was making 130kph or so, and I had time only for step inputs in the steering wheel. Me and the stability control (it was a 2004 BMW 530, mint condition of shocks, tires, etc) fought to keep the rear end from overtaking and car on the lane at least 200m after I cleared the rim. I do track days and stuff, I'm pretty used to sideways running, but I'm 90% sure that with the 928 I would have crashed.

Morale: Violent turns at speed are much more difficult to manage that what one could possibly imagine. And the resultant crashes are normally very bad (hit the scenario at 90 degree, roll on the roof).

dr bob

A few years ago on a mid-Cali ramble with half-a dozen other owners, part of the pre-run guidance was specifically not to try to avoid hitting small local wildlife at speed. I think I ended up with three squirrel stickers for the door just that day. At over 100 mph, there is precious little room for violent direction changes, especially with a moving target.

One of my first post-purchase trips was a run from Orange County to the SF bay area for my first Devek Days events. Cruising north in interstate 5 at the Grapevine, middle lane with other vehicles in the next lanes, a case of beer was sitting. No safe room to avoid, I took it pretty straight down the middle. Pretty heft Whump! as I hit it. Car immediately smelled like a brewery, reminding me that the front clearance is less than the height of a beer can or twelve. I decided not to ruin my day by pulling over and crying about the damage, instead did the inspection at the next pit stop. No damage at all. I had the bra on the nose for the trip, which probably saved some paint damage, but the bottom of the grill and the front edge of the plastic spoiler did all the real work. Moral: If the target weighs less than a dozen beer cans, fear not and save yourself and the car.

Dogs, deer, and bigger walking wildlife will get some serious braking and other avoidance tactics if at all safely possible.

RKD in OKC

Was driving a U-haul truck and trailer with car helping my sister move. It was about 2am and raining so I was only doing 50mph on a 4 lane highway. Came around a turn to see my sister's van stopped in the middle of the 2 lanes under a bridge. I pumped the brakes but the weight of the loaded u-haul truck AND loaded car trailer combined with the wet roads there was no way I would stop before smashing into the rear of my sister's mini van. Lifted off the brakes and swerved putting the whole moving train into a skid missing the rear corner of my sister's van by mere inches.

I looked forward as I cleared her van and there were two overturned semi trucks across the highway, a big hay truck in the ditch, and what looked like junks of concrete strewn in front of me. Pumping the brakes and working the wheel I managed to control the skid enough to snake the U-haul and trailer thru the wreckage without hitting a thing. Once clear I relaxed and coasted off to the side of the highway and stopped.

There were a couple of truckers stopped on the other side of the highway and one of the drivers jumped out into the rain and ran over to my window. As I rolled it down he was very excited and exclaiming how he saw the whole thing and couldn't believe how I managed not only to avoid the mini van, but to see the U-hail and trailer skidding back and forth sliding through all that wreckage without hitting a thing was just amazing. Said he had never seen driving like that, and wanted to shake my hand.

Spent a full twenty minutes sitting in the rain talking to that truck driver waiting for my sister to come through the wreckage. She waited until the highway patrol arrived and guided her through the wreckage. She parked in front of me, came back and asked if I was Okay, I said yes. We resumed our trip and she has never mentioned the event since. But my sister is very reluctant to drive on the highway.

I've also been in my Boxster on a 3 lane cross town expressway, watched a wooden crate fall off the truck two vehicles in front of me. The vehicle in front of me swerved and miss the crate, but I was boxed in with traffic in the left and right lanes on either side and a car behind. All I could do was brake just enough to keep the car behind from hitting me, put my head down and brace for the impact. Bashed the crate to smithereens and messed up the front bumper cover on the Boxster. Cost $300 to replace the front bumper cover, but nobody was hurt.

CraigL

In the moment, I doubt that there is much chance for rational thought about the relative value of a cat/dog/coyote's life vs that of the car and the occupants. It is a natural process to avoid collisions with all things, isn't it?

kmascotto

About 30 years ago I hit a German Shepherd while I was driving a Motorcycle. The Dog was looking at the back end of the car...that was in front of me. I could not stop in time (I was going about 50 miles an hr), my front wheel caught him behind the shoulder. I braced my arms thinking I was done for...I'm not sure how I managed to stay upright...but I did. The dog was not that lucky...

littleball_s4

It is possible to train natural reactions to a point. It is interesting to train the steel nerves and teach the brain that if you travel fast the steering tolerates small movements, or none at all. I've seen people almost killing everybody around because a bird hit the windscreen.

MainePorsche

A healthy human can be trained, but would be hard to set up a controlled training environment for animal avoidance conditioning. Would require staff, an isolated track, and time for the repetitive conditioning. Would take time and money.

The Fixer

I consider myself an animal lover especially dogs. No way i couldn't swerve to avoid a Dog.

I can keep a cool hand and squint as i drive over a squirrel though. Vermin!

But a few years ago I was working very late (and tired) and drove my old Jag that night to make the late night work more fun.

It was drizzling out and a cute little rabbit darted out in front of me.

I swerved, hit the brakes and slid against the curb which straightened me out like a coaster on rails. No damage to either the Jaguar or hare.

But it made me think that i should have just kept the wheel straight.

ptuomov

One of the inlaws hit a rabbit in a BMW. It destroyed the light, grill, and part of the fender. I inferred from E = 1/2 m v^2 that he may have exceeded the speed limit or that this wasn't the entire story.

Richard S

In Open Road Racing there always seem to be incidents of animals not heeding the rules (stay behind the fence!). Mostly rabbits and such, which we were advised to simply stay the course, run over and keep going.

If it looked bigger, like a coyote or small deer for example, try to line it up and center-punch it.

If a cow or wild horse found its way past the fences, well...good luck with that. Try to avoid it, but don't expect a good outcome when you are travelling at 150+mph.

I know Bill Ball hit a rabbit at 150+mph...took out his belly-pan. A flock of small birds took out the front bumper and windshield on a corvette. A buzzard hit a windshield at nearly 200mph; half of it finished the race inside the car, the other half rode the rest of the way on the outside of the windshield.

Rich

dr bob

One of my parents' early gifts was a couple days at the Bondurant school, where these tactics were taught as part of the defensive driving class. Lanes delineated by cones, each with a red/green traffic light overhead. Progressively faster speeds, progressively less time as all but one of the lights would change from green to red. Don't hit any cones, and get through the green lane. Lessons learned included that the brakes may not be your friend in these situations (pre-ABS and VSC by a decade or two), and that water dramatically changes the available options.

Later, I took a Saab-sponsored class at Vail where they were teaching similar avoidance tactics in a big snow-covered field, some cars on non-snow tires.

In early SCCA times, we taught a class at the now-deceased Orange County drag strip, with soapy water spread on the staging lanes, in Corvairs on bald tires. Teaching high-speed pursuit tactics and related vehicle dynamics to LEO's at less than ten miles an hour.

Except for the Saab class in snow, brakes were not the weapon of choice. In the FWD Saab, creative brake and throttle interaction combined to allow the tail to drift out to the optimum 11º slip angle while remaining within the available steering angle for recovery.


Yes, it really can be taught.

SMTCapeCod

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