Deer & auto don’t mix well

It started out as a birthday gift, a romantic getaway to Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia with its 4-mile stretch of out-sized Festival of Lights displays for the holiday season.

It ended with being T-boned by a deer.

After we settled into our Wilson Lodge accomodations, I drove my 2012 Honda Accord (bought new a year ago, about 7,000 miles on it), along the Festival of Lights displays in the dark. 

On West Virginia Route 88, where there are more displays, the Accord drifted down the road as Paula and I looked at the holiday displays.

Bambi’s BIG brother came flying down the hill (it IS mating season) and slammed into the driver’s side of the Accord. 

Rear door was so crunched that you couldn’t open it. Front door took a hit, too. And the outside mirror was dislodged from its moorings.

Tallmadge Collision’s tab: $2,800 (the national average is $3,103). Fortunately, thanks to the State Farm premiums I’ve been paying for 60 years, my cost is $200. Even the rental car while I await the Accord’s repair is on State Farm. 

Good neighbors.

It’s deer hunting season in West Virginia, but I didn’t even get venison out of the run-in with the animal. By the time I went 200 feet down the road to a turnoff, and came back, the rascal was gone.

We have petted uncaged tigers inside a 50 x 150 feet fenced-in area in Thailand with no problems. But trying to enjoy Christmas lighting displays in deer season: Wham!

Deer-car collisions happen about 1.2 million times EVERY YEAR in America, mostly from October through December, because of mating season, particularly between 6 and 9 p.m. We were struck about 6:15 p.m. There are 200 deaths a year (of people) from deer-crash collisions.

West Virginia leads the nation in deer-car collision probabilities (1 in 42 drivers there will experience it). 

The Olesky family contributes to the statistics.

My son hit a deer driving from Tallmadge to Aurora last year. My daughter hit a deer driving on U.S. 303 from Tallmadge to Brunswick several years ago. My sister’s two daughters have a combined total of FOUR deer-car collisions in West Virginia.

Otherwise, the birthday getaway was great.