Driving Safety Tips for Deer Season

The upcoming deer hunting season is an exciting time for hunters, but it can be frightening for Virginia drivers. A recent study found that from July 2008 to June 2009, more than 48,000 automobile collisions were the result of deer. In fact, there is a 1 in 137 chance that you will be involved in a collision with a deer. That is a 28% increase in the past five years.

There are precautions you can take to reduce your risk of hitting a deer, especially during their mating season this fall. Jimmy Maass, safety manager at Farm Bureau, says first and foremost to slow down and focus on driving and your surroundings.

“We always speak of distracted driving as it relates to other cars and hazards on the road,” he says, “however during these fall months deer will come seemingly out of nowhere and be in the middle of the road. We need to keep our attention focused on the road, not the cell phone or radio.”

Other ways you can avoid an accident:

• Be observant and alert. Deer are creatures of habit and may often use the same path again, so remember where you see them. Deer are most active at dusk and in the first few hours after dark. Use your car’s high beams when they don’t interfere with oncoming traffic.
• Use your horn to scare deer out of the road, but remain ready—deer will sometimes run directly into the path of traffic. Don’t swerve your car to avoid the deer, as you can lose control and injure yourself and your passengers. Slow down and apply your brakes, and know that a collision is sometimes unavoidable. Attempting to evade the deer may only make matters worse.
• Pay heed to deer crossing signs. They are put in places where deer/car collisions have occurred in the past. Hood-mounted deer whistles and other such devices have not been conclusively proven to work. Also, deer travel in herds. If you see one, there are likely others nearby.
• If you hit a deer, do NOT try to move it out of the road. Contact police or animal control.