A recent report on deer-car collisions authored by State Farm insurance company might profitably include a bit of prefatory data relating to Ohio to give its results a truly meaningful measurement for the state.
First, and according to outdoorchannel.com (a television provider catering to sportsmen), deer hunting has an estimated $1 billion annual economic impact on the state. Although that amount might strike some people as surprising, it is perhaps rendered a bit more understandable by noting the estimated 750,000 deer that roam Ohio’s woods and valleys.
That is a comparatively large number when compared with the population of deer in other states, and it raises one quick and apparent concern: car accidents involving deer.
There is, unfortunately, no scarcity of those. State Farm’s annual report ranks Ohio 16th among all states for deer-vehicle collisions. In a recent one-year measuring period, there were an estimated 67,699 such accidents.
That staggeringly high number of car crashes should get most reasonable drivers to pay immediate and close attention to warnings that they should be especially alert right now to deer on state roadways, given that November is mating season. Deer are out and about in large numbers and particularly active around dusk and for a couple hours afterwards each day, when drivers are out in force during rush hour.
That can spell a dangerous and even fatal recipe for non-observant motorists.
And, thus, State Farm’s prescription: Do not be one of those drivers. Deer-car accidents occur at a rate three times higher on November days than they do during other months. Careful drivers will be noting that fact and on the lookout for deer, which tend to wander in small groups.
Source: Fox News, “Doe! Deer-collisions and repair costs on the rise,” Mark Chalon Smith, Oct. 30, 2012