Fog, Speed, and Deer

[Tom Oska]

There is a rural section of roadway that is a secondary route from several
small towns to interstate and major connectors. It extends for about 7 miles
and does carry heavy traffic during rush hours. Over the past 5 years there
have been 6 fatalities, 2@2 & 2@1, and innumerable injuries and fender
benders. It seems as if there is a wannabee NASCAR mentality on this
stretch. There are several side roads as well as driveways. Nominal speed is
around 70-80 (55 posted) and sheriff's department has saturated at times. I
try to avoid during rush hours.
Saturday, 8:30 A.M., foggy, visibility about 1,500 feet, speed 30-35 due to
fog (probably too fast for conditions), was passed by young lady. She got
extremely close to a pickup about 500 feet ahead as approaching headlights
were visible. A deer entered the road from our left and the PU braked hard,
the young lady in the Toyota slammed the PU and careened into the ditch. The
approaching vehicle was a sheriff's patrol car and he had also braked for
the deer.
The cop immediately placed flares and checked the 2 in the PU and the young
lady. No injuries, just a lot of bent metal. The PU was drivable, the Toyota
was not.
I had to remain to give a witness statement and the cop seemed to really be
ticked off and gave the lady several citations.

[Ad absurdum per aspera]

Who needs the deer? I've gotten caught in the fog in the San Joaquin
Valley a couple of times* over the years, and that "wannabe NASCAR
mentality" you mention is quite enough. Some people don't even turn
on their headlights, much less moderate their speed, as long as they
can see their own hood ornament. (Which is as far as most of them
would be looking anyway.)

My favorite is CA-58 between Buttonwillow, the junction with I-5, and
Roseville, the town adjacent to Bakersfield. It's bad enough in fine
weather -- the reasons why this stretch of a busy highway remains a
two lane built to more or less 1950s standards (narrow shoulders with
a ditch, roadside phone poles, driveways, etc.) could doubtless fill
a book, or at least a good muckraking magazine article.

So you've got a lot of cars and trucks, displaying all sorts of bad
driving cliches -- the wired-up and falling-behind truckers, the wild
kids, the slow traffic going in and out of the farms and a factory,
the tourists trying to read a map and drive, the locals who stopped
off at the several conveniently located roadside taverns after work...
Then then the fog settles in, and a bad fog there is like swimming
through oatmeal. I wonder if the big-rig that was tailgating me by
about 20-30 feet one night wanted me to go faster or was just trying
to keep my taillights in view so he'd know where the road was.

--Joe

* I now basically time my trips to get through the worst fog areas
between 10 a.m. and a couple hours after sundown, when fog is
forecast. The fog goes way, way too well with my general observation
about driving in California, "You are never more than a few seconds
from impact with a death dealing moron and must be prepared for
evasive action at all times." For routine scheduleable driving, as
opposed to getting somebody to the hospital, I decided it just ain't
worth the risk. I feel sorry for the people who have to commute
through there at the bad times...

[elmer]

So the deer was speeding and caused two vehicles to wreck in the fog. I see.

[richard]

Luckily the young lady had a cop for a witness.
SFB don't turn on headlights because the sun is out.
Just because you can't see it don't mean jack shit to them.

One time I was driving a truck on my way to chicago at night.
Ran into some fog so thick and low, it was nearly at the roof of the truck.
Yet assholes in trucks were still doing 50 or better. Union boys don't slow
down for nuthin. Found a parking spot in the rest area and parked it for
the night. Got up the next morning early, looked out, couldn't see through
the fog so I went back to bed. Got up later.
Called dispatch and told them what I did. "No problem. All of chicago was
fogged in so bad nobody could do nuthin.". Not even the trains were
running.

My personal experience with an animal was out in wyoming. Tootin along just
fine on I-80. In the blink of an eye two little caribou came dartin out of
the median. Missed the first one, hit the second. Felt the wheels run over
him. Stopped and looked, but he was long gone.
Later I had an oppurtunity to check over the truck and found all kinds of
hair on the bottom side. So he got a good haircut.

Now before you go saying there ain't no caribou in wyoming, yes there are.
I checked. There is a small herd known of right in the area where I was.

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

Deer can really make a mess out of a vehicle. Particularly if one drives at
higher speeds. Sometimes you can't avoid them even if you're only doing 30
MPH. They can jump fast. Your reduced speed will lower the kinetic energy
involved.

People who drive a lot in deer country get those big sets of "Idaho Stop"
bars installed on the front of trucks. They also work pretty well on deer
and livestock.

--
Paul Hovnanian pa...@hovnanian.com
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Have gnu, will travel.