> In article , Harry Keane says...

>> "Bear" gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:MPG.22f24af3c787dc3f989e49@news.individual.de...

>>> In article 4ax.com>, Richard
>>> Sherratt says...
>>>

>>>> here was a time when the Saab owner's handbook illustrated ABS,
>>>> stability control or something with a Saab avoiding a moose and not
>>>> falling over. Cheeky :-)

>>> Legend has it that the reason Saabs and Volvos are so strong is that,
>>> way back, the Swedish government insisted that their domestic car
>>> industry build vehicles that could withstand a 50 mph collision with
>>> half a tonne of moose ... probably an urban myth, but I do like the idea
>>> :)

>> Having seen, many years ago, the aftermath of a collision between a Mark 2
>> Cortina and a Friesian cow (in which the cow was posthumously awarded the
>> bout on points) I think that was probably a very sensible idea.

>
> My dad used to have a Chevrolet Caprice Classic.
>
> For those who don't know them, imagine the classic American station
> wagon; an 8 litre plus V8, driving a small detached house on wheels.
> Something like 18 feet long and weighing only slightly less than
> Albuquerque. The bonnet badge is in a different time zone to the
> driver.
>
> He hit a deer somewhere on 299. Not a big, 6ft Red deer, but a medium
> sized thing. They found the Chevy's engine about 50 yards from the car,
> it having exited via the front left wing. The station wagon was
> *totalled*
>
> The state trooper type who attended the scene said the only reason my
> dad was still alive was that he was wearing a seat belt, itself not a
> common thing at the time. Apparently deer and their elk (heh) have the
> ideal combination of soft flesh to make sure the shock forces are
> dissipated along the colliding vehicle, and enough skeletal mass to make
> them very difficult to brush aside.
>
> Basically, you don't want to mess with ungulates :)