Forget sharks and bears — it's deer that you should worry about hurting you

24 Nov 2024, 20:52 by Forrest Brown, CNN · KSL.com

Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes

FAIRFIELD, Connecticut — Retired public relations professional Bonnie Sashin and her husband had just spent a nice Thanksgiving visit and meal with family at her stepson's suburban home in the Connecticut city of Fairfield, a charming burg of about 61,000 on Long Island Sound.

By the time they departed the 2022 family gathering, the sun had already set, Sashin recalls.

They cranked up her fairly new Subaru Forester SUV to head to a nearby hotel, where they were staying the night rather than make the two-and-a-half hour drive back to Brookline, Massachusetts, on full stomachs and in full darkness.

"And just as we turned the corner, practically out of the subdivision where my stepson lives … I can feel something hit the car. You know, it's dark, and I had no idea what could it be. And I was just very alarmed," Sashin said.

"My husband thought it was some kind of animal, and we of course stopped and fortunately a nice, civic-minded woman in front of us stopped. … She got out of the car. She saw me. She was really nice. She said, 'Oh, that was a deer.' And she said, 'It happens all the time around here,'" Sashin recalled.

The deadly deer problem

It turns out that deer-vehicle collisions are far more than a southern Connecticut problem. They're a problem across much of the United States and in other nations. It also turns out Sashin was fortunate not to have been injured or even killed in the incident.

Even people who realize how common deer-vehicle collisions are might be surprised at these startling stats for the United States from this November 2022 study in the journal Cell Biology:

Around 2.1 million deer-vehicle collisions occur annually.
The collisions cause more than $10 billion in economic losses annually.
Each year, they account for some 59,000 human injuries and 440 human deaths.

Kip Adams, chief conservation officer with the National Deer Association, notes that deer are much more deadly to Americans each year than those scary movie and TV threats – sharks, alligators, bears and venomous snakes – combined. For instance, there were just two deaths in the United States by shark attack in 2023.

Looks like we should be much more wary of "Bambi" than of "Jaws."

And the United States is not alone in having a deer problem. For instance, a 2023 study from Scotland's nature agency, NatureScot, estimated that 700 people are injured or killed in deer-vehicle collisions in the United Kingdom annually.

They grapple with the deer problem in such far-flung places as British Columbia, Japan, Australia and Germany, too.

So what can drivers do to protect themselves from unwanted encounters with these herbivores?

When time is not on your side

Adams says your best shield against a deer collision isn't a fancy gadget but knowledge.

"The first step in helping to minimize hitting one is to be aware of when they are most active," he told CNN Travel in a phone interview. "Two things that play into that. … One is when they're most active daily and then also when they are most active annually."

As for the daily factor, sunrise and sunset should be high-alert times for drivers, Adams said. Why is that?

"Deer are what's known as crepuscular – crepuscular means most active at dawn and dusk," Adams said. "The way their eyes are built, they can do the best job avoiding predators and collecting what they need when they move in low-light situations – that being dusk and that being dawn."

But "that's not our peak vision time. So those two things together – more activity at a time when we can't see as good – really play into increased deer-vehicle collisions at those times," Adams said.

Chad Stewart, a deer, elk and moose management specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, concurs.

"I would say the hour on either side of both sunrise and sunset are the greatest times when a collision can occur," he said in an email interview with CNN Travel. "This is partly due to deer's activity around that time but also because of heavy traffic patterns during those hours."

But collisions can occur anytime around the clock, Adams cautions.

Collisions can also happen any time of year – after all, deer don't hibernate, Adams points out. But two times of year are typically more high risk.

Adams said the first one is spring. That's fawning time, and "deer are way more active around roads," he said.

"When a doe is having her fawn, the does become extremely territorial of those areas. … What happens is deer get spread out a lot more on the landscape, which means that they're more apt to, you know, be near a road."

But autumn is the season most fraught with danger, Adams said, "and the majority of that occurs in November. During that time, deer greatly increase their daily movement patterns," he said, especially the bucks.

Research from State Farm insurance company also highlights November as the most likely month of the year to have a collision with an animal.

Where to be on high alert

As Bonnie Sashin's collision in a Connecticut suburb illustrates, you don't have to be out in wilderness to collide with a deer.

"Typically, suburban areas can hold higher densities of deer, and with more miles driven by vehicles occurring in these areas compared to rural areas, total number of collisions tends to be highest in these areas," Stewart cautioned.

"But with that being said, any place has the potential for a collision. Especially where habitat transitions occur (e.g. forest to field), which are commonly used locations for deer," Stewart said.

Adams said be on extra guard where the woods come out close to the road, where "we have very little opportunity of seeing those deer prior to them being in front of a vehicle."

The suburbs are also a big problem, he said, "because it's extremely difficult to manage deer populations in those areas. We can't go in there in most cases and hunt like we do in more rural areas."

Defensive driving

Once you're better aware of when and where the collision risk is highest, then it's time to put driving strategies into place.

"Basic safe driving principles apply to reduce your chance at a collision. First and foremost, avoid distracted driving," Stewart said. Also, slow down in areas known to have high deer numbers so you can "have better reaction should one jump out in front of your vehicle."

Adams said use your high beams whenever possible in deer territory – but don't blind oncoming traffic.

Do make good use of your car horn, advises the National Deer Association in this YouTube video.

Some other tips from the Michigan State Police:

Deer typically follow one another in single file, so if you see one deer, there are likely more nearby.
Look for the reflection of headlights in a deer's eyes and deer silhouettes on the shoulder of the road.
Scan the roadside while driving, especially around wooded lots, fencerows, field edges and areas near water.

Do. Not. Swerve.

Unfortunately, some drivers despite all their caution are going to be forced into a split-second decision – and must fight a natural impulse – when there's a deer ahead in the road.

"We have a campaign in Michigan called 'Don't veer for deer.' The reason this phrase is used is because while nobody wants to hit a deer, there can be far worse consequences by swerving to avoid a deer and hitting something else, like a telephone pole or another car," Stewart said.

"Sometimes, collisions with deer simply can't be avoided. But the important thing is to not make it worse for you or somebody else by abruptly and erratically leaving your lane," Stewart said.