November is dead in the middle of the deer-vehicle crash season.
And although it's hard for my friends to believe, because of the number who have crashed or nearly crashed into deer this year, but Michigan has dropped 23 percent in the number of deer-crash claims, according to statistics from insurance company State Farm. That is the largest decline among U.S. states, according to State Farm.
In fact, this was the third consecutive year in which the statistics dropped.
It was about three years ago, in May, when a friend of mine was killed by a deer in a freak accident. He was driving south in a Honda Civic when a deer was hit by a northbound vehicle. The deer flew up into the air and crashed through his windshield, causing him to drive off the road into a ditch. He was the one person I would least have expected to die in a car crash.
So I looked into this a little more, and found some interesting facts. For instance, 18 percent of fatal deer crashes in Michigan last year occurred during daylight hours, according to the Office of Highway Safety Planning.
Michigan is the state with the fifth highest crash likelihood — 1 in 90 chance of striking a deer in the next 12 months — after West Virginia (1 in 53), Iowa ( 1 in 77), South Dakota (1 in 81) and Pennsylvania (1 in 86), according to State Farm.
In 2010, eight out of the 11 people killed in deer crashes were on motorcycles. Here is a map of Michigan with crash statistics by county for 2010.
This video showed me just how stupid deer can be about walking onto the road.
My friend's death reinforced my belief that sometimes when it's your time to go, it's just your time. But I still don't want to temp fate and wind up with a disabling injury that could have been avoided.
Avoiding deer-vehicle collisions
Here are tips on how to reduce the odds of a deer-vehicle collision involving your vehicle becoming part of the story we tell next year:
- Be aware of posted deer crossing signs. These are placed in active deer crossing areas.
- Remember that deer are most active between 6 and 9 p.m.
- Use high beam headlamps as much as possible at night to illuminate the areas from which deer will enter roadways.
- Keep in mind that deer generally travel in herds – if you see one, there is a strong possibility others are nearby.
- Do not rely on car-mounted deer whistles.
- If a deer collision seems inevitable, attempting to swerve out of the way could cause you to lose control of your vehicle or place you in the path of an oncoming vehicle.
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I seem to recall from taking the young driver's 'co-pilot' driver traing course (when my youngest son was learning to drive)our instructor mentioned there had only been one fatality caused by a deer in Ontario. That fatality occurred when the deer was hit by an oncoming vehicle became air born and went through the windshield of a car, killing the passenger. The rest of the fatalities have been because the driver swerved to miss the deer and generally met a stationary object, most likely rock or tree. His advice, when driving a car, attempt to break but don't swerve.
ReplyDeleteOn a bike be doubly aware, avoid driving at dusk when deer are on the move. I do have a friend who survived a motorcycle/deer encounter but he had over 45 years experience, much of it as a professional rider. His bike required a lot of duct tape when he got here, but he was, luckily, unscathed.
Deer are thick around here at this time of year.