This is a small, fairly nimble car. My goal is to avoid hitting anything, much less a dear. Remember if you see a deer in your way don't look at it, this will guarantee you will hit it. Instead look around the deer to where you are sure he can not get, then you will miss him. Many accidents happen because people focus on the obstacle instead of a safe escape route, naurally then you drive right into what you tried to avoid. Ask any racer if this is right.
This is a small, fairly nimble car. My goal is to avoid hitting anything, much less a dear. Remember if you see a deer in your way don't look at it, this will guarantee you will hit it. Instead look around the deer to where you are sure he can not get, then you will miss him. Many accidents happen because people focus on the obstacle instead of a safe escape route, naurally then you drive right into what you tried to avoid. Ask any racer if this is right.
Ah yes, target fixation, I am all too familiar with that feeling
As for hitting anything, IMHO too many variables to make any generalizations about the outcome, however given the front and side airbags and sturdiness of the passenger compartment integrity due to the tridion (sp?) and small target it presents/ability to evade the impact, I think the Smart has a chance of fairing as well, if not better, then many other things on the road.
The problem isn't the sturdyness of the fortwo, which has been proven to be a safe vehicle. The problem is the particulars of this scenario.
You're not hitting a wall, you're hitting a large mass (torso) that is suspended a couple of feet in the air on four (virtually) massless supports (Legs).
On impact, you take out the legs, and the torso meets the windshield at what amounts to 0 velocity.
I could easily see how it would be not pretty for the people inside, and I'm not certain the impact would set off the airbags.
I remember years back on another smart forum, there was someone who nailed a deer in a 450. They walked away - it broke the windshield and messed the front of the car up, but it help up reasonably well.
Yes, I've hit a deer myself and heard of people who did and each incident was different. Same as most speculative prospects. If you live in deer land...be alert and get those whistle thingies that supposedly scare them away. I've lived in deer country for 30 years and hit one once when I was a teen because I was driving too fast to avoid it. Mmmmmm...venison is good meat, BTW may as well get that carcass dressed and off to the butcher and recoop some of your loss. .
I too have been involved. First time at Pinkham Notch, NH when we collected a 1500# bull moose with a 1200# Caterham Seven with a F.I.A. roll cage. (We went to the hospital in Jackson for a few hours observation, and the Seven went back to England for a few months to be re-built.) Later a smallish deer in J.C. County, VA tried to take a short cut through the open cockpit of the same Seven. (A stiff-arm stopped that, with injury to the left wrist and shoulder.) So, I am aware of the hazards in moose/deer country, and my vulnerability.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries indicates that the "deer whistles" are completely ineffective. What is effective are good forward lighting and realizing that deer are most active near roadways around dusk and dawn. It is a defensive driving situation.
Addendum: In neither case did "nimbleness" nor "small dimensions" have anything to do with the incidents. A Seven is far more nimble and by mass, smaller than a smart (and I was a seasoned competition driver). You have no time to do anything; when the situation is upon you, it is upon you in about a second or less. Actually a more ponderous, less nimble car may keep you from going out of control after the hit.
Last edited by Old smart; 01-24-2008 at 05:08 PM.
Reason: Add.
Yeah the problem is not simple as just "What happens if I hit a deer with a smart ?" I think it happen the same thing than with all this kind of city cars.
Maybe with an huge truck there will be less chance to have an intrusion of the animal on the inside of the car. The best way to not having a deer as passenger is not having a crash in.
For the anecdote one of our french forumers had an accident with his roadster hitting a dead hog lying on the road at approx 70 mph. He had a lot of chance cause the hog make some kind of ramp putting the roadster in the air and land perfectly straight. No injuries for the driver and the car wasn't to much destroyed. I know that a hog isn't big as a deer but smart cars are pretty strong. If the crash is near the result will depend of chance what ever the car you drive.
Yes, I hit a 200 pound black bear in North Carolina at 55mph with a 1980 Chevette that weighed 2000 pounds and killed the bear, but was able to drive the car home and on to the insurance appraiser the next day with no problem.
The car struck the bear with the driver's side front headlight area and front grill. Knocked the bear into the ditch of the oncoming traffic and I was able to make an easy controlled stop and pull off the 2 lane highway.
A beer truck came along and the last I saw the trucker was trying to lift the bear up into his truck as he told me of his plans for a rug.... I wasn't about to try and man handle a bear dead or alive....
What would happen? You'd have venison for the next 4 weeks. Oh, with the car, the crash tests seem to say that its as crash worthy as any small 4 door car. The cell would keep the main parts of the driver and occupant relatively safe and unlikely to receive injuries that require hospitalization. Injuries could be caused by not being seatbelted in, flailing arms or legs being jammed, cuts from cracked glass, and injuries from objects flying around the inside of the car (like the chicken nuggets that are still in your Smart from last week). Assuming the deer doesn't break through the windshield, you'll be back behind the wheel before you can say "I like my venison well done, with rice pilaf, some honey mustard sauce, a slice of cheesecake and a big Diet Dr. Pepper".
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