Race bike vs. Deer

[Randy]

From Summit Point in West Virginia

 

[FJRBluesman]

HOLY SMOKES!!! :dribble:

Was the deer already down? I couldn't tell. Both riders hit it, ouch.

 

[Randy]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

 

[FJRBluesman]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

 

[juniorfjr]

Holly ****, probably everywhere. :blink:

 

[FJRless]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

Exactly! That track needs a higher fence. I didn't seen any corner workers either to warn of that.

 

[Randy]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

Exactly! That track needs a higher fence. I didn't seen any corner workers either to warn of that.

There's a 6 ft fence inside the woodline to the right. There is also a fence around the perimeter, but, there's also a lot of wooded space within the property boundaries. Also, you need to have access to the track area for corner workers, emergency vehicles, etc, so, you can't simply put a fence at each edge of the race track. Besides, if you crash, you certainly don't want to be sliding into a fence.

Regarding the corner workers, this happened well before the corner and the corner workers are, well, at the corners.

The deer wasn't laying on the track doing nothing, it darted from the woods, became startled, tried to do a u turn and fell. There's no possible way, even with a corner worker right on top of the entire situation, that there would be enough time to react with a flag. Also, even if a flag was thrown the instant the deer became visible, there wouldn't have been enough time for the rider to react. Look at the video again. At 1:33, you don't see the deer. At 1:34, first rider already hit it.

I've been going to this track for the last 19 years. This is the first deer strike that I have heard of there.

 

[johnny80s]

WOW!

 

[Bugnatr]

Damn I hate forest rats.

 

[dcarver]

Deja-Fookin'-Vue... oh, the memories..

 

[FJRless]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

Exactly! That track needs a higher fence. I didn't seen any corner workers either to warn of that.

There's a 6 ft fence inside the woodline to the right. There is also a fence around the perimeter, but, there's also a lot of wooded space within the property boundaries. Also, you need to have access to the track area for corner workers, emergency vehicles, etc, so, you can't simply put a fence at each edge of the race track. Besides, if you crash, you certainly don't want to be sliding into a fence.

Regarding the corner workers, this happened well before the corner and the corner workers are, well, at the corners.

The deer wasn't laying on the track doing nothing, it darted from the woods, became startled, tried to do a u turn and fell. There's no possible way, even with a corner worker right on top of the entire situation, that there would be enough time to react with a flag. Also, even if a flag was thrown the instant the deer became visible, there wouldn't have been enough time for the rider to react. Look at the video again. At 1:33, you don't see the deer. At 1:34, first rider already hit it.

I've been going to this track for the last 19 years. This is the first deer strike that I have heard of there.

I think a perimeter fence high enough to keep deer out would have done just exactly that. I'm not talking about a fence along the road course itself that riders could slide into.

Any deer population that happened to be inside the perimeter while the fence was being erected could have been exterminated. That should have done it the trick. That not being the case, I think observant corner workers could have caught a deer roaming around and stopped the session.

I understand accidents happen and there's no way to prevent all freak occurrences but you have to believe the raceway has some liability here.

 

[Randy]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

Exactly! That track needs a higher fence. I didn't seen any corner workers either to warn of that.

There's a 6 ft fence inside the woodline to the right. There is also a fence around the perimeter, but, there's also a lot of wooded space within the property boundaries. Also, you need to have access to the track area for corner workers, emergency vehicles, etc, so, you can't simply put a fence at each edge of the race track. Besides, if you crash, you certainly don't want to be sliding into a fence.

Regarding the corner workers, this happened well before the corner and the corner workers are, well, at the corners.

The deer wasn't laying on the track doing nothing, it darted from the woods, became startled, tried to do a u turn and fell. There's no possible way, even with a corner worker right on top of the entire situation, that there would be enough time to react with a flag. Also, even if a flag was thrown the instant the deer became visible, there wouldn't have been enough time for the rider to react. Look at the video again. At 1:33, you don't see the deer. At 1:34, first rider already hit it.

I've been going to this track for the last 19 years. This is the first deer strike that I have heard of there.

I think a perimeter fence high enough to keep deer out would have done just exactly that. I'm not talking about a fence along the road course itself that riders could slide into.

Any deer population that happened to be inside the perimeter while the fence was being erected could have been exterminated. That should have done it the trick. That not being the case, I think observant corner workers could have caught a deer roaming around and stopped the session.

I understand accidents happen and there's no way to prevent all freak occurrences but you have to believe the raceway has some liability here.

Should the D.O.T. have liability when there is a deer strike on the highway?

This is a huge complex. They have a 2.2 mile road course, a 2.0 mile road course, a 1.1 mile road course, and a kart track. I couldn't imagine the amount of money it would cost to put up a perimeter fence to prevent a freak occurrence.

There is a 6 ft fence inside the treeline where the deer came from that it must have jumped. Not sure how high of a fence you need to keep deer out. There's an 8 ft fence around Pocono and a deer managed to jump it. The deer wasn't roaming around - it darted out of the woods, onto the track, got startled, and fell just before the 1st rider hit it.

And fences aren't going to do much to stop the groundhogs and black snakes that are seen much more frequently.

 

[FJRless]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

Exactly! That track needs a higher fence. I didn't seen any corner workers either to warn of that.

There's a 6 ft fence inside the woodline to the right. There is also a fence around the perimeter, but, there's also a lot of wooded space within the property boundaries. Also, you need to have access to the track area for corner workers, emergency vehicles, etc, so, you can't simply put a fence at each edge of the race track. Besides, if you crash, you certainly don't want to be sliding into a fence.

Regarding the corner workers, this happened well before the corner and the corner workers are, well, at the corners.

The deer wasn't laying on the track doing nothing, it darted from the woods, became startled, tried to do a u turn and fell. There's no possible way, even with a corner worker right on top of the entire situation, that there would be enough time to react with a flag. Also, even if a flag was thrown the instant the deer became visible, there wouldn't have been enough time for the rider to react. Look at the video again. At 1:33, you don't see the deer. At 1:34, first rider already hit it.

I've been going to this track for the last 19 years. This is the first deer strike that I have heard of there.

I think a perimeter fence high enough to keep deer out would have done just exactly that. I'm not talking about a fence along the road course itself that riders could slide into.

Any deer population that happened to be inside the perimeter while the fence was being erected could have been exterminated. That should have done it the trick. That not being the case, I think observant corner workers could have caught a deer roaming around and stopped the session.

I understand accidents happen and there's no way to prevent all freak occurrences but you have to believe the raceway has some liability here.

Should the D.O.T. have liability when there is a deer strike on the highway?

This is a huge complex. They have a 2.2 mile road course, a 2.0 mile road course, a 1.1 mile road course, and a kart track. I couldn't imagine the amount of money it would cost to put up a perimeter fence to prevent a freak occurrence.

There is a 6 ft fence inside the treeline where the deer came from that it must have jumped. Not sure how high of a fence you need to keep deer out. There's an 8 ft fence around Pocono and a deer managed to jump it. The deer wasn't roaming around - it darted out of the woods, onto the track, got startled, and fell just before the 1st rider hit it.

And fences aren't going to do much to stop the groundhogs and black snakes that are seen much more frequently.

Somehow, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca have found a way to keep deer from straying out onto the track. Racers wouldn't have it any other way. I've hit snakes in the road before and you don't even know you've hit them. Even in a turn it's nothing more than one of the tires stepping out. It's a little different plowing into a 250 pound animal and I think the management there could find a way to keep large game off the course.

 

[Randy]

Deer fell before 1st rider hit it

WOW! Too scary.
I love the track because there's are not supposed to be dogs, trees, mail boxes, etc near you or running in front of you. Out in SoCal we don't need to worry about those things, I never thought about a place with lots of forest and deer that this could happen. Man, that's nasty. :dribble:

Exactly! That track needs a higher fence. I didn't seen any corner workers either to warn of that.

There's a 6 ft fence inside the woodline to the right. There is also a fence around the perimeter, but, there's also a lot of wooded space within the property boundaries. Also, you need to have access to the track area for corner workers, emergency vehicles, etc, so, you can't simply put a fence at each edge of the race track. Besides, if you crash, you certainly don't want to be sliding into a fence.

Regarding the corner workers, this happened well before the corner and the corner workers are, well, at the corners.

The deer wasn't laying on the track doing nothing, it darted from the woods, became startled, tried to do a u turn and fell. There's no possible way, even with a corner worker right on top of the entire situation, that there would be enough time to react with a flag. Also, even if a flag was thrown the instant the deer became visible, there wouldn't have been enough time for the rider to react. Look at the video again. At 1:33, you don't see the deer. At 1:34, first rider already hit it.

I've been going to this track for the last 19 years. This is the first deer strike that I have heard of there.

I think a perimeter fence high enough to keep deer out would have done just exactly that. I'm not talking about a fence along the road course itself that riders could slide into.

Any deer population that happened to be inside the perimeter while the fence was being erected could have been exterminated. That should have done it the trick. That not being the case, I think observant corner workers could have caught a deer roaming around and stopped the session.

I understand accidents happen and there's no way to prevent all freak occurrences but you have to believe the raceway has some liability here.

Should the D.O.T. have liability when there is a deer strike on the highway?

This is a huge complex. They have a 2.2 mile road course, a 2.0 mile road course, a 1.1 mile road course, and a kart track. I couldn't imagine the amount of money it would cost to put up a perimeter fence to prevent a freak occurrence.

There is a 6 ft fence inside the treeline where the deer came from that it must have jumped. Not sure how high of a fence you need to keep deer out. There's an 8 ft fence around Pocono and a deer managed to jump it. The deer wasn't roaming around - it darted out of the woods, onto the track, got startled, and fell just before the 1st rider hit it.

And fences aren't going to do much to stop the groundhogs and black snakes that are seen much more frequently.

Somehow, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca have found a way to keep deer from straying out onto the track. Racers wouldn't have it any other way. I've hit snakes in the road before and you don't even know you've hit them. Even in a turn it's nothing more than one of the tires stepping out. It's a little different plowing into a 250 pound animal and I think the management there could find a way to keep large game off the course.

Opie Caylor and Woodie Deatherage both hit deer at Road Atlanta on their race bikes.

There have also been deer strikes at Road America, Infineon (Sears Point), and I'm sure there are others.

 

[SouthernCruizer]

Was able to freeze it here..>>

...AMAZING! Hope the rider came thru it ok.

 

[Randy]

Hope the rider came thru it ok.

Last I heard, dislocated shoulder and finger and some cracked ribs.

 

[user 213]

Damn Randy, there is gas at the race track. Burn that crap down. About 50' back from the track on both sides. Oh yeah, what the hell is with the dashed center line on the track?

 

[07fjrTom]

I hit a deer once at 60mph, and I can't imagine doing it at 150. Forest rats move fast and rarely do what you think they should. I'm not a racer but I believe that you can't completely remove the risk from riding. **** happens. I'm just glad this didn't claim a life.

 

[Randy]

Damn Randy, there is gas at the race track. Burn that crap down. About 50' back from the track on both sides. Oh yeah, what the hell is with the dashed center line on the track?

They have been working on clearing out a lot of the wooded area. It's much better than it was.

Not sure. I know they use the track for a lot of high speed government driving training. From what I hear, they used the special race course paint that isn't slippery when wet.