Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011
It's deer season -- on the roads
A million vehicle-deer collisions annually kill 200 people, cost billions in damage
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Washington State Patrol
A deer that crossed over four lanes of I-5 near Olympia hit a woman's windshield before flying over the top of her car and through the back window Tuesday morning.
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Washington State Patrol
A deer that crossed over four lanes of I-5 near Olympia hit a woman's windshield before flying over the top of her car and through the back window Tuesday morning. Each year, there are hundreds of collisions on Washington roads involving deer and other large wildlife.
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Dan Bates / Herald file photo
A deer passes in front of the historic Fort Casey Alumni House and into the wooded hillside.
Bambi might be beautiful, but he has absolutely no sense of right-of-way.
Each year, the state Department of Transportation picks up around 3,500 deer and elk carcasses from Washington's roadways.
On average, 1,200 people are injured and two people die in collisions with wildlife on state roads each year.
The annual toll nationwide can be staggering: more than one million deer-vehicle collisions, 200 driver deaths, thousands of injuries and $3.6 billion in vehicle damage, according to insurance industry studies.
Wildlife experts say no time is more dangerous than now, the stretch between October and December when deer migrate and rush around looking to mate.
"They have reproduction on their mind, and they lose a lot of their natural wariness and they make mistakes they wouldn't ordinarily make," said Capt. Bill Hebner of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife regional office in Mill Creek. "They have no concept of the danger of roads."
Imagine the fear a 55-year-old Thurston County woman felt Tuesday morning as she drove south on I-5 near Lacey.
A deer darted across four northbound lanes of the highway, hurdled a jersey wall and thumped onto the windshield of her 2001 Hyundai. The buck then flipped over the car roof and through the back window, coming to rest inside the vehicle.
"This lady is very, very lucky she wasn't seriously injured," Washington State Patrol trooper Guy Gill said. "It is a three-point buck with large antlers that could have come through the windshield."
The woman was treated at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia for minor injuries caused by shards of shattered glass.
It took two troopers to pull the deer out through the back of the car. Gill estimated the animal weighed about 300 pounds.
In Snohomish County, collisions with deer are most prevalent along county roads and the stretch of I-5 north of the Stillaguamish River to the Skagit County line.
Nevertheless, "they show up everywhere," including urban and suburban areas, Hebner said.
The state Department of Transportation also reports a high rate of deer-vehicle collisions along Highways 20 and 525 on Whidbey Island. The state installs road signs in areas with high numbers of deer-vehicle collisions.
"Drivers need to be really alert," Snohomish County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. "While you're most likely to come across a deer on a rural county road, they can pop up anywhere and surprise you."
Mike Murphy, a retired Mukilteo police chief, spent more than a week at a Seattle hospital and 35 days more in an Everett rehabilitation center after slamming into a deer while he was riding his motorcycle on Highway 530 between Arlington and Darrington. That was July 2010. He now lives with a rod that extends from his ankle halfway up his shin and a plate with nine pins in his shoulder.
"He jumped out maybe just 20 feet in front of me and I was going about 60 (mph)," Murphy said. "I couldn't do anything but hit him square on. I just had enough time to see it before I hit it."
It was Murphy's second accident with a deer.
A few years before, he spotted a deer while riding his motorcycle near Walla Walla in Eastern Washington.
In that instance, he had time to slow down to a near stop and move to the side of the road.
The deer was spooked. It panicked and jumped into Murphy's motorcycle, cracking the windshield and denting the bike.
Murphy's advice is simple: Expect the unexpected.
"The thing is you don't know what they are going to do," Murphy said. "If you see one, assume he is going to do something crazy."
Karl Newman, president of the NW Insurance Council, said insurance companies handle many claims each year after deer accidents.
"It happens more frequently than people think," he said.
Even so, Washington ranks among the least likely states for deer-related accidents, according to a State Farm Insurance study. It calculated the odds of a driver in Washington colliding with a deer over the next year at nearly 1 in 500. That's 44th among the 50 states.
The average claim for a deer-vehicle collision is $3,100 with costs varying depending on the type of car and severity of damage, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an insurance research organization. Damage caused by an accident with deer or other animals is covered under the optional comprehensive portion of an auto insurance policy.
In most areas of the state, carcasses are buried at designated disposal sites. The motorist who hits a deer can't keep any portion.
Sometimes the meat can be salvaged and is given to agencies and organizations that can use it, Hebner said.
A case in point is wildlife rehabilitation centers. It's better for eagles, cougars and bears to eat deer meat than dog food or beef that would habituate them to livestock, Hebner said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
Tips
Washington State Patrol troopers and insurance companies offer several driving tips for avoiding or lessening the impact of collisions with deer and other wildlife:
•Deer often move in groups. If you see one, expect others.
Deer are unpredictable. Just because they are standing along the side of the road doesn't mean they won't dart into traffic.
When driving at night, use high beam headlights when there is no oncoming traffic. The high beams better illuminate the eyes of deer on or near the road.
Be especially attentive from sunset to midnight and during the hours shortly before or after sunrise. They are the highest risk times for deer-vehicle collisions.
Brake firmly when you notice a deer in or near your path, but stay in your lane. Many serious crashes occur when drivers swerve to miss a deer or other animal and veer into traffic or off roadways into trees.
Each year, the state Department of Transportation picks up around 3,500 deer and elk carcasses from Washington's roadways.
On average, 1,200 people are injured and two people die in collisions with wildlife on state roads each year.
The annual toll nationwide can be staggering: more than one million deer-vehicle collisions, 200 driver deaths, thousands of injuries and $3.6 billion in vehicle damage, according to insurance industry studies.
Wildlife experts say no time is more dangerous than now, the stretch between October and December when deer migrate and rush around looking to mate.
"They have reproduction on their mind, and they lose a lot of their natural wariness and they make mistakes they wouldn't ordinarily make," said Capt. Bill Hebner of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife regional office in Mill Creek. "They have no concept of the danger of roads."
Imagine the fear a 55-year-old Thurston County woman felt Tuesday morning as she drove south on I-5 near Lacey.
A deer darted across four northbound lanes of the highway, hurdled a jersey wall and thumped onto the windshield of her 2001 Hyundai. The buck then flipped over the car roof and through the back window, coming to rest inside the vehicle.
"This lady is very, very lucky she wasn't seriously injured," Washington State Patrol trooper Guy Gill said. "It is a three-point buck with large antlers that could have come through the windshield."
The woman was treated at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia for minor injuries caused by shards of shattered glass.
It took two troopers to pull the deer out through the back of the car. Gill estimated the animal weighed about 300 pounds.
In Snohomish County, collisions with deer are most prevalent along county roads and the stretch of I-5 north of the Stillaguamish River to the Skagit County line.
Nevertheless, "they show up everywhere," including urban and suburban areas, Hebner said.
The state Department of Transportation also reports a high rate of deer-vehicle collisions along Highways 20 and 525 on Whidbey Island. The state installs road signs in areas with high numbers of deer-vehicle collisions.
"Drivers need to be really alert," Snohomish County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. "While you're most likely to come across a deer on a rural county road, they can pop up anywhere and surprise you."
Mike Murphy, a retired Mukilteo police chief, spent more than a week at a Seattle hospital and 35 days more in an Everett rehabilitation center after slamming into a deer while he was riding his motorcycle on Highway 530 between Arlington and Darrington. That was July 2010. He now lives with a rod that extends from his ankle halfway up his shin and a plate with nine pins in his shoulder.
"He jumped out maybe just 20 feet in front of me and I was going about 60 (mph)," Murphy said. "I couldn't do anything but hit him square on. I just had enough time to see it before I hit it."
It was Murphy's second accident with a deer.
A few years before, he spotted a deer while riding his motorcycle near Walla Walla in Eastern Washington.
In that instance, he had time to slow down to a near stop and move to the side of the road.
The deer was spooked. It panicked and jumped into Murphy's motorcycle, cracking the windshield and denting the bike.
Murphy's advice is simple: Expect the unexpected.
"The thing is you don't know what they are going to do," Murphy said. "If you see one, assume he is going to do something crazy."
Karl Newman, president of the NW Insurance Council, said insurance companies handle many claims each year after deer accidents.
"It happens more frequently than people think," he said.
Even so, Washington ranks among the least likely states for deer-related accidents, according to a State Farm Insurance study. It calculated the odds of a driver in Washington colliding with a deer over the next year at nearly 1 in 500. That's 44th among the 50 states.
The average claim for a deer-vehicle collision is $3,100 with costs varying depending on the type of car and severity of damage, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an insurance research organization. Damage caused by an accident with deer or other animals is covered under the optional comprehensive portion of an auto insurance policy.
In most areas of the state, carcasses are buried at designated disposal sites. The motorist who hits a deer can't keep any portion.
Sometimes the meat can be salvaged and is given to agencies and organizations that can use it, Hebner said.
A case in point is wildlife rehabilitation centers. It's better for eagles, cougars and bears to eat deer meat than dog food or beef that would habituate them to livestock, Hebner said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
Tips
Washington State Patrol troopers and insurance companies offer several driving tips for avoiding or lessening the impact of collisions with deer and other wildlife:
•Deer often move in groups. If you see one, expect others.
Deer are unpredictable. Just because they are standing along the side of the road doesn't mean they won't dart into traffic.
When driving at night, use high beam headlights when there is no oncoming traffic. The high beams better illuminate the eyes of deer on or near the road.
Be especially attentive from sunset to midnight and during the hours shortly before or after sunrise. They are the highest risk times for deer-vehicle collisions.
Brake firmly when you notice a deer in or near your path, but stay in your lane. Many serious crashes occur when drivers swerve to miss a deer or other animal and veer into traffic or off roadways into trees.
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