Why do deer jump in front of your car?

It's like they wanna get hit...are they depressed and wanna commit suicide why do they jump in front of your car is it cause the lights??Why do deer jump in front of your car?
It's not just a panic response, it's an instinctual response. When deer and many other potential prey animals detect something coming at them, they take off running in a random direction, expecting for the ';something'; to be a predator chasing it. Most of these potential prey species have eyes on opposing sides of the head, making depth perception very hard, but it widens their view so they can spot that potential predator better. This means that deer can't tell how fast a car is going, just that it is approaching. However, cars stay on a certain path (hopefully they stay on the road), and deer can't understand this. Therefor, when a deer sees a car moving fast, they take off in a random direction thinking it may be something trying to run them down and eat them, and sometimes that random direction happens to be in the path of the car.Why do deer jump in front of your car?
My theory is....at night, the headlight may somehow momentarily light the area they are to where they can see better and just proceed since they have the luxury of unexpected 'daylight'.





During the day, I think sometimes they are running *from* something in the woods......dog...coyote...etc, and in their panic they don't know to look both ways before crossing the road.





Further; during daylight hours, in the rutting season, they are pretty single-minded, and also don't bother to look both ways before crossing.





Lastly.....hey are animals. I don't know that they really understand what's going on at roadways. They think they can just cross and open area, and being afraid of being exposed to predators, they run, or trot to get past it quickly, and again.....see the moving objects (traffic) and panic thinking they are being pursued...and therefore zig-zag and get hit.





Seems like common sense.
It seems to be a sort of panic response. Birds do a similar thing. they will be sitting safely in a bush at the roadside and as you approach in your car they'll suddenly decide that they have to cross. So many get killed that way!
deer have no sense of the danger moving cars pose to them. They don't understand why a car that was ';far away'; just seconds ago is suddenly so close. They tend to panic and jump right in front of the car.
Actually they just wander onto the road or traveling purposes, and they see a car with bright head lights, they just freeze because their brain can't respond so they get ran over.
lots of times a deer will make it across the road in front of you and upon sensing danger go back the way he came because he knows its safe back there because he just came from there and he doesn't know whats ahead...
Ok..





They dont choose too, nor are they sucisal lol





Its just they can live near roads if theres forest on either side and therefore are crossing that road alot thus some get hit
I think they sent a kamikaze deer to destroy my beautiful 1950 Chevrolet truck!