White-tailed Deer In Rearview Mirror

We like the highlight a lot of the interesting vehicle related stories that we come across each week. But this time we’re doing something a little different than usual by focusing on two different issues that face nearly all drivers—one’s that you either may not recognize that are that dangerous or are even threats at all.

First one we’ll go over are deers. There’s a good chance you have or at least know someone who has hit a deer. That’s because their population is exploding, especially in suburban areas on the east coast. But would you imagine that the safest thing to do when faced with a deer in the middle of the road is to hit it? That’s what a recent article posted on Slate.com suggests. And it makes sense when you think about it. If you can’t avoid hitting a deer by braking short then your only real option is to swerve around it and potentially losing control of your vehicle and smashing into a tree or rolling over into a ditch. You can read more about this, and about some of what goes into roadkill clean-up here.

Now onto the next road based danger—Daylight Savings Time. There are a lot of reasons to like daylight saving time, but the policy is not without it’s opponents. Some claim adding more daylight to the day keeps people healthier by giving them time to exercise after work and helps them save energy in their homes. But still others claim that the disruption in sleep patterns actually leads to increased risk of heart attacks. Recently a paper was present which showcases another downside to daylight saving time. The paper examined data on all fatal car crashes from 2002 to 2011. And the paper found that after people lost an hour in spring the rate of fatal crashes increased by around 6 percent over the next 6 days. So what does this all add up to? In the 10 year period that was studied this amounted to around 300 more deaths. So when it’s time to spring ahead, make sure you get enough sleep and stay wary while you’re on the road. If you’d like to read more about the conflicting views on daylight saving time and the paper in question take a look at the article on Bloombergview.com.