In rural Louisiana and even in cities like Lafayette, drivers encounter animals on the road. Although many drivers may have the desire to avoid the animal by swerving, hitting the animal may be the safer choice, especially if the animal is small and if there is traffic.

According to a state trooper, drivers should try to avoid the urge to swerve to avoid animals on the road, if they do not have time to check for traffic first. If a safe lane change is possible, only then should drivers safely turn the wheel to avoid an animal. But, deciding to swerve without looking could cause a car accident.

In 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded 173 fatal car accidents and 12,000 crashes with injury caused by animals. Most injuries from crashes involving animals are not caused when the animal is hit but by the crash that occurs afterward. Crashes involving animals often occur quickly and in many cases the decision to swerve can make a driver lose control of the vehicle or hit another driver. According to the spokesperson for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "the best thing, unfortunately, in most cases is to hit the animal and try to avoid swerving."

Of course the size of the animal matters when choosing whether to hit it. In order to judge whether it is physically safe to hit an animal on the road a driver can gauge the animal's size by comparing it to the hood of the car. If the animal is shorter than the car's hood and there is not enough time to check for surrounding traffic, hit the animal. If the animal is taller than the hood, safely try to avoid it. If safely avoiding the animal is not an option, hitting the animal in most cases remains the safest choice.

Source: USA Today, "Swerving can be worse than hitting animal on road," Jan. 11, 2012