Pre-thinking through an animal in the roadway situation can improve your reaction time through training and repetitive thought. This kind of preparation for roadway hazards can be done by being aware of which areas are frequently traversed by animals. Another key to safety, according to Harmon, is not being distracted by other activities while driving. Even a moment taken to sip your coffee or adjust your radio can cause a driver to loose valuable seconds of reaction time when confronted by emergency situations on the roadways, such as animals or other drivers stopped in the road. Monday’s accident involving two cars and a deer in the 13 curves area just below Pioneer is an example of how fast road conditions and hazards can present themselves.

Although, this accident was a “freak accident” states Harmon where neither driver could have prevented the accident another example could have had a very different outcome. Last week a driver traveling in the same general area swerved to miss a deer and in doing so overcorrected causing her vehicle to roll slightly injuring herself, however her young daughter and husband, also in the car were uninjured. Harmon states that this kind of avoidance, leaving the roadway, is not worth the risk to the occupants of a vehicle or other drivers on the roadway.

Also, Harmon states that deer and turkey often travel in groups and then when you see one there is usually more to follow- consider the sighting of a single deer or turkey a pre-warning of more to come. For questions or additional information on the roadways call Officer Harmon at the Amador Unit of the California Highway Patrol at 223-4890.