Deer whistles - do they really work?

[ma4t]

Thanks for the input. Glad I got them in the bargain bin.

I've also heard it's better to hit the animal than swerve if you're going fast. Other swear by stomping on the gas right before impact. The idea is that the front end pops up a bit, and you don't hit it so low. If you lock up the breaks, and the front end goes down, you hit it low and it can pop up into your windshield.

People sometimes ask me where I got the cool lights for my Acura. They actually look cool.

Why ask here? Maybe an aerodynamics thread would be more appropriate. I am evaluating whether the "safety" benefit makes it worth the extra drag on aerodynamcs. Looks like we'll be taking them off.

M

[VetteOwner]

i dunno about poping the front up, theoretically it would work tho.

your supposed to be paying attention to the road so you should have plenty of distace to stop.

[rh77]

I used to live in deer country and heard a lot of theories on the "Whistles". One that made a bit of sense was that the sounds freaks-out the deer, many times into jumping out of the ditch and onto the roadway.

Secondly, you need positive airflow, front-to-back, for the device to function. In that location in the grille, air probably fills up the space and doesn't allow airflow through the device. They'd have to be mounted either on the hood or right under the front lip.

A lot of deer avoidance is pure reaction. If it becomes a last-minute measure, some reccommend to aim for the deer in the roadway, since reflexes at that speed tend to steer you into what would be perceived as a path away from the deer. If it's running to the left, you'd hit it, if you aim right (hard to do), you have a chance of missing it.

I've had one hit the side of my car as I drove. It just left a dent (got really lucky). A family member was driving a '79 Suburban 3/4-ton on the same road, hit a deer, and it nearly totalled that tank of a vehicle.

I guess you just have to be vigilant. When I lived in rural SE Ohio, I had a set of driving lights focused on the ditches (in addition to some super-bright high-beams -- "off-road use only" on the latter, so dimming them for other drivers was imperative). Not sure what to do otherwise...

RH77

[Hockey4mnhs]

ive hit 2!!!!!!! never when hypermileing tho! the slower speeds of hypermileing are the best. If you drive slow then you wont have to much of a problem

[Raccoonjoe]

As others have said.....drive slower than your lights!!

That said, I've spent my life driving in NE Indiana....."deer country". I've had my share of run-ins and hunting stories...My favorite was the day a deer jumped over a fence-row and actually landed in the bed of a friends pickup!! He jumped on the brakes, I almost rear-ended him...then had one helluva time convincing him it actually happened!!

In my experiences....If you see the deer on the side of the road, sometimes honking/flashing lights will get them to stop, and stay out of the road. If they are in the middle of the road and you do this, they will remain stopped until you get very close.

The difference between swerving away or aiming for the deer?? I was always told to aim for the deer. Among other reasons, your car will protect you better from a front-end collision than it will from a rollover (very possible, if you land in a county ditch).

As for the idea that you need to hit the gas right before impact?? It's true, it does raise the front end. Not enough that you would notice, however. When I used to race demolition derby cars, we would cram on the brakes, then go WOT about 1 sec. before impact. Locking the brakes would slow us down (and lower the nose 2-4 inches), and WOT would actually raise the nose ~6-8 inches. However....in a daily driver car, you will have shocks. One of the purposes of shock absorbers is to reduce/eliminate this "nose dive" effect.

[VetteOwner]

haha yup...shocks do nothign to raise or lower the car. they just keep the car from bouncing....