Somewhere in the woods of Randolph, NJ there is a deer who owes his life to the high quality and superb stopping power of Honda 4 wheel disc brakes.

This morning, on the way to work, I finally got into a clearing on Route 10. Route 10 is a major road here in Northern NJ, but in the mornings it usually crawls at about 10 miles per hour. This morning, being Friday, traffic was light. When the traffic light turned green, we all zoomed away. I was doing about 60 in the right lane, about 150 feet ahead of the next nearest car, a black Accord, in the left lane. All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, a deer jumped over the center median and darted across the road. In typical deer fashion, it hesitated in my lane before running off. My car stopped quickly and straight, missing the now running deer by no more than 3 feet. When the Accord passed me, he stuck his arm out of the window and gave me a thumbs up. Needless to say, it was an exciting way to start the day.

How about you? Have any close calls lately?

 

Thankfully, no. Sounds like a way to start your day. Glad you and the deer are OK.

 

Which Honda were you driving?

 

The Si.

 

Glad to hear you're OK Rob - got the adrenaline flowing; beats coffe huh?

 

It was exciting, but not something I want to do every day.

 

Rob, not only are you lucky the Honda had good breaks but you also deserve most of the credit for being an outstanding attentive/defensive driver!

 

You had to be pretty alert at that speed despite that time of morning. I love happy endings.

 

I encountered all kinds of critters, including deer, in the road driving up through the mountains of WV, going to the first Buckeye Run. Something new around every curve it seemed. I was lucky I didn't hit anything, too. Don't need too much excitement like that! I also saw lots of deer that had been hit by cars when I returned from Fall Colors 04 in Pittsburgh.

There is a big article today in The Wash Post about sharpshooters trying to curb the huge increase in the deer population in residential areas around DC. Very controversial, of course. I'm surprised you haven't seen more of them while driving.

 

Thank you everyone. I'd love to think it was my driving skill, but in reality, the car behaved superbly. It stopped in a very short distance and perfectly straight. There was never a question of control or losing it. Honda makes great cars. Light weight, performance cars are the way to go. They're fun to drive, and they're well behaved.

I'm very lucky that I didn't have an SUV on my tail. Most mornings the people on Route 10 are among the most discourteous drivers there ever were. At least two times a week I see a low speed rear end accident (either as it happens or just after). If I had an SUV on my tail, there is no way it would have stopped without hitting me.