Some folks are just lucky. You know what they say, "Better to be lucky than good."
That aside, glad you're still here to tell about it.
One time I was driving a car at night in mid-Texas (wide open, flat) on my way from Boston to Houston, and in that split second I saw the big buck jump from the side of the road in front of the car.
The Saab 900 I was driving had a crumple mechanism that folded the hood in half protecting the windshield. There was an "explosion" of plastic an glass from the front lights -- the dashboard lit up and the engine quit. I had been going 60mph, and as best I could I looked to the sides and coasted to a stop on the shoulder.
Another driver had passed me immediately after the collision and he assumed the worst, and raced ahead to the next to call for help. Meanwhile, I was just standing by the side of the car.
About ten minutes later, off in the distance I could see flashing lights, and then more lights, then sirens. There were cop cars, and fire trucks, and ambulance.
They all raced past me (at this point, just a dark 'abandoned' hulk on the side) and I thought, "Wow, there must be something big going on back there."
After some minutes one of the cop cars returned, and pulled over, and asked me if I had seen anything -- they had received a call of a big wreck.
I said 'no' -- but I was happy he was there because this deer jumped in front of me and the car no go.
He talked into his shoulder, and the cop cars all converged on our location, and the fire trucks and ambulance kept going.
The cops eyed me suspiciously, and got out their flashlights, and began combing the sides of the road (did they suspect hit and run ?), and after another long minutes, the head guy came back, and in the classic, "Son" declarative, he said, "You're under arrest."
When he had achieved the desired reaction, he handed me a Polaroid (this is how long ago it was) of a multi-point buck. He said, "Do you have any idea how upset some of the local hunters will be that you got this buck and they didn't ? This is hunting out of season, and you're in Trouble."
Then he broke into a wide grin and said, "Welcome to Texas."
Funny thing was, I was transferring the car to Texas for my dad, and a month before I had hit a dear in Ohio. I took a bus back home while a shop repaired the car. Took the bus back to Ohio to pick up the car, and this time the insurance company totaled it.
