Night Ride
 

so in drives ed they taught us when driving a car and we see an animal and so close we can't stop u should keep going straight don't swerve. what do u do with a motorcycle?

If it was me my first instinct would be to hit both brakes. Depending on whether I was going straight, around a curve, wet road surface, etc., I don't know if that would be the best solution to the problem.

Here's what one rider did. It wasn't at night but probably would have been the same outcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOkYu04R_kQ

damn.......... he took that dear apart, went through it like a missile. im glad he didnt go down.

It's too situational to really give any specific strategy. The best strategy is good riding habits.

On the streets you should never be riding at the limit. You should always have a cushion between where you're riding and where your true skill limits are. For example, a woman who apparently needed to pull into a movie theater parking lot RIGHT NOW allowed me to discover my braking limits (unintentional stoppie).

With a cushion, you should have braking and swerving ability to avoid (or worse comes to worse, lessen) the impact. But if you're looking for someone to say "Go WOT and cut thru it!" well...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lYKgFXSo-V...+the+grill.jpg

my msf instructor's advice was: "if you can eat it in one sitting, just keep going. if not, do what you can to avoid it or brace for impact."

Hahahahahaha!!!! Love it, great advice.

Had a buddy bit a deer in his bike. He did swerve to avoid it so he managed to to stay up and riding. Did put one heck of a dent in the gas tank.

DON'T STARE AT IT! That's the worst thing you can do. If it's small, keep driving, maybe do your best to move slightly out of the way. If it's big, slow down as quickly as possible then do your best to maneuver out of the way (don't turn while slamming on the brakes, it will not be productive).

Yeah, what he said, /\ /\ , you go where your eyes look.

Humour aside, the "meal" rule is a pretty good analogy. I hit a shephard sized dog at 50-60 mph (fortunately, on a straight-away). It was at night, a country road, air-borne for a moment, bars slapping the stops, left-right. I relaxed my grip on the bars, let it settle itsellf out, braked, dragged the dog off the road. Sat down until the shakes went away, road home.

its one thing to have one jump out in front of you at least you have an opportunity to avoid it. my problem late last riding season was that i was goin down a tight twisty road about 30-35 mph takin the corners low and a deer ran right into me literally. didnt even see it till impact its head caught my mirror and its body slammed into my shoulder as i was down into the curve, yup washed me right out into the ditch, new fairing, stator cover and a way to long winter that is still here darn it, im itchin to ride lol.

I've heard of stories of people hitting hitting deer and not going down but I'm sure more often then not there is a chance you will go down. When I ride at night, I know I'm limited to my line of sight with the headlights so I take that into account and leave a cushion just like I would in rain.