I recently had a close encounter with a deer. The deer suddenly appeared there in the road and apparently had not heard the Prius approaching. Any recommendations from forum members on deer warning devices?
I have used them on my cars, my children's cars and never had a problem. Here in Oregon, we see deer along the roads even in town but they look aware of our presence and never come on to the road. I just use the onessold in O'Reilly's or Fred Meyer. Two small horns fit on the bumper or under the grill about 18" apart. they must have clear air flow to work well. I do remove the double tape and use a silicon adhesive for better connection. I have never lost one in a car wash.
They don't work, other than to make money for the people who sell them. Most drivers who use them don't hit deer, but they wouldn't anyway. The only real defense is to slow down and pay attention when deer are likely to cross. Tom
They sell those here in Aussie as well to scare kangaroos. They have been tested and found to be totally useless. Incidentally, a friend of mine hit a feral deer here near Maldon and he had a pair of those kangaroo/deer scarers attached.
and don't feel bad, it had nothing to do with the deer not 'hearing' you prius coming. they get hit by all kind of vehicles.
People have been using deer whistles for decades. The accolades typically read, "I drive in deer country all the time and since I've been using them, I've never hit a deer." Like there is a cause-and-effect relationship. I read a more-or-less scientific study about deer whistles in a dirt bike magazine. It concluded: (a) deer whistles can produce a sound that is inaudible to humans, (b) they couldn't tell if deer could hear that frequency (they got no reaction from deer) and, most important, (c) there is no way to predict how a deer would react if it did hear that sound. Just found a Wiki about some university and other studies that came to these conclusions: [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_horn[/ame] Hope this helps.
I have discovered that sticking my head out of the window and yelling "Look out deer!" doesn't work very well.
I try to be vigilant. If I drive slowly I will soon have a line of cars backed up behind me. I'm concerned that if I have to brake suddenly to avoid a deer I will be rear-ended by the aggressive tail-gaiters in my area.
