Hmm....
* "more than 1.5 million car crashes in the United States that involve deer or large animals". Over what time interval? Looks to me like they are using a many year interval (perhaps all such accidents on record). Doug
“According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration there are about 1.5 million car accidents with deer each year that result in $1 billion in vehicle damage, about 150 human fatalities, and over 10,000 personal injuries.”
On the strictly practical side of things - If you hit a deer with your car, the damage from the deer and any subsequent damage is considered a 'Comprehensive' coverage claim and like like vandalism or a tree falling on the parked car, the company considers it a 'non chargeable' accident, meaning no surcharge on your insurance premium.
Swerve to miss the deer (or moose) and roll the car, land in a ditch, or hit a tree, and it's considered a collision claim, and a chargeable accident by most insurance companies.
There may be another reason to understand your vehicle’s insurance coverage:
“Thousands of the 1.5 million drivers who hit deer last year found out the hard way that their auto insurance did not cover damage to their vehicle. Only comprehensive insurance pays up in such crashes. "Many people are not aware that the collision coverage under an automobile insurance policy does not cover you if you hit a deer," says Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance Jorge Gomez.
Nationally, 36 million auto owners don't have comprehensive insurance, says the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Many drivers drop comprehensive coverage because they decide their vehicles are too old or worth too little to justify the cost.”
Pennsylvania is the 'worst' state in the country when it comes to car accidents involving deer. Having grown up in upstate rural Pennsylvania I saw the results of plenty of deer strikes, many of them on rural back roads (some dirt roads) and speed had little to nothing to do with the accidents. Deer are very quick, they don't look both ways before they cross and they do not react logically (or consistently) to external stimuli.
Interstate 88 in upstate NY is another popular killing ground for deer. I have driven that 117 mile stretch of road over 200 times and I have always seen at least one deer carcass along the roadside on each trip and have many times seen so many that I stopped counting. I have actually seen two deer strikes on that road and both were unavoidable; the deer bounding up and out of a gulley or patch of trees/scrub along the roadside into the path of a vehicle. I have had three near misses; one where I saw a deer along the roadside and slowed down enough so that two other deer could cross the road just ahead of me, a second time at night where two deer stood calmly in the left lane as I sped by, and a third time, again at night, where I spotted deer eyes along the roadside and by the time my eyes got back to the road in front of me there were two deer slowly walking across the road toward the other pair of eyes. Luckily I had taken my foot off the gas pedal and was slowing down but I had no time to hit the brakes or stop. I drove between the two deer and my wife said I missed the lead deer by inches and I didn’t miss the second deer by much more. It was very unnerving and I have not travelled on that highway after sunset since then (about 15 years ago).
It was not superb driving skills or keen awareness that kept me from hitting those deer. It was dumb luck and fortuitous circumstances. If you drive long enough in real deer country (particularly at night) you’ll hit a deer sooner or later. Or you will have close calls like I have had. Quite honestly, I don’t consider NH deer country. I’ve seen more moose and bear on the trails and roads of NH than I have deer. Heck, I saw more deer in my back yard in Chelmsford last weekend than I’ve seen in 30+ years of living and hiking in NH.
JohnL
