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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dmac1" data-source="post: 3890672" data-attributes="member: 60252">Couldn't avoid hitting them, and 100 was maybe an overestimate, maybe 50-60.. As stated, came around a curve at speed limit of 50 mph and headlights hit them about 20 feet in front of me. swerving left I would have still hit them, and possibly spun out. Swerving right would have put me in the drainage ditch they were heading to. Not a bad driver, but when you are driving hundreds of miles on dark farm roads 7 nights a week  in all kind of weather for many years, you cross paths with thousands of different animals. I was averaging 170 miles every night on a rural newspaper motor route Saw bears, never hit one but came close, had beavers cross right in front of me, something that looked like maybe a capybara, maybe a nutria, avoided many dozens of deer until the one that was suicidal, possums, foxes, rabbits were everywhere, and a baby owl flew right into my open driver window one night. That one surprised the hell out of me. Most animals would run off as soon as they heard me coming. But raccoons especially seemed almost fearless and had no natural fear of cars, maybe never seeing them much as how they are nocturnal, and rarely any cars on those roads at night. And I think some people treated them as pets and fed them. Corn farms where sweet corn is grown is also a raccoons heaven. Believe me, I did not like hitting them, and avoided many times more than I hit. But hitting that family stuck out because of the look in the mother's eyes.  I hit maybe two rabbits, maybe one possum, and maybe two skunks. Why so many raccoons got hit is only a guess, there was obviously a large overpopulation, but they would run out of small brush on the side of the road when I was only a few feet away so even going only 25 mph with culverts on both sides of a one lane dirt roads you can't avoid them. And on a long straight stretch of road, even dirt roads, you can get up to 50 mph. Raccoons are crazy.I doubt that you drove your semi on one lane dirt roads in farm and forest land in the middle of the night, or maybe you just drove where there were fewer animals.</blockquote>

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