Humans have built cities and roads in areas where wild animals have lived for many decades. While humans like to believe that animals are invading human space, the opposite is true. Humans must watch closely for wildlife along the roadsides.
A wild animal coming into the roadway can lead to a crash. Larger animals, such as deer, can severely damage a vehicle. Trying to swerve so you don’t hit an animal could cause you to slam into another vehicle. In this country, there’s a crash with wildlife once every 39 minutes, on average.
Tips for driving near wildlife
Many wild animals come out around dusk, and some stay out through dawn. This makes it very hard to spot them unless you can see the reflecting eyes near the roadway.
Leave yourself time to stop by reducing your speed in areas where wildlife might be present. Driving at a maximum speed of 45 miles per hour is beneficial since headlights shine 200 to 250 feet because this gives you time to stop if you see an animal near the road.
Watch the shoulder of the road since this is where wildlife may appear. Some animals will run away from the road when they see vehicles, but others won’t pay attention to cars and will dart right in front of them.
Remember that it’s usually best to avoid swerving unless you’re going to hit a moose. In most cases, hitting an oncoming vehicle head-on would cause more damage than hitting the animal.
Even if you aren’t struck by an animal, you can still suffer harm because of them. Other drivers may swerve to avoid hitting an animal and slam into your vehicle instead. You may choose to seek compensation for financial damages you’ve faced due to the crash, but you only have a limited time to do this.