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Deer

We have a lot of deer in our area, both near our house and for the first part of my commute.  I first totaled a car hitting one in either 1999 or 2000, and have been very cautious since then about trying to find routes that had fewer of them.  I had a go-to route that seemed to minimize the number of them running across my path.

14 months ago I totaled my car striking the side of a car that had been abandoned on an inner lane on the interstate.  I've had car accidents, none my fault to the best of my knowledge, but I've had them.

17 days ago I struck one on this route that seemed safer. (It ran off so I don't know if it survived; I had time to stomp my brake and hit it at a slower speed.) My car still functioned (I could drive it; no warning lights on the dashboard; both front light bulbs still worked) but one headlight was shattered and the grill and hood took some damage. I filed the claim through my insurance company, had an appointment with a body shop, planned on getting a rental car.  I was shook up, inconvenienced, but basically okay.

8 days ago I struck a second deer on this route. (Traffic had backed up on the interstate and I was willing to give it a try despite the first deer accident.) This time it was too quick to see coming so I hit it at speed, and it was really big. (It ran off so I don't know if it survived.) The front of the car was literally pushed in a few inches, the hood was bent up, all kinds of warning lights came on my dash and the car lost power. I was able to coast it off onto a shoulder. My primary emotion was denial; two car crashes with deer in less than 10 days. This couldn't be happening.

I braced myself on the steering wheel and so my hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders took the brunt of the impact. My wife has wanted me to get checked out medically but this feels like times I have helped our daughter move. I don't lift heavy boxes often; I can do it (but no longer carry them on stairs since my knee replacements) but I feel it afterward. My pain these past eight days has felt like that, with my wrists the slowest to improve since I type all the time.

No big surprise; the car (a 2017 model, well-maintained, with 55,000 miles on it) was a good commuter car but it was not worth repairing to my insurance company and is a total loss. I have the inconvenience of car shopping but I will probably get the same model (with a balance between mileage and cost) as it is mainly for getting back and forth to work. If all works out we'll have to pay a couple thousand more than the insurance settlement but not much more than that.

I've had a tiny bit of PTSD since then, some dreams about hitting the deer the second time. Even in daylight with good visibility these days I've felt a strong aversion to driving on roads that are frequented by deer. The rest of my life is engaging and so I have plenty of other things to focus on, including a concert next week. Still, it's going to be a while before I am as comfortable driving as I have been. I have an 80-mile round-trip commute to the job I've had for 36 years so driving has been a big part of my adult life. I hope that I can go a bit longer before my next accident.

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