Best Bumper against Deer or Cows

Well next time you're driving through the mountains, down hill at dark, to an overpass shadowing where two black cows happen to be straddling the middle of all 3 lanes, when the speed limit is 70mph, yet I am only going about 55mph, you have no where to go. It was on a main highway in Colorado. The ranchers fence was damaged and found their way to the main interstate. I was watching for animals because we have elk, bears etc. But shit happens that not everyone can stop and dodge a slow cow(s). They were literally straddling the lines of the roads. There are no better lights or tires that would have helped. I'm just saying don't be so quick to judge. Shit happens that is out of our control sometimes.

 

Well, sorry for upsetting you.

Unlike the cow on your roadway though, I remain unmoved. Accidents happen, but they're still accidents - not necessarily unforeseeable anomalies. 800 lb animal standing still on the road? See it on approach and slow down, then stop. Personally, I want to be able to see, and be capable of avoiding anything that happens to be in my path rather than just blindly trusting the road is clear, driving through the night assuming that no one is broken down, there's not rock debris from a slide, a tree down from wind or a collision, a drunk hitch-hiker, a bunch of kids walking on the road, a dead animal, etc.

Maybe we get more rural road hazards here.

All I said is that a driver who is paying attention and driving accordingly should be able to avoid hitting a big unmoving cow in the middle of the road. You think that's wrong? OK.

I still feel that (and local laws here enforce that) you are responsible for being able to avoid hitting something that is on the road ahead of you, unless it suddenly moves unexpectedly into your lane of travel. I understand that it happens. I'm not calling you a nincompoop, and you're not alone. Just saying those collisions are avoidable.

There have been many many times in my life where, if there were a cow standing on the road with his eyes closed and a sneaky grin on his face, I would have hit it. I think it would have been avoidable though.

Really sweet truck BTW. That's a nice setup. I'm not trying to make you re-live or defend your bovine-automotive collision. I only started off trying to tell a guy about a good, safe deer-proof bumper. There is no cow-proof bumper. (as you know)

 

@fdle416

@neverstuck

Well, since this thread showed up on New Posts a moment ago....

Plate Bumpers after impact with pics?

 

I've had to dodge a few cows, I've also corralled a few with my taco when they get out.

 

Hitting cows grazing in open range (lands with no legal requirement to fence in cattle) leads to the driver being liable to the livestock's owner if they hit a cow- and it l doesn't take much to hit them either, I was driving in eastern Oregon open range land and a herd of angus were bedded down on the road at night. Angus are so black, I could only see them for their eyeshine. It would have been tens of thousands of dollars I would have had to pay out over my property damage insurance coverage had I hit them.

 

Not true.
My sister hit a black cow on the way home at around midnight, no moon out 4 lane highway. The cow was facing away from her. She saw it's white face and hit the brakes when it turned it's head to look back at her. To late to do anything then.
Needless to say she knocked the shit out of it and all over her car. Poor Celica didn't stand a chance.

 

Well... Several people have disagreed with me on this but I haven’t changed my personal opinion. Just because your sister did it doesn’t prove that there was no human error involved, she was paying proper attention and reacted without a delay. Just like me giving my opinion doesn’t necessarily mean shit either. I just feel that you should be able to recognize and stop, to avoid hitting, something that’s unmoving and blocking the road ahead of you. If a kid is standing in the middle of the road and you run them over people aren’t just going to say “not your fault - the kid shouldn’t have been there”.

now I’m just repeating myself. Sorry. Glad your sister was ok. Crashes always suck whatever the cause.

 

Rigghhttt... not defending ours, but black-face Trudeau is hardly a saint himself there bud. Let’s leave politics out of it.

 

Haha. I wasn't defending ours either. Believe me, I said worse about us when my country re-elected him. I shouldn't have made the political reference though. Poor taste

My point was that there was a lot of nonsense being posted on the internet at the time, when I was told my previous comment was the most ignorant thing he had read all day.

 

All good man. Seems like the world just sucks lately picking figures of leadership. Was just making a point to keep politics off the thread so no one gets a ban hammer.

 

Your right, the kid shouldn't have been there and neither should the cow have been. The kid probably wouldn't be wearing all black so you couldn't see them though.

 

It was too easy to get some ass on the road at night in the mountain town where I used to live. There were some pretty big asses there too! A Highway Patrol officer hit an ass and there was ass plastered all over the road, and his cruiser was totaled. Another couple hit a big ass and it flew through the windshield and out the back window without hurting them too badly, but as the ass flew by them through the car, it eviscerated all it’s guts inside the car and on the couple as it flew. One of our fire engines also hit a big ass, and there were more asses with it, but luckily, they didn't hit them so the damage wasn’t too bad. Hitting an ass can be bad, and I always hoped I wouldn’t get some ass while driving down those mountain roads where I lived at night!

 

That Arb bumper on orange looks nasty! I'm getting one.

 

White tail deer - 150 lbs
Cow - 1600 lbs
Bull - 2600 lbs

Not sure of any bumper thats going to save you from a cow. A deer yes, but hitting 1600 lbs meat sack at 60+ mph is just going to do so much damage. I think I would rather hit a cow without a metal bumper so they total out the truck...

 

Yeah, I don't think some people understand how I-70 works. Most common place I know of for cow collisions is in an area called Floyd Hill, and basically about halfway down from Eisenhower Tunnel to Golden. The whole area is a tight little corridor where there are walls on either side of the road. There is no way for livestock to exit when it gets onto the road. It's not like they can just walk off the side, they're stuck unless they take a ramp. The area has pea soup fog in fall, spring and winter where you commonly can't see more than 15 feet ahead and corners are blind. I haven't seen much of cows escaping and getting on. But what I have seen all too frequently is a rancher that is transporting livestock will have the back door of the trailer pop open and there will be 15 or 20 cattle running around the highway. I've seen it happen two or three times in a fall season. It's insanity. You round the corner and there's cars slamming on breaks, cows being cows running around, a trailer stopped in the middle of the road. State troopers trying to get it under control. So, yes there are situations where you can hit cows without being an idiot.

If you've been to Wyoming, there's a reason they have cattle guards on the on and off ramps to 25. It happens. Though I see your point that even an ARB ain't gonna save that at top speed.

My only hope would be that if I hit one at all I can slow down as much as possible, hit it, tweak the frame and live to drive my next taco.

 

Old trains had wedge shaped “cow catchers” to push livestock out of the way. Could be a neat fabrication job for a taco, could now push all those drunk fatties aside at night when the clubs close.

 

That would be hilarious, but amazing. I picture it looking like something out of Mad Max

 

Trains also have essentially infinite momentum

 

Whoa whoa whoa, are you pushing those drunk fatties over to my house? cause thats where I want them.

 

The ARBs are engineered and designed specifically with impact in mind. Most steel plate bumpers are welded together for clearance/strength(/looks) so by all means, some plate bumper may outperform an ARB, but there’s no testing or engineering to back that possible outcome. ARB will be the best tool for your intended job with known data.