Since you hear me on the radio every morning, you know I'm up early and still driving while it's dark for a while this season. If only the deer knew I had somewhere to go and obey the rules of the road!

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The other morning I saw three deer standing in the ditch on my right. So I was going slower. Then slowed down when I saw one five feet away from the side of the road a little ways off. Of course it decides to cross right when I approach, so I slammed on the brakes and my breakfast went flying from my passenger's seat. Thankfully, I avoided a collision and my breakfast was wrapped well enough so I could dig in later. This got me thinking what else could I do besides go slower and be prepared to brake.

First, some stats: a collision with a wild animal occurs every 39 minutes on average. An overwhelmingly high percentage of those collisions happen on two-lane roads and during good weather, according to the DMV's website. So the odds aren't the greatest for where and when I was driving. Of course they say that deer are most frequently hit during dusk and dawn, I was paying attention to the shoulders of the road, I knew they traveled in groups, and I was probably going around 45 mph at the time I came across the road-crosser.

The DMV website's experts advise not to swerve for deer in case of oncoming traffic being larger, but to hit the brakes and the horn, and if there is time and you expect a collision, to duck low behind the dashboard.

You can find out more, and what to do about moose, by clicking on the article here.

Do you have any more tips I left out?

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