I don’t think I’ll ever be able to drive in Northern
Michigan with that relaxing, cruising on a fall evening feeling. I have this
fear of hitting a deer with my car that is reaching phobia level. I have always
been leery of deer ever since I moved north of the 45th parallel,
(which by the way, is almost exactly where we hit the deer on our motorcycle a
few years back). I tend to categorize things in my head, and car-deer
collisions fall into two categories:
1. Has hit
a deer with the car
2. Will hit
a deer with the car
Before we hit the deer with our motorcycle, I used to begin
to pray as dusk was approaching, “Please keep us safe,” or “Please get us home
safely.” Since technically we did get home safely on that night, I’ve had to
adjust my prayer to, “Please don’t let us hit anything, and don’t let anything
hit us.” Now that we’ve made it through riding season, it’s full on deer-car
collision season. I have resumed my “Bye! love you! watch for deer!” saying every
time someone leaves the house. Last night I caught myself saying the “watch for
deer” part a second time, louder because
I wasn’t sure if Robby heard me the first time, (because of course, if he
happens to hit one and I hadn’t said the “watch for deer” part, it would
clearly be my fault, right?).
Now that I’m leaving for work in the dark and returning from
work in the dusk, my driving anxiety is at an all time high. I see a car on the side of the road and the
mangled remains of some poor unsuspecting Bambi, just trying to get over to the
other side for whatever reason. I drive slower. I watch for flashing lights to
alert me of impending doom. The other morning, opening day of firearms deer
season, I was literally driving 45mph. I had the radio off because I most
certainly couldn’t risk getting caught up singing “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and
miss those eyes looking at me from 2 feet off the roadway. I’m not completely
unfounded in my fear. I have had some near-misses. Once a huge buck came out of
nowhere and literally jumped over the hood of my SUV as I drove at about 35
miles per hour. I am a huge proponent of deer hunting for that reason. In fact,
I think firearms season should be longer, just to get more of those menaces off
the road. I was telling this to one of my co-workers who replied with, “ I
agree! I’ve hit 4 of them with my car.” I could go on and on with stories of
friends hitting deer with their cars, but I’m sure you can too. So if you come
upon me, early in the morning, driving unreasonably slow through “deer alley”
as I like to call it, don’t get annoyed. Just safely go around me and say a
little prayer that we don’t hit anything and nothing hits us. And please. Watch
for deer.
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