Comment on Elon's Death Machine (aka Tesla) Mows Down Deer at Full Speed , Keeps Going on "Autopilot"
Buelldozer@lemmy.today 2 weeks agoI’d imagine there’s a few reasons for the variation in driver training between upstate NY and Wyoming.
- Road Speed. Here in Wyoming our highways are 65-70MPH (posted) and most of the Interstate is posted at 80MPH. You can generally figure that everyone is doing at least 5MPH over that. The higher the speed the less time you have to react and the harder it is to lightly twitch a vehicle to one side or the other.
- Road layout. You commented about swerving into the shoulder but most of our highways have a shoulder width of 48" or less and on the other side of the shoulder there’s commonly a ditch. It has to do with the wind and snow we get here but if you twitch onto the shoulder here you are likely to encounter a very unwelcome surprise.
- Animal differences. In upstate New York you’re dodging Whitetail deer, here you’re trying to dodge Antelope (which are nearly as fast your car) Mule deer, Elk, Black bear, Brown Bear, and the occasional Moose. The bigger the animal the harder it is to dodge.
The way you describe upstate NY is how it was taught to me when I grew up in Nebraska but it’s not what they advise in Wyoming.
deranger@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I specifically said to not swerve or jerk the wheel. I’m talking about a controlled movement a few feet to the side, safety permitting, to strike a glancing blow on the animal. Especially with a larger animal that is more likely to come through the windshield, this is important. You don’t need to hit any animal head on if you can safely avoid it. I’m talking about a slow, controlled movement while emergency braking, not a “twitch onto the shoulder” There’s nothing wrong with this, and I’d argue a glancing blow is better than hitting animals head on. A multitude of factors will play into “can you move over safely” such as available space, weather, hazards, etc. I don’t feel the instruction that you’re “supposed to hit them head on” is wise advice regardless. Maybe this was true before ABS, but steering while braking hard is something modern vehicles have little issue with.