eli5, why do deer run at the slightest sound or movement, but just stand there and stare when a car is coming towards them at full speed?
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One thing that others haven’t mentioned: prey animals like deer and squirrels and zebras escape predators by being nimble, not fast. They can’t outrun hawks and wolves and lions in the wild, so their defense mechanism is to stand still as the predator comes towards them, and then to abruptly change direction at the last second and run off. With any luck, the predator’s momentum will cause them to overshoot the deer, forcing the predator to stop, turn around, and restart the pursuit, giving the deer time to escape.
That works great when you have a predator who is tracking you and trying to intercept where you are. It works poorly when your “predator” is a huge car headed in a straight line roughly towards where you are. The car isn’t adjusting its course to hit you, so it’s not going to be fooled if you change direction at the last second.
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