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October 31, 2006
AUTO-DEER COLLISIONS SEEN AS WORSENING TEXAS HAZARD
The increasing number of motorists and deer in Texas are leading to a greater frequency of collisions between the two on the state's roadways, an insurance publication reports. “Texas leads all other states in motorist who have been killed in vehicle-animal collisions. Texas also has the largest deer population in the country. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says the state's abundant wildlife and additional traffic have made Texas the most hazardous state for vehicle-animal crashes every year since 2000,” it reports.
“Last year in Kerr County alone, Texas Department of Transportation employees removed more than 1,500 dead deer off of the county's roadways…the 1,500 deer doesn't reflect all of the vehicle-animal collisions that occurred in 2005” because it “didn't count the number of deer that were struck by vehicles and later died off the roadway or the deer that were killed within the city limits of Kerrville."
The report quotes a police officer’s advice to drivers on how to anticipate and deal with potential deer-vehicle collisions, including this: “If you cannot avoid a head on collision with a deer… hold onto your steering wheel tightly, driving straight forward and riding out whatever happens” because "trying to dodge a deer at a high rate of speed can result in a rollover and I've never seen the damage from hitting a deer as bad as a rollover."
Posted by MVHAP at October 31, 2006 04:46 AM