Every year about this time, Brandt Galloway sees a particular kind of insurance claim pick up.
The agent with Galloway, Chandler, McKinney Insurance says claims from motorists who have collided with deer are about as predictable as the arrival of Thanksgiving.
“We see these claims all the time, but it especially picks up in the fall and winter,” Galloway says. “I’d say, just in this office alone, we’ll get 25 to 30 claims from deer collisions, the majority of them in the fall and winter.”
According to auto insurance giant State Farm, which compiles nationwide data from claims associated with auto-deer collisions, Mississippi is the 10th highest state for these collisions. State Farm estimates the odds of hitting a deer in Mississippi is 1 in 87 because of a large white-tail deer population, estimated at 1.75 million. Mississippi is the only southern state in the top 10 list, with the majority of the list coming from the upper midwest and western plains states.
The odds of hitting a deer in the neighboring states are much lower — 1 in 135 in Alabama and 1 in 300 in Louisiana, primarily because of lower deer populations.
That Mississippi ranks high on the list is no surprise to Criss Turnipseed of Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop G, stationed in Starkville.
Not only do state troopers regularly respond to auto-deer collisions, they are also susceptible to those crashes, too, since troopers routinely are on the road during the peak times for such collisions — dusk through dawn.
“In my 18 years as a highway patrolman, the only crash I’ve ever had was when I hit a deer,” Turnipseed said. “The insurance companies require a report, so we work the majority of them. There are times when we’ll come across a deer that’s been hit on the highway, and no one has reported it, but the majority of the time, we get that call.”
Peak season for auto-deer collisions
Although auto-deer collisions can happen at any time of the year, the majority of them occur in the fall and winter, which can be attributed to two factors, said Chad Dacus, wildlife expert for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
“The first factor is the food supply,” Dacus said. “In the late fall, the food sources in the forests begin to become more scarce, and the deer population is on the move, looking for vegetation. A lot of that vegetation is along highways and roads, which puts the deer in closer proximity to traffic.”
The second factor, he said, is attributed to the mating season.
“They are looking for new food sources, then bucks are looking for mates. When both those factors are in play, typically in late December and January, that’s when you’ll see these kinds of collisions peak.”
Dacus said the Golden Triangle reports higher incidents of auto-deer collisions because of another type of population — people.
“In your area, especially around Starkville where you’ve got a lot of students driving in and out the area, you’re going to see more of these accidents,” Dacus said. “It’s not that there are necessarily more deer in the area. It’s that there are more drivers, and the odds of hitting a deer go up.”
Turnipseed said while the deer population is dispersed throughout the Golden Triangle, he has noticed a particularly high number of deer along Highway 25 from Starkville to Louisville.
“We have searchlights on our vehicle, so we can see more than the average driver,” Turnipseed said. “I’ve counted 200 or more deer between Starkville and Louisville. What a lot of people don’t know is that if you see one or two deer, there are really six or seven more in that same area that you don’t see.”
Both Turnipseed and Dacus agree that avoiding collisions with deer is difficult.
“About all I can say is slow down, focus on your driving,” Turnipseed said. “You have to be aware.”
He said drivers also need to be aware that if a deer is on the side of the road with its head down and eating, it’s not going to move. But deer with their heads up could jump into the road.
Dacus said motorists should also be aware of Deer Crossing signs.
“The highway department puts those signs up for a reason,” Dacus said. “When you see a deer crossing sign, it means that there has been reports of deers in that area. So slow down.”
Dacus offers another bit of advice — if a driver sees that they’re going to hit a deer, hit it, because swerving in an attempt to miss the deer can lead to a far worse collision.
The “Deer in the Headlights” effect
While drivers may attempt to avoid hitting a deer, the deer is highly unlikely to avoid being hit.
That “deer in the headlights” saying has a basis in science.
Why do deer get transfixed by car headlights and just stand there in harm’s way?
David C. Yancy, a deer biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources told the New York Times that deer are crepuscular. Their activity peaks within an hour or so on either side of sunrise or sunset, so their vision is optimized for very low light, he said. When a headlight beam strikes eyes that are fully dilated to capture as much light as possible, deer cannot see at all, and they freeze until their eyes can adjust.
“They don’t know what to do, so they do nothing,” Yancy suggested.
Continuing research at the University of Georgia on whitetail deer vision suggests that, by human standards, deer are legally blind. Research estimated a deer’s vision at 20/200. That means, where a person with normal eyesight can discern an object’s details at 200 yards, deer need to be within just 20 yards away.
Combine those factors with one other, said Turnipseed, and there’s no wonder that auto-deer collisions continue to be a routine occurrence.
“Deer aren’t the smartest animals out there,” Turnipseed said. “Trying to figure out what’s in a deer’s brain, well, good luck with that.”
States with the highest odds of auto-deer collisions
1. West Virginia (1 in 41 odds)
2. Montana (1 in 58)
3. Pennsylvania (1 in 67)
4. Iowa (1 in 68)
5. South Dakota (1 in 70)
6. Wisconsin (1 in 77)
7. Minnesota (1-in 80)
8. (tie) Michigan (1 in 85)
Wyoming (1 in 85)
10. Mississippi (1 in 87)
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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