Gad... Guess I'll have to forgo the North Texas 107th Annual Heifer Hunt this year!
And I was so looking forward to stocking the fridge with cow sausage...
Just my luck, all locked'n loaded and no cow to shoot!
Posted on 11/18/2004 7:11:21 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
Deadly deer: Fatal crashes caused by animals at all-time high
11/18/2004, 12:05 a.m. ET
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cars and motorcycles crash into deer more than 4,000 times a day, and it's taking an increasingly deadly toll — on people.
Last year a record 210 motorists were killed in collisions with animals, mostly deer. That was 40 more than the previous year and more than twice the number in 1993, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Accidents are most likely to happen in November, the institute said, because hunters are out and deer are in the middle of their mating season, both of which cause the animals to be on the move. Crashes are most likely to occur during evening or nighttime, often on rural roads with speed limits of 55 mph or higher.
"The deer population is growing and there are more vehicles on the road every year," Allan Williams, the institute's chief scientist, said Wednesday. "There's just a lot more chance for interaction with animals on the roads."
Deer are involved in about 75 percent of fatal animal-crash accidents. In all, there were 1.5 million deer crashes last year, injuring 13,713 people and causing $1.1 billion in vehicle damage, the institute said.
The study found most animal crashes involved one vehicle and deaths usually were caused when the vehicle left the road or a motorcyclist fell off the bike. In relatively few cases, people were killed when the animal crashed through the windshield.
Other animals that cause crashes include horses, moose, dogs, bears, cats and opossums, though none is responsible for a significant number. Cattle also cause a small percentage of crashes, particularly in Western states.
Such animal-involved fatal crashes have been rising since the mid-1990s, according to federal data analyzed by the institute. Between 1993 and 1997, an average of 119 fatal crashes occurred each year. Between 1998 and 2002, the figure rose to 155.
The institute said special signs during migratory periods, thinning herds and signs that activate when deer are near roadways have shown promise in reducing crashes. Drivers also should be alert and slow down in the evenings, Williams said.
But even with precautions some crashes are unavoidable.
"Sometimes animals just appear in the roadway and there's not much chance to react," Williams said.
Motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable, especially when the rider fails to wear a helmet. In the institute's analysis of fatal crashes in nine states, 65 percent of the 60 motorcyclists and all-terrain vehicle riders killed weren't wearing helmets.
"If an animal hits a motorcycle, the motorcyclist can go off the bike pretty easily," Williams said.
Of the nine states studied, only Georgia, Missouri and North Carolina require helmets for all riders. Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin require helmets for teenagers, but not adults, and Colorado doesn't require helmets.
The same study found 60 percent of the 93 vehicle occupants killed in animal crashes weren't wearing seat belts.
Bush's fault.
Haven't thse deer read the A. E. T. P. (Animals for Ethical Treatment of People) brouchures?
PETA's solution would be quite simple: ban all cars and motorcycles.
LOL! The article blames hunters! The only people who are thinning the herd!
Not being a hunter or in an area where there is deer hunting or a lot of deer roaming around, I am amazed at the number here. 4000 a day? Is this something the average person would see on a regular basis? Just trying to imagine what this is like....
Talk about stating the obvious. I hope they didn't spend a lot of money on this research.
I live in the Mpls/St Paul area, and my daughter saw five deer in one day while driving!
My county leads SE Michigan by percentage.
Remember the car insurance commercial (I think Geico) where the squirrel stands in the road and the car swerves to miss it? The squirrel scampers off of the road to give a "high five" to a fellow squirrel and you hear the sound of the car hitting something: maybe a tree. I've always thought that was a stupid commercial. Hit the squirrel, hit the turtle, hit the deer! It might tear up the car, but you will most likely live. The only time I would swerve is if it was a cow, horse, moose, or an elephant. When you hit the horse, he tends to roll into and through the windshield.
Well, I live in the suburbs of Kansas City, and I see at least 2 or 3 dead dear on the side of the roads every morning on the way to work. And it's only a 14 mile drive!
I saw something on the news that in the Kansas City area, there are parks where the number of deer number in excess of 100 per square mile! In fact, a few years ago, a friend and I were driving just after dusk, and she hit the brakes really hard to keep from hitting two deer in the road directly in front of the car. And once we stopped, we noticed that there were another 5 deer on either side: If she had swerved, rather than stopping, she would have hit at least one of the deer!
Mark
are the deer getting bigger or are the cars getting smaller
4,000 accidents a day? That's almost 1.5 million a year. Seems a little high.
And the collisions and deaths will continue to grow as the deer population increases.
Of course, the fact that many areas are seriously restricting hunting along with the left tree-hugger, PETA types are doing everything they can to eliminate hunting, only further creates such a problem.
I saw my first moose back in August. Just about sundown, we were the first to come upon an accident - a low-slung car ran into the legs of a moose, and the body went thru the windshield. Woman had a badly broken hand, but was otherwise all right. Police came, and shot the moose. Her boyfriend came along later and wanted to know if he could have the meat.
Everyone was okay, but what a close call.
Do those things that emit an allegedly repellent noise while driving (installed on front bumper) actually work?
Just my luck, all locked'n loaded and no cow to shoot!
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