If you don’t already know, swerving to miss a deer or any other animal on the road is a bad idea. The driver of a Chevy Camaro learned this the hard way when he wrecked out on a road in Spring City, Missouri after taking evasive maneuvers to not kill Bambi. This happened at about 11:30 pm on June 15, so thankfully the road was clear of other traffic, or this person could’ve caused a fatal head-on collision.
Neighbors heard the crash and called the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, which sent deputies to the scene. You can see in the photos the muscle car was off the road and had flipped. Luckily, the Camaro driver was able to walk away from this, but the muscle car wasn’t so lucky.
After swerving to miss the deer, the Camaro driver told deputies he ended up on the shoulder. Before he could get back on the road, his Chevy hit a “small group of trees” and that’s when the car flipped. We’re sure it all happened so fast the driver didn’t have any time to really think, only react.
Just like steering into a slide when driving on snowy roads, the mindset of not swerving when a deer or other animal is on the road in front of you is something you have to drill into your head. Many people have been seriously hurt or killed because a driver swerved to miss a critter, causing a serious accident.
Since deer are notoriously erratic in their movements, and they’re mesmerized by headlights at night, they can pose a serious risk to drivers. Deer are especially prevalent from sunset to about midnight, which is when this accident happened. The Insurance Information Institute says using your high beams at night is wise, as is exercising caution when driving through a deer crossing area. If you do spot a deer, slow down and lay on your horn to frighten them out of the road. And above all else, don’t swerve to miss hitting a deer.
Incidentally, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office has also been warning residents that black bears have been spotted in well-traveled parts of the county in increasing numbers recently. The advice they give is to not snuggle with or feed the bears, but instead to report sightings to local authorities. There’s also a chance one could be on the road, but since they usually aren’t as erratic in their movements as deer, anticipating their movements shouldn’t be as difficult.