Hit a Cow

[Tom Bender]

A long time ago, (before seat belts) we were talking around the dinner table about the incident of my neighbor hitting a cow with his car. Apparently he didn't hit it too hard since the discussion was about the damage to the car and not the neighbor. My father, farmer and mechanic that he was, allowed there it was worse to hit a pig because it would go under the car and cause more damage. My brother suggested that it would be worse still to hit a whale...

I still harbor hope to discover in the nether reaches of my addled brain an imagination so fertile.

[Jim Koepke]

I still harbor hope to discover in the nether reaches of my addled brain an imagination so fertile.

To paraphrase from a popular movie, "the biggest nation in the world is the imagination."

Hopefully it is big and fertile enough to reach into every human brain.

jtk

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Worst thing I know of is a moose. They sit so high up, a smaller car will just take out the legs, and the body comes through the windshield. More than one fatality has happened because that 800 pound body suddenly ends up in the driver’s lap at 55 m.p.h.

[John Schtrumpf]

Cows look really big when your driving an Opel Kadett. 1:30am, flying down a rural road and noticed shadows ahead. Then in the headlights a COW, hit the brakes hard and then let up to swerve around. Another COW, swerve again and again, then finally no more cows. As I was knocking on the farmer's door, a lady wiped out three of them, she was okay.

[Mel Fulks]

Worst thing I know of is a moose. They sit so high up, a smaller car will just take out the legs, and the body comes through the windshield. More than one fatality has happened because that 800 pound body suddenly ends up in the driver’s lap at 55 m.p.h.

Seen one whole one in Maine standing on road shoulder, a real shock to see how big they are. The other one was just the head ,rack,and taxidermy plaque on a wall in Maine. The bottom of plaque was close to the floor!

[Ron Citerone]

A long time ago, (before seat belts) we were talking around the dinner table about the incident of my neighbor hitting a cow with his car. Apparently he didn't hit it too hard since the discussion was about the damage to the car and not the neighbor. My father, farmer and mechanic that he was, allowed there it was worse to hit a pig because it would go under the car and cause more damage. My brother suggested that it would be worse still to hit a whale...

I still harbor hope to discover in the nether reaches of my addled brain an imagination so fertile.

Was your "Harbor" comment a pun on hitting a whale with a car???????????????????????

[Matt Day]

Moose do indeed look huge while passing in a car. Though they look a lot bigger when you’re staring at one down a single track trail on a mountain bike.

[Wayne Lomman]

I am eternally grateful we don't have animals built like moose here in Australia. I have hit far to many kangaroos, cows, wombats, wallabies etc to the cost of many vehicles. The worst was hitting an old man roo one night. The car was just drivable and I wasn't too far from home so I kept going with one headlight pointing at the trees. Problem was I crested a hill to find the hard way that a mob of black Angus cattle had gotten out onto the road. I didn't see them until too late. The only up side was the farmer was insured and I wasn't. I kept my mouth shut and the insurance paid enough for me to get a replacement jalopy till I could afford something better. I haven't hit a pig or whale so can't offer an opinion on them! Cheers

[Dave Anderson NH]

Moose can be a nightmare. They run anywhere from 800 to 1200 pounds for a large bull. In NH you often see bumper stickers, "Brake for moose, it could save your life." At last count we have had 48 car-moose fatalities. Nickolas is right After knocking out the legs, the body coming through the windshield can ruin your whole day.

[Steve Demuth]

Definitely go with pig as the safer of two bad options, if by some bizarre circumstance you ever have to choose. Pigs are lower, and as a result much less likely to come over the hood and smash into the windshield and passenger compartment. A very large, mature pig is going to be 700 or 800 lbs square in the grill. At 55 mph it'll definitely total your car, but it'll most likely stay on the ground, your air bags will deploy, and you'll likely be unhurt. A 1200 lb steer, at the same speed on the other hand has a reasonable likelihood of coming over the grill, and landing in your face. You won't be unhurt, airbag or no, if this happens.

I've been in war totaled by a sow, totaled three myself on deer, and seen the consequences of both cow and moose strikes to family members' vehicles. None of this is theoretical to me.

[Derek Meyer]

When I was in college, I was traveling back to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, who live in a small town in Southern Idaho. I got about 2 miles out of town on the main highway and there were all kinds of police and ambulances there. They waved me through the other lane (slowly) and I passed a small car, like a Honda Civic, that had had its front end totally crushed. It looked like it had hit a wall.

I learned later that the car was driving down the highway at 60 (after dark) and ran smack dab into a Black Angus bull that had gotten out and was standing in the middle of the highway. The guy and his son went to the hospital, but were fortunately okay. The bull walked away - they found it in a field about a mile away, and after checking it out, pronounced that it would be okay.

The bull probably weighed more than the car, but still, it's amazing that neither it nor the driver and his son were killed.

[Bob Glenn]

I ride a motorcycle on trips to the Smokies with friends. We usually stick to the back roads in the mountains. Last fall my friend Ted and I were riding in the mountains of West Virgina. I was leading, running about 55 rounding a bend up a hill when a black bear in the ditch decided to jump out and cross the road in front of me. I was able to get the front wheel by the bear but my side case hit his head. It shattered the saddle bag and left the contents all over the road. I got stopped a hundred feet or so up the road. I was going to turn around and go right back, but I didn't want to deal with a pissed off bear. Ted said he almost hit it also, but the bear ran back up the mountain.

Ted and I took a motorcycle trip up in Alaska. Ted asked why I wasn't afraid of the bears up there. I told him because I could ride faster than him. Anyway, somewhere in West Virgina there is a black bear with "Honda" imprinted on the side of his head.

[Mike Cutler]

I don't want to hit any animal, but if I had to, it would be one that could not come over the top of the hood and into the windshield.

[Bob Grier]

Here are pictures of moose/vehicle collisions. I thought moose often end up in the back seat. I guess only some do.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/15-fr...llisions-pics/

[Jerome Stanek]

I had a deer try to jump over the hood of my Explorer. It took out the side window and mirror and the windshield. When it was repaired there was no body work other than replacing the mirror and glass.