DH ran over a DEAD deer. AIBU to think he should have avoided it!

[BoilingHotWoman]

He was driving home on the motorway tonight and there was a dead deer in the middle lane. He said there were cars on the hard shoulder so he thought there had been an accident and he was looking at them not the road! Also said he didn’t see it as the car in front was 10 metres away and ran over it too.

His car is a low car, bit hanging down underneath the car at front, blood and guts all underneath it. and god knows what damage underneath.

He will now have to take my car for the rest of the week so I won’t have one, as no time for his to be taken to the garage until the weekend, and we’ll get a massive bill probably which we don’t need right now as going on a long awaited holiday in 2 weeks and need spending money!

AIBU to think this was avoidable?!!

If I’d done it, he would have gone mad and insisted I should have seen it.

Also feel terrible for the poor deer!

Ideally, yes, but it sounds like he couldn't have swerved safely anyway if he only saw it with the other car 10 metres ahead. Sounds absolutely horrible but he didn't do it on purpose. Painful to have to pay out though.

Your AIBU should be that you don't have fresh venison steak in the house

I’m a vegetarian!

It's not easy to avoid when you are driving fast on a motorway - you need to make a split second decision in fast moving traffic .. in our village years ago a driver swerved to avoid a deer and crashed - two young passengers were killed.

Its easy to say after the event what he should have done ...and you weren't actually there?

Why does he have to take your car?

Thank god it was a dead deer, not an injured human...

Will insurance cover the damage?

Sorry YABU. Swerving to avoid it could have caused an accident and potentially killed him or someone else.

Better damage to a car than a person.

I once avoided an already dead deer on the motorway. I do not recommend it - at 70mph the car massively swerved and i almost crashed; there was no time to break either. Its dark, the road is dark, the deer is quite dark and you only notice at the last second. There's no good choice IMO.

Yes, why is he taking your car? Surely he should sort his own travel out, not compromise yours?

If he didn't see it because he was looking elsewhere how does he know that it was dead?

Just one of those things unfortunately.

Why was he so close to the car in front?

This.

Good job it wasn’t a person if he’s such an unobservant driver. Yanbu!

Poor deer but equally doesn't the highway code say you mustn't swerve to avoid animals, even live ones? My mum once did an emergency stop for a woolly bear caterpillar crossing the road, and my father read her the rules of the road!

Well if you weren't there it's hard to say whether he's in the wrong. But if he really is following 10m behind another car at motorway speed, he's nuts.

Never mind the deer, why was he driving so badly and so dangerously?! He was 10m from the car in front and not looking at the road?! He's bloody lucky he's not dead, nor killed someone

He was rubber necking an incident on the hard shoulder was too close to the car in front perhaps because the car in front suddenly slowed for the deer body. He was right not to swerve. Does his ins offer a courtesy car?

You were both lucky it was a dead deer. Nasty shock for you and sad for the animal

,If I’d done it, he would have gone mad and insisted I should have seen it.

I find this bit more concerning tbh.

Point taken about swerving at high speed I suppose. He said he was going at 60mph.

He reckoned the car in front slowed down suddenly as they must have seen the deer. Although he has form for getting too close to drivers in the middle/fast lane who aren’t overtaking to get them to move in.

He’ll lose his 9+ years NCD if we claim on insurance. Hitting a dead animal is always a fault accident as it’s classed as an obstruction so I’ve just read.

He needs my car as there is no public transport to his work and it’s 20 miles away. I WFH but need my car for school run (secondary age DC who’ll have to walk now as no buses) and food shopping which I don’t fancy walking for in this heat.

To the people saying “It could have been an injured person” - as sad as a situation like that is, it would not have been the drivers fault.

When driving on a motorway at speeds of 70mph+ you don’t expect injured or dead animals/people/debris in the middle lane. It can be hard to judge and react to a situation we’ve not come across before.

None of us can say for certain wether your DH could have avoided it. BUT - he should have been paying attention to the road in front of him and the vehicles at either side (presuming being in the middle he was overtaking a vehicle in the left lane and not being a middle lane hogger) instead of looking at the hard shoulder.

I wouldn’t let him take my car though. I’d make him get a taxi/public transport to work or wherever he needs to go.

If it wasn't dead then, it certainly is now.

Jeez, that's going to stink to high heaven in this heat in a few days if you don't get it sorted! And the flies!!

1. Not his fault he hit something lying in the road that was only visible from a few metres away.
2. It is his fault if he borrows your car? Why can’t he hire a car / get public transport for a week?