Holy Crap! Just like Tommy Boy.

OhMissScarlett

Mrs. Aggravation
Joined
Jan 9, 2004
Posts
9,103
This happened in a small town north of where I live. Just about everyone I know around here has hit a deer at least once. This is of course tragic, and a little funny cause it reminded me of that movie, Tommy Boy.

Deer hit by car ends up in front seat, turns on radio

Associated Press
Nov. 18, 2004 02:25 PM

PALMYRA, Ill. - A deer smashes into a car and thrashes its way into the front seat where it fires up both the radio and wipers. It may sound like a tall tale some guy cooked up to explain to his wife the smashed up car parked out front, but it is also absolutely true. Just ask Jim Trump.

The 58-year-old high school teacher was driving home from a card game Nov. 10 when he saw a group of deer standing in the roadway near Palmyra, roughly 30 miles southwest of Springfield.

"I couldn't go any direction to get away, so I just locked my arms down, hit the brakes and went straight ahead," said Trump, a physical education teacher and coach at Greenfield High School. advertisement

Trump's Ford Escort was going about 55 mph on Illinois 111 when it struck the ten-point buck, he said Wednesday afternoon. The huge deer hit the car's front windshield and rolled onto its roof before crashing through a rear window.

"It started thrashing around and headed toward the front seat," Trump said.

That's when he skidded to a stop and jumped out, leaving the keys in the ignition.

"It had a real nice rack on it," Trump said. "When I slammed the door, it turned its head around and the antlers knocked out the side window."

The deer, which authorities said weighed about 280 pounds, forced its way into the front seat, causing heavy damage to the car's interior, Trump said.

"It turned the windshield wipers on and had the radio going," Trump said.

Three police officers were needed to pull the animal out of the car. It had at least one broken leg and was later killed.

"I've been a police officer since I was 17 years old, with military experience and everything, and it was the first time I've seen a deer in the vehicle," said Macoupin County sheriff's deputy Paul Bouldin.

These types of accidents are most common between mid-October and mid-December, during the deer mating season. Illinois State Police said they often occur on roadways near wooded areas and fields.

The Illinois Department of Transportation said there were 25,660 vehicle accidents involving deer in 2003, up from 23,647 reported in 2002.

Trump said his insurance company deemed the car totaled.

"I really hated to lose that car," he said. "I was getting 35 miles-per-gallon."
 
Large animals in the road can be very frightening. It's bad enough to be cut all to catmeat, and have bones broken, concussions and all that, but to have the contents of the guts of animals scattered through the injuries besides, eww.

I love secondary roads, and will always drive them if I can. Upstate NY with its maze of county roads I'm never trying again, but most places you can still get there very nicely and you have America around you at the same time. Deer and, up here, moose are just part of the scene. Half-light is the cue to beware what's around the corner in the country dark.

This story is a mite unusual, though. His idea of just hanging on and plowing in is not unusual. A lot of people find as he did that their own thoughtlessness has trapped them into some bad choices.
 
cantdog said:

This story is a mite unusual, though. His idea of just hanging on and plowing in is not unusual. A lot of people find as he did that their own thoughtlessness has trapped them into some bad choices.

Indeed. I just come to a complete stop if I can at all, barring icy conditions or rain. One time I was driving on a country road by my house, saw a deer running and stopped in the middle of the road. Apparently the first deer's little friend who was trucking along right behind him didn't see me and crashed right into my car. He smacked his head against my side window and took the mirror off the side. I guess the deer was ok, because he took off into the woods like nothing had happened. No one believed that the deer hit me, not vice versa. :(
 
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