While making their way to visit some of our family in Kansas City, MO nearly a week ago, my parents did not plan on making an unexpected stop in southern Iowa, almost near the Missouri border. My mom says she had no idea what was going on and didn’t see a thing. She must have been looking down or not paying attention to the road from the passenger seat.
Dad said that it all happened in a matter of seconds. From the pictures, you can see that the weather was near perfect. This time of year, you never know if it might snow or if you should put on your shorts and enjoy a nice dose of indian summer. My dad always has his camera with him, so as soon as the initial rush of everything subsided, he snapped a series of pictures that I’m posting here. You can see all the photos in this Flickr set.
One thing you can bank on is that it’s mating season for deer. Night time driving is far more concerning, always looking out for those eyes reflecting your headlights as it bounds towards the highway. That sounds stupid, but it’s no different than knowing that, in the lower mainland, when you see a bear cub, move away as quick as possible because the mother bear is near by.
Apparently, the growth on the side of the interstate shielded this buck from my dad’s vision. When you’re traveling 65 MPH, nearly 100 KPH for those keeping score in metric, there’s not much room to react when a buck leaps out of nowhere and decides that it’s crossing the highway, no matter what’s barreling down at it.
Both of my parents walked away from it with relatively little injury. Dad said that the strangest thing was the air bags going off. Both got some soreness from those things inflating, but no medical attention was needed. Dad was able to keep the car under relative control when the impact happened, but any further across the median would have put them into oncoming traffic.
The final outcome? The deer is dead, the car is basically totaled, and my parents are alive and well. The red station wagon will no longer be a family staple. I drove it a lot during my high school days, often being made fun of for driving “the grocery getter” around town. Of course, the situation could be much worse, but now my folks have the headache of finding a replacement. I think it’s causing them more pain to do that than the actual accident itself.
Gosh, I’m glad your parents are OK. I’m terrified at the thought of ever hitting an animal with my car – not as if there are lots of deer roaming around the California suburbs, but you know what I mean. Actually, I’m not sure I do…
Wow! What a scary ordeal! So glad they are ok, that’s not always the case with those airbags. Or those silly deer! Bet that was a real shock having that thing hit ya in the face! Nice blog cuz!
I think the air bags did more harm than good in the entirety of the accident. When those things inflate, the gas is hot. I don’t think they were burns, but they both said something about redness in the face and on the arms. Some slight soreness in the abdomen as well.
Good to hear they are alright, John. Alot of times, people driving smaller, lower to the ground cars don’t fare so well hitting deer and moose. We get those kind of predicaments all the time up in Northern BC.
That’s why I drive a truck!
I hit a moose 2 years ago and went over TOP of it. We both ended up in the ditch. The moose lived, and I was late for work…..
I can’t say that we get a lot of moose in Iowa, but stranger things have happened…