Oliver: Caution: Deer collision season upon us
A deer in my headlights is enough to give me chills this time of year. Some of my scariest driving near-misses have been with deer.
That’s not to say that encountering a deer in the roadway can’t happen the rest of year. But now through December is the peak time for deer-vehicle accidents.
Deer are active when many of us are on the roads, either going to or coming from work.
According to the University of Illinois Extension Service, most collisions with deer happen between 5 and 8 a.m. and 5 and 10 p.m.
You might assume Illinois would be among the top states for deer-vehicle collisions, but it’s not. According to State Farm, West Virginia is No. 1 for states where such collisions are most likely (at 1 in 39), then Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Montana.
Illinois came in somewhere in the middle, at 1 in 228.
Happily, Illinois has had a drop in crashes. In 2008, 24,212 deer-vehicle crashes occurred, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. That was 814 fewer crashes than the year before.
The number of people injured also decreased, from 843 in 2007 to 758 in 2008.
Still, two people were killed in deer-vehicle crashes last year, one of them in Kane County.
In McHenry County, there were 366 crashes. Of those, six resulted in injury.
Lake and Kane counties were in the top 10 Illinois counties for deer-vehicle collisions last year, with 553 and 524 crashes, respectively.
Deer will do what deer will do. Still, we motorists can do a few things to prevent a bad encounter with Bambi.
These suggestions are courtesy of IDOT, State Farm and the Extension Service:
• Be especially cautious at dusk and dawn.
• Reduce speed and be prepared to stop on roads where deer might be present.
• Be aware that deer often cross the roadway and then double back.
• Know that where there’s a single deer near or across the road, there are probably more.
• Keep track of where you’ve seen deer in the past.
• Avoid swerving into oncoming traffic or off the road. Instead, slow to a stop and wait for the deer to move along.
• Try flashing your headlights from bright to dim or honking the horn to encourage deer to move on.
• Alert other motorists to deer by tapping your brakes.
• Do not rely on car-mounted deer whistles.
• Note that deer often use woodlots, fence rows, field edges, or areas near water. Be extra careful when these habitats are near roadways.
So be alert. Scan the sides of the road.
And, hey, let’s be careful out there.
• Joan Oliver is a community editor for the Northwest Herald. She can be reached at 815-526-4552 or by e-mail at joliver@nwherald.com.
