We have tons of deer where I drive. Many live right in the towns I pass through regularly. The fields on the way to my cabin often have too many count. The fact I haven't hit one is amazing but if I followed your advice, I'd have hit a few by now. While your advice has some merit, and I have told my wife and daughters to be prepared to hit one if swerving is not safe, such as if you have to swerve into oncoming traffic, or off a cliff. But I never made the "no swerving" advice categorical since in many cases swerving to avoid hitting a deer is not more dangerous, plus if you train yourself not to swerve and you hit a moose, it's like hitting a brick wall, and you'd wish you'd swerved.
When I watch the video I wonder if AP played a part in allowing the driver to not pay as much attention. Yes, the deer comes up abruptly but it's standing on the road. I don't care how dark and fast I am going, I am looking at the road with enough time to stop if there's something there. The deer that dart out I can understand but this accident looked somewhat preventable to me. Then again, I wasn't there so perhaps I am wrong.
So, I was a traffic crash investigator for Florida State Patrol for many years and my experience and numerous investigations have taught me a lot.
You say " I don't care how dark and fast I am going..." So, you can't travel at dark speed thus I'm pretty sure you meant you don't care how dark it is or how fast you're moving. You wouldn't have been able to come to a complete stop and not hit the deer like you suggest. Flat out.
My wife and I were both watching the road as we know AP isn't that great... yet. You would not have avoided the deer unless you swerved. I don't know why people think the no swerve thing is not legit. During my Florida State police academy we are all told to not swerve even if you were the only car on a 7 lane road.
Bottom line, swerving is more dangerous than hitting the object. I will never wish I had swerved. It's just not safe.
I had the oh crap, I'm about to hit a deer moment, but there was nothing that could be done. AP didn't detect it and stopping in time to not hit the deer was not possible.
I have investigated too many accidents where we can tell the driver swerved to avoid hitting (insert object here) and they simply lost control due to traveling at highway speeds. The majority of drivers aren't trained how to properly drive their car at faster speeds or how to follow at safe distances at faster speeds. I see this at rush hour a lot! Drivers want to get right up on someone like it's going to make them get out of their way. When all lanes are packed and you are traveling that close, you will NEVER stop in time. Human reaction time just isn't that fast and unless you're operating a motorcycle, you won't stop in time.
The reaction time is why I like the AP idea. When you take the human out of the equation, then my job will be much easier!!
No more unsafe following distances,
no more swerving,
no more drunk driving,
no more last minute lane changes to make an exit,
no more lane changes without signaling,
no more drowsy driving,
no more distracted driving,
no more traffic congestion (all cars talk to each other),
and the list can go on for a while.
