In high school, I watched a lady total a '66 Mustang by running it into one of those guy wires at the end of a run of telephone poles... to avoid hitting a cat.

My kids aren't even near driving age yet, and I've already instilled in them: don't swerve. You swerve, hit something solid-- that's a single vehicle accident, and you are 100% at fault. You hit a deer and demolish the front end of the car, insurance takes care of it and you're out the deductible... provided the deer doesn't go through the windshield and finish you off.

But then again, we don't live in deer/moose country, so many in other locales likely think differently.