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Bucks Blog: Deer-Car Collisions Are Less Frequent, but More Costly

October 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Associated Press

As I was driving my children home from an after-school activity recently, I had to brake as a herd of deer sauntered across the road in the dusk, their eyes glinting in the glare of my headlights. My children were thrilled to see them, but I was quietly relieved I had seen them in time to stop.

It turns out that we are in the peak time of year for deer-car collisions — October and November — because fall is mating season and the animals are on the move. State Farm says that deer vs. automobile crashes are on the decline, but they’re still a problem. An annual analysis of the insurer’s auto claims estimates that 1.09 million collisions between deer and automobiles occurred from July 2010 to June 30, 2011, down 7 percent from the prior year and 9 percent from three years ago.

State Farm says it can’t pinpoint a reason for the decline. (A quick check of state wildlife department Web sites suggests that the deer population in the United States remains robust.) Rather, it may be a result of reduced auto traffic in the slow economy. “It makes sense to us that during these challenging economic times, drivers in the U.S. are logging fewer miles,” a spokesman for State Farm, Dick Luedke, said in an e-mail. “Everything else being equal, the fewer miles we drive, the fewer deer we hit.”

The state where drivers have the highest odds of hitting a deer continues to be West Virginia. State Farm estimates the chances of a West Virginia driver hitting a deer in the next 12 months at 1 in 53. Iowa ranks second (1 in 77), followed by South Dakota (1 in 81). The lowest-risk state remains Hawaii, at 1 in 6,267 (about the same odds, State Farm notes rather oddly, that the driver is a “practicing nudist”). You can see a map ranking states by their deer-collision risk here. (Turns out I live in a high-risk state.)

The bad news is that the average cost of damage from deer encounters went up by more than 2 percent over last year, to $3,171. Your auto insurance policy will generally cover such repairs, but there’s usually a deductible that you’ll pay out of pocket.

The Insurance Information Institute, an industry group, offers these tips for avoiding a deer while driving:

  • Be especially attentive during the highest risk times of day: From sunset to midnight and during the hours shortly before and after sunrise.
  • Drive carefully in marked deer-crossing zones, in areas with a known deer population and on roads that divide fields from forests.
  • Deer seldom run alone. If you see one deer, others may be nearby, so slow down.
  • When driving at night, use high beam headlights when there is no oncoming traffic.
  • Slow down and blow your horn with one long blast to frighten the deer away.
  • Brake firmly when you see a deer, but stay in your lane. Many serious crashes occur when drivers swerve to avoid a deer and hit another vehicle or lose control of their cars.
  • Always wear your seat belt.
  • Don’t rely on devices like deer whistles, deer fences and reflectors to deter deer. These gadgets have not been proven to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.

    • If your car does strike a deer, don’t touch the animal; a frightened and wounded deer can hurt you or further injure itself. Get your car off the road, if possible, and call the police.

    Have you had an encounter with a deer while driving?

    Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=475091946fb646c5c1ba182ab1842a09

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