Deer in the headlights idea.

[Gorminrider]

Idea is to light up the vehicle so the deer see it "looming" as it approaches. A good use for leds. I havent decided if this can be applied to a narrow motorcycle-you wouldn't want to affect your own nightvision...link
USDA APHIS | New Lighting System Helps Deer Avoid Vehicles at Night

 

[cowboyup3371]

I just hope you remember to treat it like high beams and turn it off when another driver approaches to not blind them

 

[dorkburger]

So the deer are confused and not stupid. Who knew?

Interesting research. I wonder if it could help driver vs driver incidents as well.

 

[rphillips]

Naw, I'd say stupid. It's amazing how many deer collisions are from the deer running into the side of a vehicle, not near as much damage, so not heard of as much. I had one run her head between the front wheel & frame of my ZRX, not good, & another ran into the side of the bed on my Dodge Ram 1500, no damage. Maybe a halo of lights all the way around could be beneficial.

 

[ddaniels]

Or we could thin out the deer population.....just a thought.

 

[RichDesmond]

Or we could thin out the deer population.....just a thought.

Indeed. Doe season 24/7/52 gets my vote.

 

[Gorminrider]

I just hope you remember to treat it like high beams and turn it off when another driver approaches to not blind them

No, as I understand it, it wouldn't bother anybody too much. It is just small lights shining BACK onto the vehicle and they needn't shine directly ahead...

I can see the idea that where a set of headlights is two "really bright things", while lighting up more of the vehicle's body gives it dimensions so the deer has some way to figure what it is and that it's approaching.

For a motorcycle, without appreciable width it'd be harder to implement ,but if there's crashbars or a fairing , an led strip might help.

 

[dorkburger]

Or we could thin out the deer population.....just a thought.

Not going to disagree. We have loads of them here. I've had plenty of close calls and three impacts.

 

[rphillips]

When I was a kid, there were absolutely none (0) around here. Now they're everywhere. From what I understand they're severely overpopulated most everywhere in the U.S. How bad does it get before there's some kind of relief?

 

[zuluwiz]

Deer will run in front of you or into the side of your vehicle in broad daylight. It don't seem to matter what the light level is.

 

[Carter Turk]

Build a wall...haha. It's the night riders (just watched Mad Max x 12) who are most at risk.

Had a deer/beer heading west thru Wisconsin, 7pmish in July, probably 65' above the road on a carved dirt embankment, decide to bank left charging downhill @

mach speeds, pause a millisecond, (deer in the headlights) before continuing across the highway.

I was doing 65 mph when this all began to happen, by the time the deer decided to do a 90 degree

turn from way up on the embankment, maybe 2 seconds - had elapsed.

Stealth camped immediately after that, as big crowd of deer were standing in the middle of the highway up ahead.

 

[Jethro]

Deer and moose should be hunted to extinction! Forest rats. I hate those f'n things.

 

[Steve]

The way I see it, deer don't have a whole lot of experience with things moving toward them, so they simply don't know what it is or how it might affect them. Light up your vehicle so they can see the vehicle better? They might stop to see what it is, but they just might stop in the middle of the road.

OK, yeah, there <are> a few deer that might have a bit of experience. Of the few that survived, they are probably not sharing their experience, or maybe they are having trouble explaining just what those two bright lights did to them and how much it hurt.

.

 

[Gorminrider]

From the link:
"The likelihood of dangerous interactions decreased from 35% to only 10% of vehicle approaches when using a rear-facing light bar plus headlights versus just headlights alone. The reduction in dangerous interactions appeared to be driven by fewer instances of immobility or ?freezing? behavior by deer when the light bar was used."
Whatever the theories offered as to Deer Intellect, a reduction by more than 2/3rds can only be good.

 

[rphillips]

Remember the adage "We're from the government & we're here to help"? I think this study was done by a govt. agency USDA. Wouldn't be surprised if next week they had a new study "Drive at night with lights off so deer can't see you coming, If they can't see you they won't know where to jump in front of you. Who knows lights may work as good as those little deer whistles, they've been selling for 40 yrs, you mount on your bumper to scare the deer away. Got to admit I'm a little skeptical.

 

[Gorminrider]

I'm not aware that the USDA recommends deer whistles. In fact, several state government departments have tested them and found them ineffective.

Testing and research is often 'farmed out" to local universities and private labs. It's not being done in tunnels under the USDA.