No one wants to hit an animal on the road. Whether it is the loss of a life or simply the gross mess left on your car, hitting an animal in the road is universally unpleasant. There are many times when hitting an animal is the best option available however. Traffic safety experts say that swerving to avoid an animal makes a car accident more likely to happen.

"If you are able to make a safe lane change, by all means do it," one law enforcement officer said. She added that drivers should never swerve before checking traffic first because hitting an animal is not as bad as causing a car accident that could kill a human.

The officer also said that it is best to hit animals that are shorter than your car's hood. Animals such as deer or moose which are taller than the car's hood should be avoided if possible, but swerving may still be riskier.

The majority of injuries arising out of crashes between cars and animals result from car accidents caused by drivers attempting to avoid the animals. A spokesman for the Institute for Highway Safety said that losing control of a vehicle and accidentally rolling it is usually far worse than killing Bambi.

"These crashes happen so fast, often times drivers don't have the option of making a decision about what to do," the spokesman added.

The latest statistics regarding people injured in crashes involving animals indicates that in 2009, 173 crashes involving animals were fatal and 12,000 involved personal injuries.

Source: The Associated Press, "Swerving can be worse than hitting animal on road," Jan. 11, 2012