Hitting a Deer and Regaining Confidence

[johnnyboxer]

He was killed by the deer/impact and can no longer ride


i know it a seroius post ....but .....

Glad you enjoyed it, Steve

Thought one or two would 'get it'

[BlissRider]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and replies. Feeling much better thanks to all the kind words and logical advice. Trading in my ZRX1200 for a KLR650. No need for anything that fast and where I live the KLR is much better suited to our roads, lots of gravel. Going to invest in some even better riding gear and enjoy my new bike after a little more healing up.

[Scooter76]

Tough ride mate, all I can say is try learn the lessons and don't make the same mistakes!

Glad you survived it!

[qcnr]

There was nothing else you could do. Ok, IF you had been riding at 60 you may have passed that point after the deer had crossed, or ploughed into a bigger herd of deer crossing. The point is you don't know the outcome of any 'what if' scenario.
You do know the outcome of what actually happened.
And what actually happened is you reacted to the situation, to the best of your knowledge and ability, with the intention
of minimising damage.
You just didn't factor in the deer freezing in your headlight.
Now you know this can happen and next time will take it a bit easier. So get back on your bike and ride.

Had you hit a moose (a lot here in Norway) even in a yank pick-up you may not have survived.

[Alun]

Blissrider, you may want to check out the comments at the bottom of this post on our main website, here's the link

https://www.adventurebikerider.com/on-t ... -accident/

[Climbingnut878]

I’m not sure any advice I can give will help, but maybe sharing the story will (it helps me too )
On my way home from work just after midnight, I had a head on collision with a car that was overtaking lorries on a blind bend. He was so far over on my side of the road I hit the passenger side of the car.
My bike went under one of the lorries and was dragged 50 odd metres down the road. Luckily I missed the next lorries rear axle by 6 inches.
The collision happened on an unlit stretch of national speed limit, single carriageway. I was doing a little under 55mph, I reckon the car must have been doing 70mph as he was overtaking lorries.
This happened two and a bit months ago and I am still recovering from my physical injuries, the psychological ones haven’t really been addressed yet as I’m months if not years away from being able to physically get on a bike.
I’ve had plenty of time to think about the collision, I remember the journey until impact pretty well, after that it’s all fragmented.
I have slowly come to terms with the fact that there was absolutely nothing I could have done differently. I didn’t make any bad decisions along the way, wasn’t riding too fast or in a misguided way. If I had been in a car I would have likely suffered injuries that were just as bad, if not worse as I could have ended up in front of the oncoming lorries while trapped in the car.
ATGATT definitely helped, a recent upgrade to my boots probably saved my left leg. I plan to ride again once I’m fit enough and can afford to replace the bike and all the gear, but I don’t know how I’m going to feel about it yet. I get really nervous as a passenger in a car, particularly when other vehicles look like they’re about to pull out in front of us and I recently followed a bike along the motorway for a while and started to get nervous about him coming off (his riding was completely fine).
I think one of the comments from earlier summed it up best. You can’t plan for or control everything that happens. You have to be happy with the risk vs the reward and be confident that you are taking all the reasonable and necessary safety precautions.
After that, your life is in the hands of whichever deity you believe in, or fate or luck or whoever.

[Alun]

I’m not sure any advice I can give will help, but maybe sharing the story will (it helps me too )
On my way home from work just after midnight, I had a head on collision with a car that was overtaking lorries on a blind bend. He was so far over on my side of the road I hit the passenger side of the car.
My bike went under one of the lorries and was dragged 50 odd metres down the road. Luckily I missed the next lorries rear axle by 6 inches.

Hello and welcome to ABR and best wishes on a speedy recovery. In my experience, given time those psychological scars will eventually heal.

[Yoyo]

Best bit of advice I can give when getting back on a bike after an 'Off is to go out with an instructor, either DAS, IAM or ROSPA, use comms, having a positive voice in your ear will quickly build confidence as opposed to the negative voice in your head building fear.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[DaveCon]

I had a serious accident 15 years ago and ended up immobile in hospital for two months and a further 3 months at home recovering. I made a full recovery apart from a slightly awkward right shoulder which aches now and again. Fortunately I'm emotionally like a plank so I never suffered any flashbacks, "I'm fine so lets get on with stuff", sort of thing.

I definitely advise against riding angry and nothing is worse than a domestic. Even after a "road rage" incident my head is all over the place and my riding suffers. I find incidents with car drivers chip away at my confidence - what's he gonna do? - where's he going? - what's up/round here? etc.

My advice is take it easy, don't push yourself, stay in your comfort zone because you have nothing to prove to anyone. If that means starting with a C90 on A roads on a Sunday morning, then do that, you'll still have fun

[dodursley]

Riding my Transalp today I had a near miss, 2 deer ran across the lane I was on, if I had not just slowed down to pass a cyclist I would have arrived at the crossing point when the deer did, I stopped to check there were no more about to cross as last week the van I was following along another local lane slammed on the brakes and 4 deer crossed in front of the van.
Seems to be the deer suicide season in Gloucestershire, pheasants are worse they actually run towards you, have not hit any yet but loads scattered along the roadside.