A Safety Reminder and Being Made Whole again...

[CDONA]

It seems that Az. has 45 mph speed limits on open range highways, that no one follows in daylight. I have experienced a heard of mostly black cows crossing the road one night, all I saw was brief flashes of lighter color as they were moving. It kind of looked like a dark curtain flowing across the road.

[lovetokite]

glad you are alright considering what could have happened......

[ColoradoLady]

WOW! Quite a story! I am glad you and wife are o.k., except for wife's poor knees. Seeing the damage the Tundra took, you are both so lucky to come out of it better than the poor cow.

This certainly is a prime example of why to avoid driving after dark! I have had a few sightings of cows in the road in daylight in our mountains over the past few years while towing, and was able to slow in time, honk my horn, and allow said cows to cross with result of myself and cows to be unharmed. To say the least....it is a sobbering occurrence.
On a few occasions, I have lingered too long on breaks, causing me to need to continue on after dark, and it does make me very nervous and to slow down to compensate. Other drivers will fly by, honking, etc. I let them and am even more vigilant, just in case their recklessness causes an accident.

[Photobum]

Do not ever drive in Mexico at night....

[splintair]

Originally Posted by westcoastas

I've waited three weeks to post this in order to complete a process. It is not to shock but rather to remind how easily a dream can end. Perhaps this won't apply to most here but if it makes just one Airstreamer think twice, it will be worth it.

This is what happens when a Tundra meets a cow at around 45-55 mph:

While traveling on a Saturday and eastward from the California Sierras to Snow Canyon State Park, Utah to start our camphosting gig I drove into a full-grown, black cow who happened to walk into our lane at around 9 PM in the middle of Nevada open range. Its eyes were turned away from me only to turn her head toward us at the last few seconds and share the shock of her life as well as ours. I only had two seconds to hit the brakes, swerve a bit, utter a four-letter curse word (which described the poor cow's reaction along our truck and Airstream), and turn to reach for my wife before the bags deployed; my last thought before the collision was that I had accidentally gotten ourselves killed. I am sad to say the cow did not survive the collision but fortunately the Tundra's crumple zone and height saved us. I lost our engine, lights, and power steering but luckily had a good level shoulder to make our way off the highway. My instinct was to try and swerve around the cow but as the photos show, the truck's passenger side took on the damage up front - so much for chivalry. My wife Coffee has two bruised knees and she is walking with cane while the still painful one heals; I walked away without a scratch. Didn't even break my glasses. Fortunately we were able to get a cell phone signal and called Triple AAA. They must have called Highway Patrol for us because amazingly we had three very kind troopers show up in the middle of darkness within 10 minutes and helped us get over the shock. They checked on the cow for us while we set up our warning reflectors and assured us that it had indeed bounced off the highway. The trooper said we would be responsible for the cow and that typically the insurance company covers it. We got a 164-mile tow and flatbed carry from a very nice tow truck driver (Triple AAA saved me again!) all the way to Snow Canyon. The Airstream was untouched except for the spray of excrement which I washed off the next day.

We were a bit unlucky but blessed at the same time. I thought 55 mph was slow enough - it was not. I thought I would see a cow in open range with time enough - I did not. I must have taken my eyes of the road for just a moment because my high beams should have picked up the cow from farther away than what seemed like 50 feet. Of course, being a black cow and walking into our lane didn't help. I have always preferred driving off the main highways and nighttime hadn't bothered me up to now. Lessons learned: if driving the smaller, two-lane highways, stick to the daytime; and if driving through open range, drive MUCH slower.

I wanted to give a shout out to my insurance carrier - Progressive. My agent is Miller Insurance out of Lake Oswego, Oregon. They are well versed in fulltiming and got us insurance for our truck and our Airstream. Our trailer has an agreed value - the price we paid at the time of purchase - and coverage for our possessions up to $10,000. Progressive came in just above NADA guidelines after they evaluated our truck as a total loss. We greatly miss our beloved blue Tundra but in the end we will be made largely whole again. One thing that benefited us was that the evaluation was based on our old California zip code. I've been frustrated that I haven't been able to register the truck in Utah but now that fact helped us out with a higher evaluation. As it turns out the insurance check will be only about $1,000 less than what I paid for two years ago, and we've been able to find a two year newer Tundra at CarMax! We are waiting on a delivery of our next used Tundra from St. Louis - that cost us $749. Hopefully the truck will meet our CarMax expectations. The price out the door and the delivery cost will be right around our evaluation; we will have to pay out of pocket for the replacement tonneau lid. Still, a relatively small price to pay after such a loss. We still get to follow our dream.

And no, we didn't get any steaks.


Jeff

My thought, if I should ever hit a cow or bull is #1 check the brand#2 take picture of brand,#3 cut brand off animal if not open range.

[m.hony]

I'm glad y'all are OK and you are getting a newer truck.

[tjdonahoe]

We do a lot of nite driving on the Montana skinny roads in a big truck with a deer bumper, 14, so far on this this kenworth,, seen a black bull that got hit by 2 cars, first driver didn't make it, the second car hit the bull and the passenger didn't make it, I never swerve, just hit the brakes and hit it, you will stay upright, you did good...

[kb0zke]

Apparently the rules vary from State to State. Several years ago a black Angus bull was wandering down US65 on a dark, rainy night. A car was going the same direction and almost stopped in time. The bull found himself seated on the hood of the car. Result was not good for either bull or car. Bull's owner admitted it was his bull and paid for the car (well, his insurance did).

Glad you are not seriously hurt. Vehicles can be replaced. People can't.

[robert claus]

Thanks for this write up - there is a lot to learn from your story. The story of large, dark animals that you can't see at night reminds me of driving through Custer State Park at night, coming back from a park presentation, or from dinner, and coming across a Buffalo walking down the road. Happened every night. These solitary bulls were ones that had been driven from the herd by younger bulls, and spent their time and travels alone. You crept by them drove slowly. Pulling the Airstream, we slowly drove through two herds of Buffalo in the Badlands. At least it was daytime - at night it would be dangerous.

[m.hony]

I think 40-45 mph is a reasonable safe speed after dark.
I choose not to drive after dark if I can help it.


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[westcoastas]

There is nothing like hitting a cow to bring out the analogies and metaphors. It's either laugh or shudder, and I will choose the former...under advisement, of course. I guess I shouldn't be amazed at the number of near misses and tragic fatalities - very scary stuff. Being a "former" city boy, I will not take it so hard as I see now that animal crossings are common in the states outside of California. I'm used to avoiding skateboarders, teenagers crossing while texting, and other drivers who are still beholden to a deadline, but that's the hard lesson learned - I wasn't under a deadline and could have been driving slower. Crossing the desolate region of Nevada is a long haul but in the future any long haul for us will be crossed slower...and in the daytime.

As counterintuitive as it may sound, I think the advice of braking and heading straight on into an animal (and not another vehicle) may be a better response than swerving hard and possibly rolling everything - the designed crumple zone sure worked for us. But reflexes are so hard to control.

Thanks for the get well wishes. I will pass them on to my wife. We have a great community here - I love it. Take care out there you all.

[NY24]

If you have to pay for the cow, do you at least get the meat?


Glad you are both still with us! Feel better soon.

[Isuzusweet]

[QUOTE=westcoastas;1882834]I thought I would see a cow in open range with time enough - I did not. I must have taken my eyes of the road for just a moment because my high beams should have picked up the cow from farther away than what seemed like 50 feet. Of course, being a black cow and walking into our lane didn't help.

@those who wonder how people miss seeing deer/elk and moose (boxcars on stilts).

A lot of wildlife especially up here in the Great White North have fur that, by design, absorbs as much light (heat) as possible in the cold, low light (sunless winters) of Canada's north. That is why it's not uncommon to hear someone who has hit a deer/elk or, even worse, a moose at twilight and darker, swear they never saw it. The moose's hair absorbs most of the light hitting its fur, reflecting very little of it back to your eyes in the oncoming car. You need light entering your eyes to see the objects that the light reflects from.

Many Newfoundlanders don't drive at twilight or darker as once you hit a moose, and survive it, you never want to again.

Cheers
Tony

[79nTOW]

So sorry for your wife's pain and discomfort. Coffee, take care of yourself...don't overdo and take medication when needed.

Hope you both will be back on the road soon, I so enjoy your posts!

[Silverbee]

Hi,
Just wanted to share that I hit a black angus cow (about 2,000 lbs) at night on a rural 2 lane road in 1984. I was driving my brand new Mazda RX-7. The car had about $8,500.00 in damages and I walked away unscathed, except for a sore shoulder. The cow was about to come through the windshield but his weight caused the car to spin out of control and the cow flew off toward the ditch. He mercifully died in just a short time. I had the car repaired and drove it until 1993.
The farmer was found to be negligent because his cows had been out of the pasture all day. A fact that a neighbor just happen to tell me when I walked to his house to use the phone.
I agree there is really nothing you can do when an animal that large is your lane in the road. He or I never really had a chance to avoid the accident.

Mrs. Silverbee

[switz]

Does add new meaning to the phrase "Hot of the grill".

We were coming along side a car after dark on US 60 heading east after the last stop light in Gold Canyon. He blocked my view of the two Javalina coming from the right so the right front of the Mercedes took quite a hit ($6,500 repair). We were able to continue the mile to the house.

The wife asked if I was going to stop and see if they were hurt. I said that if they were not dead they would be mad and, no, I was not getting out of the car.

That was a very expensive "pork" dinner I provided the local coyote population.

[NY24]

It's not uncommon to see 50 or more deer on the grassy sides of and, in the center median, on the Long Island Expressway (I-495; a limited access highway in Suffolk County, NY). Always late at night (2330~0330). Road there (exits 66~72) are unlighted and have some curves. Although the speed limit is 55MPH, drivers often can be clocked doing 70+MPH. I've taken more that a few accident reports over the decades of deer / vehicle collisions fortunately, with no human fatalities.

[gunnyrose]

Thanks for sharing your story. Will now re-evaluate my AS insurance! Glad you were both okay (sorry for the knees, Coffee!). Great maneuvering to pull over and so happy all seems to be working out Tundra-wise and no AS damage.

[Lily&Me]

One of the morals of this story....bad things happen fast.

You never know what the day might bring, and how things might end.


Maggie