Deer collisions

  I have written much about safe driving, especially in winter, when deer congregate in winter feeding areas.

With the bucks rutting and the ladies running from them in the fall, then hunting for food in winter, it can be crazy.
There have been several deaths due to cars hitting deer. Deer weigh between 100 - 300 lbs., they are quite heavy beasts despite their nimbleness.

Able to leap tall cars in a single bound.

My favourite yearling, Tigger, bounces around the yard. He dances, bounds, jumps, leaps. Entertaining and worth his weight in deer feed!

Each detachment keep information about individual detachment collisions. One has to visit the Police Service Board at the local township office to find the information for each Township. But here is an article I read after a press release...

 Vehicle-wildlife collisions up in January
NorthernLife.ca

OPP warn about the hazards of driving at dawn and dusk, but especially between 6 and 9 p.m. Animals are on the move during the fall seasons (Oct., Nov., Dec.). Now they are desperate for food.  The story doesn't always end well for the driver. Seldom ends well for Bambi.

• Use your high beams. 
• Watch for unsafe passing conditions. 
• If you can't avoid hitting the deer, due to an oncoming car, then do better the deer than the car. 
• Look in the ditches, watch for deer in the headlights.

Many have posted information about avoiding deer collisions. Even EMS crews are not immune.
See EverydayEmsTips, for one post on how to avoid them.

storage shed/wood shed

While we have much lower stats in Ontario, our population is 1/10th of that in the US' 300 million...

When you consider the population of the US, the numbers are staggering.

Deer-Vehicle Collision Frequency Jumps 18 Percent in 5 Years

Sandy Smith wrote in 2009... 

Eating bird seed under the feeder

In 35 states there are 7,000 collisions a year. With an increase of cars on the road of 7%, New Jersey and Nebraska have posted the largest increase: 54 percent.  Kansas is next at 41 percent. Deer-vehicle collisions have jumped by 38 percent in Florida, Mississippi and Arkansas, followed by Oklahoma (34%) and West Virginia, North Carolina and Texas (33 %).

Using its claims data, insurer State Farm estimates 2.4 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the United States during the 2-year period between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009 (100,000 per month).  That's 18.3 percent more than 5 years earlier.

Ontario Highways –human and animal collisions in Ontario

backyard buck

Two recent highway new reports involving three events:

Hwy 417 blocked to traffic near Boundary Rd after two accidents Sunday

Ottawa Citizen By Kirstin Endemann November 6, 2011 OTTAWA — Highway 417 eastbound at Boundary ... vehicle accident involving a deer, Ontario Provincial Police reported. Two teens in hospital, and 4 taken in in a previous 3:00 a.m. incident.

Bear slams side of vehicle

spotted her across the road

Brockville Recorder and Times
More common are car-deer collisions, and Bisson said two of those in Grenville County on the weekend also did not cause injuries.

The collisions both happened on Highway 416 on Sunday night, in the northbound lane about four kilometres north of Highway 401. The first was reported at 10 p.m. while the second happened a half hour later.

And another in Muskoka:

Women dies after colliding with moose

SHAWANAGA – A Hamilton woman died last Wednesday night after a collision with a moose.
The accident happened on November 2 at 8:40 p.m. on Highway 69, three kilometers south of Bah Sa Gim Road.The roof was peeled off of her car. The moose found dead 25m away.

From the MTO

I find it interesting: This writer, as a result of a collision, calls for highway measures to be put in place.

"Bambi, Pastoral Symbol of Nature or Destructive Road Hazard by Reg ...

Cornwall Free News

A rate of 1 deer-car collision every 38 minutes and an average cost of $3171"

 
BTW This statistic is misleading. Most incidents occur in late spring and fall.



I'm not sure that fencing is the answer. I found some data on this web page:

The King's Highway: HIGHWAY FAQs
For example, Highway 17 is 2,000 km long. 

Q.	How many miles of highways make up Ontario's provincial highway system?
A.	The Ontario Government presently has 16,500 centre-line kilometers (10,248 miles) of roadway under its control. Until the municipal transfers of 1997-1998, Ontario had about 21,500 kilometers (13,354 miles) of provincial highways.

 

This guy let me take an intimate photo

Moose can weigh up to 600kg, according to Hinterland's Who's Who. For anyone who has driven through Algonquin Park you know that they do not fear you, and are drawn to the ditches. They will stand with front legs on one side of the road-side barrier, rear on the other.

Amazing creatures the moose

Humans are so quick to take over the ecosystem, yet we have to respond to the natural cycle of the seasons. We know they are on the move, especially in November.