End of daylight saving time spells deer danger

It’s the time of year when cars hit deer and, sometimes, deer hit cars.

The spike in collisions generally occurs in October, November and December. That’s when the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, is mating, and it’s when many of the various deer hunting seasons occur. But the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said the spike is less the result of hunting than of the seasonal time change.

“It isn’t hunting,” department spokeswoman Julia Dixon said. “It’s really the breeding season, which is when we hunt them.”

She said deer are most active at dawn and dusk, and the shift away from daylight saving time puts more residents on the road in the dark, with the deer. The time of highest deer activity is 6 to 9 p.m., according to State Farm.

But Brent Hall, manager at Hall’s Auto Body Inc., a repair shop in Albemarle County that sees hundreds of cars wrecked by deer each year, said the start of rifle season for deer will definitely kick start the wrecks.

Bow and muzzleloader seasons for deer have already begun, but the season for hunters using modern rifles begins Saturday across much of the state.

“When that happens it will boom, because it gets the deer moving,” he said.

Hall said it’s too soon to say how many accidents this year will bring, but the general trend is upward.

Indeed, State Farm estimates that this year one of every 102 drivers in Virginia will be involved in a collision with deer.

The insurer calculates the average cost of repairing a deer collision, nationally, at $3,103, spokeswoman Kate Clapper said.

The average deer collision repair bill at Hall’s was about $2,400, he said, though he emphasized that it could vary greatly, particularly depending on the driver’s speed when he or she hit the deer.

The collisions often put out lights and radiators, and the deer sometimes swing around and damage side panels and doors as well, he said.

“They can tear up a car big time, and they don’t carry insurance,” said Lou Hatter, Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman.

Hall said that one common motorist fear — a deer through the windshield — is less common than many people think. While his shop will see the results of hundreds of collisions each year, they’ll only see about one windshield each year that a deer has actually pierced.

The penetration typically happens only when deer have managed to leap directly into the windshield, rather than hitting some other part of the vehicle first, he said.

Experts of all stripes added that motorists are generally better off to brake when they see a deer than to swerve. Very few people are seriously hurt in collisions with deer, but collisions with the trees that line roadways tend to be much more serious, they said.

In general, caution and awareness are the best way to avoid such wrecks, experts said.

“It really behooves people to keep their eyes open and their speeds down,” Hatter said.

Hatter recommends people use their high beams when possible, because they really pick up the shining eyes of deer. And people should be looking not just at the travel lanes but also at the road’s edges and back from them a little ways, he said.

According to State Farm, drivers shouldn’t rely on deer whistles, devices that are supposed to prevent accidents by alerting deer to the presence of cars.

Drivers should also pay attention to deer-crossing signs, which highlight areas of special danger, experts advise. Experts also recommend that motorists remember that deer move in herds, so if they see one deer, there are likely others around, possibly getting ready to cross the road.

Dixon said that sometimes people think they’ve gotten past a deer only to have it leap into the side of their vehicle.

“Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do,” she said.

When that happens, motorists who have slowed down are at least safer, she said.

If someone wants to take a deer carcass home to eat, they should contact their local police department or sheriff’s office to ask permission, Dixon said.

In Albemarle County, deer that aren’t claimed are generally cleared by a contractor, unless they’re an urgent hazard, in which case VDOT employees are sent to clear the remains, Hatter said.

In general, they’re taken to a landfill, but the state has two programs that are examining composting the bodies, Hatter said.