I don't know all the circumstances but 30-50 seconds is a long time to respond to a road hazard.

 

When I first saw it, I let off the accelerator - engine brake full on.

Applied moderate braking action.

Moose started back toward the slow lane.

Applied heavier braking, maneuvered toward the right side of the lane.

Moose started heading toward me.

Impact.

This was at 2130 in Utah on I80E near mm 154.

When I first saw it, it was in the left lane heading toward the median.

This whole thing keeps rolling through my mind, like a dang horror movie.

 

What would you have done differently? {besides given your D/M a better story, 30+ seconds is a long time}

Its tough. The accident actually "occurred" in what, about 3-5 seconds?

After loosing 4 rigs in PA one saturday, we recieve a message akin to "hit the critters" DO NOT GO OFF THE ROAD TO AVOID IMPACT.

 

+1 on this. I would definitely dig a little deeper on this one.

 

I can see where you're coming from, however, it is preventable. And yes, all you who just know how much i love swift, or am pro-swift, am saying this not to side with the company, or bash a fellow swift driver....i'm saying this from an insurance standpoint.

This happen during the day or night?? If it happened during the day, then you were not looking far enough up ahead of you (more than half a mile)....you did not get the 'big picture'. you always have to keep your eyes moving.

Did it happen at night?? Then either one of two things happened (or maybe both)...you simply wernt paying attention (again, not getting the big picture around you) or you were driving ahead of your headlights. With high beams you should be able to see a football field ahead of you. Now going 55-60, you can get woed down fast enough to avoid a dear (or moose) standing in the road.

It has always been swifts policy that animal hits are preventable, this should be nothing new to you.

 

Whether or not it's preventable, you did yourself no favors by telling the story the way you did. "I was on the brakes for 30-50 seconds" sounds a lot worse than "a moose jumped out and struck my vehicle." 30 seconds is a long time. 50 seconds is an eternity. A moose leaping out in front of you takes about half a second. This was one of those subtle lessons that I learned from my trainer. You never hit a deer. The deer hits you.

I don't know what kind of goobers you have working in the safety department if they actually said that a moose is slower than a deer so it's your fault. That's just dumb. Everybody knows that you don't swerve to avoid an animal. If it hits you, it hits you. Now, if it were a cow...

 

He Answered it look below..

Bull****!! What kind of deers do you come by?? A deer can easily dart across the road while your going by, a deer has hit my car while passing by after i cleared him.. Maybe he could of avoid of it, but still your reasons are complete bs...

And when i attended Swift Orientation last July i was told if a deer jumps out in the middle of the road or any kind of animal hit it!! If you jacked knife a truck due to missing a deer or any other animal it was automatic termination..

dle i agree with someone else who said you did yourself no favor's by saying 30 to 50 seconds you had to react.. i would of clearly said it jumped out in front of me.. Hell aint like Swift is going to have an Animal Collision Reconstruction Team?? (Do They lol??)

 

no it hasn't. my most recent run-over with an animal occurred last september. it was also ruled non-preventable. in any instance, you do NOT swerve to avoid hitting one, nor do you slam your brakes. you just go on and hit the animal.

 

I've only had one run in with an animal. I hit a deer last year on I-64 in WV. It was late at night and I had literally a split second to react. I had enough time to swerve enough for it to miss the tractor, but the trailer tandems made a nice deer pizza.

We also had one of our drivers hit a black bear (about 800#) within 1 mile of that spot. His truck didn't make it out as lucky, tho.

 

This sounds like one of those cases where you choose to tell the truth in hopes that it is the right thing to do. But we all know that is not always the case.

One thing I have learned from living in Montana for 25 years and dealing with wildlife on the roads, sometimes on a daily basis, is that they are totally unpredictable.

Sincerely hope you get your ordeal behind you with a favorable outcome.:thumbsup: