[dashwehacct]

I’ve often wondered if this has an effect on wildlife. If we perceive the front end of a truck as “meaner”, does that apply to deer as well? Curious if there is any data on the likelihood of hitting a deer with a truck vs a sedan. I assume this would be difficult to capture as areas with higher chances of hitting a deer are also the areas where drivers are more likely to be behind the wheel of larger trucks.

[AlexandrB]

Deer don't avoid cars because their visual system shorts out when they see a light source shining directly in their eyes[1]. You could make the truck look exactly like a mountain lion and it probably wouldn't save any deer.

[1] https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/animals/why-do-deer-get-tr...

[rascul]

It's not just the headlights, but that might very well be the majority. There have been cases where I've had to stop for deer crossing the road at night, but they didn't look into my headlights and freeze, they just kept walking across the road. Also once I had a deer run out of the woods into the side of my car while I was driving.

[ericbarrett]

I've also had a deer run into the side of my car!

I think they know cars are dangerous, but they don't perceive the speed and don't do a good job of extrapolating where the car will be. And why should they, they're deer. So they just bolt across the road knowing it's dangerous when a car is coming (hence why they're bolting) but often misjudge.

[cjrp]

How long before LED headlights can simply shine around the deer (thus not blinding them), as they do for oncoming vehicles. On second thought that would mean the driver doesn't see the deer; maybe not the best idea!

[freedomben]

Do those actually work? How widely are they deployed? Newer LED headlights seem particularly blinding to me as a driver on the other side.

[cjrp]

Becoming common on most VAG cars for example, even Skoda (their budget-ish brand) - see the video here https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/press-kits/skoda-superb-....

I think they're pretty effective; they cut out the light beam exactly where the other car is. There might still be reflections from other surfaces though.

[pandaman]

They work but not in the US, where they are illegal (the HW is capable of "anti-daze" but SW is locked out for the US cars).