Originally Posted by JohnBrooking
I know, probably only 5% of you reading this even live in an area where this would be possible, but I'm curious anyway. We just found out that someone in our company was recently involved in a car/moose near-collision, with her family. Fortunately, the driver swerved and they were all wearing seatbelts, so they the most serious injury was a dislocated rib. (It would have been much more serious, if not fatal, if they had hit the animal, or had not been wearing seat belts, according to the officer at the scene. It was a very large bull moose.) The moose was okay too, since he was not hit. (Although I hear that our co-worker was entertaining thoughts of shooting it with the officers' gun if she saw it again.)
But it got me wondering - what would happen if a bicycle ran into a moose? Has it ever happened? Perhaps cyclists, being slower than cars, have enough reaction time and enough maneuverability to be able to avoid it in almost all cases. But if you did run into one, would it be serious? I would worry mostly about getting trampled underfoot. Anyone have any moose stories?
I witnessed a Hyundai Pony hit an elk about thirteen years ago and while the Elk suffered a broken leg, the Pony had a crushed hood, smashed-in grill, broken lights, bent bumper and other internal injuries. I doubt it survived. Although I don't know for certain, I scored the incident Elk 1, Hyundai 0
I relate this only because of the damage an elk caused to, admittedly, a piece of crap car...and a moose is even larger. I shudder to think what a car or cyclists would look like should the moose come crashing down on them. Fortunately, they are tall with relatively spindley legs and it is possible to go right under.