On a steep grade on North Carolina’s heavily-wooded Pookatella Pike, a driver was surprised by a six point buck that ran into the highway in front of his rig.
The driver slammed on his brakes and steered hard partially off of the highway, striking a guard rail; and destroying his right front fender.
The driver challenged his safety department’s warning letter about his preventable collision and took his case to the National Safety Council Accident Review Committee.
You may be surprised to learn that the committee upheld the preventable decision; their explanation was that it would have been safer for the driver to have continued on and hit the deer. This would have been a non-preventable collision – and much safer, as striking the guard rail ran the risk of going through the guard rail and plummeting his rig to the bottom of a deep valley, and himself to probable death.
In summary, hit a deer = non-preventable collision; hit a guard rail = a preventable collision.
