Deer collision - safer on a Spyder? Thoughts? Or first-hand accounts?

[Snoking1127]

I would have had a dash cam video when I hit the German Shepherd; however, that morning my dash cam kept asking me to reformat the Micro SD card...

 

[Sundown]

Here in Wisconsin, if you drive outside the city limits it’s not if you will, but when you will hit a deer. I’ve hit several with my car, and, knock on wood, none on two or three wheels. The last one I hit did relatively minor damage. The neighbor stated she hoped the deer was ok. To that I responded that I hoped it died a slow painful death in the ditch.

 

[AstroTom]

I think there's too many factors involved to say for sure. Logic would predict one advantage is three wheels, as well as the Spyder's greater mass, but hit a deer one day, and survive, doesn't predict that if you hit a deer another day you will also survive. The size of the deer, where you hit it, and what it's doing will all have an effect. Catch a large deer mid leap dead center, and it could come through the windshield and into your upper body. I actually watched someone on a bike get killed years ago working a race track, because that's exactly what happened. His bike went under the deer and kept going, but he was killed by hitting the deer with nearly full force on his torso and head. I bet the outcome would have been the same had he hit it the same way while riding a Spyder.

 

[RayBJ]

As an old saying goes with a minor edit, "It's not the get-off (fall) that hurts you. It's the sudden stop".

 

[Peter Aawen]

As an old saying goes with a minor edit, "It's not the get-off (fall) that hurts you. It's the sudden stop".

It really doesn't matter if you stay on the Spyder (or on/in the motorbike, snowmobile, ski-doo, wing suit, para-glider, whatever) & you have one of those 'sudden stop' events, or if you do part company with whatever and then experience either a 'sudden stop' as you meet what is effectively in the given circumstances, an immovable object (altho it's definitely gonna be worse for you if whatever you contact IS moving even a tiny little bit towards you at any relative speed!) or if you just part company and end up sliding/rolling along the ground &/or road surface!

Whenever you're on the outside of any vehicle that you're riding or piloting in any way, so that YOU are likely to be the very first living thing that comes into contact, suddenly or otherwise, with any other vehicle, building or fixtures, the scenery, the flora, or the fauna in the event of a mishap or miscalculation on anyone's behalf, you ARE gonna hurt if any of those things happen!!

How much you get hurt and how well you survive that hurt depends very much upon how well you choose to protect yourself, and whatever you choose to help keep all of your important appendages, lubricants, and components et al safely contained inside the still hopefully complete & un-ruptured skin bag that you wear all the time! So be aware of the potential risks, and then make your choice as to how much/how well you want to be protected in the event anything meets or exceeds those risks.

Just Sayin' - and ignore the risks at your own peril!