DEER ACCIDENTS

Each year, car collisions with deer account for more than 150 human and nearly one and a half million deer fatalities. October-December is the high season for the crashes, since it is a time for both wandering deer and shortened daylight hours.

   An adult deer can weigh more than 200 pounds and a car striking one can not only result in the death of the deer, but also incure, on average, two thousand dollars in damage to the vehicle.

   There are many things that can be done to reduce your chances of striking a deer. Scan a wide swath of the roadside, slow down when approaching a deer standing near the side of a road and be prepared. Be alert for more deer than you may see at the moment, there are often nearby. In many cases its best not so try to swerve around it because the deer may move in the same direction. Be particularly careful at dawn and dusk and when driving either over a hill or around a curve where visibility is limited. Also, deer whistles or ultrasonic deer avoidance systems attached to vehicles have never been proven to work by independent studies and may give drivers a false sense of security.

Back