For most of us, collisions with animals are an unfortunate, but fairly common, part of life on the American roadways. If you haven’t hit something yourself, you probably know someone who has… unless, of course, you live in an extremely urban area like New York or Chicago.
If you live in a more rural or wooded part of the country, hoping a deer doesn’t run out in front of your car is a way of life. Head on a swivel when the sun is going down (and even when it is first coming up), am I right? And whether it’s a deer, raccoon, or even a little squirrel, nobody wants to hit an animal, potentially killing or injuring it, as well as damaging your car. The larger the animal, the larger the stakes… so in places where bears, elk, and moose roam free… drivers need to be even more on guard.
Moose, in particular, can be a big problem for motorists. They are just so massive, weighing up to 1,500-pounds, and because they stand so tall, most vehicles will hit the right in the legs causing them to land on (or through) the windshield. This makes moose one of the most dangerous animals to collide with.
Needless to say, if you live in moose country, you want to avoid a collision at all costs.
Where Moose Roam
The global moose population is estimated to be well over 2 million, distributed across two primary areas.
North America: Canada holds the largest moose population in the world, with estimates ranging from 800,000 to over 1 million, heavily concentrated in provinces like Newfoundland, British Columbia, and Ontario. Here in the United States, populations total around 300,000, primarily located in Alaska, but there are also a ton in Maine and northern New Hampshire, as well as the Great Lakes region, and the northern Rocky Mountains.
Eurasia: Russia contains the largest Eurasian population, with hundreds of thousands of individuals across Siberia and its western forests. Scandinavia is also a massive hotspot; Sweden, Norway, and Finland boast highly dense populations, with Sweden alone home to around 300,000 to 400,000 moose during the summer.
Moose are generally solitary and docile, but they can be highly unpredictable and aggressive. Because they lack the natural fear of humans seen in smaller deer, they are more likely to stand their ground. And because they don’t see all that well, bulls are particularly dangerous and prone to charging during the autumn mating season (the rut), while cows are fiercely protective of their calves in the spring. Beyond wildlife viewing and ecotourism, moose are a major game species, and highly regulated hunting is used as the primary population control method in both North America and Scandinavia.
Vehicle Collisions
Moose-vehicle collisions are a severe public safety issue wherever moose can be found. While striking any large animal is dangerous, as I mentioned above, moose present a unique and deadly threat due to their specific anatomy.
A mature moose can weigh between 800 and 1,500 pounds and stands 5 to 7 feet tall at the shoulder. Because their center of gravity is so high, a standard passenger car’s bumper will sweep the moose’s long legs out from under it. This sends the animal’s massive, solid torso crashing directly into the windshield and roof of the vehicle, often bypassing the car’s crumple zones and airbags entirely.
In Scandinavia, moose accidents are incredibly common. Sweden reports several thousand moose collisions annually, resulting in significant property damage, injuries, and sadly, some fatalities. In North America, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador is notorious for these accidents due to a dense moose population overlapping with rural highways. U.S. states like Alaska and Maine also experience hundreds of catastrophic moose strikes each year. While the data isn’t fully complete around the entire world, there are generally a few dozen people every year who are killed in moose accidents.
Luckily, this instance is rather mild, yet quite interesting. It’s rare that a driver makes it away this lucky. But then again, it’s also rare that a moose is running down the street in an urban area like this.
A dashcam captured this bizarre scene, which appears to be somewhere in Russia, although it not 100% certain. A car starts to pull out into an intersection and you see a moose out of nowhere cut right for the car. Of course, you don’t see the moose at first, but if you watch the video twice, you can see the moose running frantically down the road.
The car breaks hard and the moose takes a huge leap, almost clearing the car completely. It slides off the roof of the car and crashes down to the pavement, before picking itself back up and running off.
I mean, I’m sure there could be a few scratches from its hoofs dragging, and the moose probably came out with a scrape or bruise or two. But with no serious injuries to the moose, and no major damage to the car… it’s a success.
Just a wild encounter, and it’s all right there on video.
