Mississippians are never very far from a deer when they’re on the road, but during the fall and winter those encounters tend to increase dramatically.
As crops are harvested and the deer’s food sources are reduced, the green grass found alongside our state’s roads becomes more appealing. Additionally, bucks chasing does for reproductive purposes put both in more danger of crossing in front of a moving vehicle without noticing.
Wildlife biologists estimate more than one million deer-vehicle collisions occur every year in the United States, causing nearly $2 billion in property damage and nearly 200 human deaths. Here are a few considerations on how to avoid becoming a statistic:
- Don’t rely on a “deer whistle.” University of Georgia researchers tested a variety of sounds of different frequencies and intensities to see how deer on a roadway reacted. These sounds, emitted from a specially equipped car, included a wide range of the high-frequency sounds that “deer whistles” are claimed to emit. In hundreds of trials, high-frequency whistles did not change deer behavior from the way they reacted when no sound was being emitted.
- Be vigilant. This is your most effective defense against a deer-vehicle collision. In areas where woodlands adjoin the roadway, be on the lookout in the ditches and forest edges for deer. Deer are most active in the hours around dawn and dusk, but during the fall breeding season they may enter roadways any time of day.
- Recognize local danger zones. Become familiar with local areas where woodlands create natural “funnel points” for deer near roadways, and pay extra attention in these areas.
Once you see a deer on a roadside in an area you travel often, mentally mark that area as a danger zone when you return.
- Use your high beams. When traveling at night in suburban or rural areas, use your high beams whenever possible to help you spot deer on the roadside. Do not allow the high beams to cause you to become complacent about seeing deer. Continue to be extra vigilant.
- Slow down early. When you think you see a deer ahead, slow down and be prepared to completely stop if necessary. At night, deer may be blinded or confused by your headlights and are not sure if there is danger or where it is located. They may dart suddenly in front of you.
- Blow your horn. Once you spot a deer standing on the roadside ahead, slow down and blow your horn. The structure of a deer’s ears, and their ability to pivot each ear independently, makes them very good at pinpointing the locations of sounds. Blowing your horn repeatedly is likely to help the deer pinpoint the location of the threat and move away from the road. Again, slow down anyway. Don’t make any assumptions about how the deer will react.
- Watch for the next deer in line. During the rut, a doe that runs across the road is very likely to be followed by one or more bucks. What’s more, does are often followed by young deer and other does as well. If you see one deer run across the road ahead of you, slow down and be prepared to stop for the next one.
- Do not swerve. No matter how vigilant you are, sometimes deer appear suddenly and swiftly from the woods close to your vehicle. If you were cautious and slowed down, this may help you avoid a collision. But if a collision appears unavoidable, do not swerve into the opposite lane or onto the shoulder of the road to avoid hitting the deer. If you reduced your speed, the damage to your car may be lessened. But if you swerve into oncoming traffic or onto the shoulder where other obstacles may be in your path, you may make the situation a lot worse.
Chances are that you and your vehicle will survive crashing into a deer, but swerving to miss the animal could be deadly.
“If you start jerking the wheel to miss the deer, you may hit something a lot worse,” said Sgt. Leslie White of the Mississippi Highway Patrol. “I have worked bad crashes where someone jerked the wheel to miss the deer and instead hit another car.”
Jim Walker of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks agreed.
“If it comes down to your safety, take the animal down,” he said. “It’s not worth running into a bridge, running into another vehicle or tumbling down a steep embankment to miss the deer.”
Falling temperatures brew a perfect storm of factors to heighten deer-vehicle collisions. Short days and holiday travel mean people are driving more at night, when deer are most active and hardest to see.
Frequent winter rains hamper visibility, and the shortage of food by this time of year often compels the animals to roadsides for the grazing often available there.
Perhaps most dangerous of all is the rut – deer mating season – which can be anytime between early December and late January in Northeast Mississippi.
“The bottom line is that the rut makes them lose all sense of time and space,” Lann Wilf, MDWFP wildlife biologist, said. “Bucks have the breeding season on their minds and pay little attention to cars. Does being pursued by multiple bucks may be just as unaware.
“Deer are running around silly during rut.”
MDWFP’s Walker said the proof of the danger is visible behind many a repair shop door.
“I know people that own body shops, and they say they’re busier now than any other time of year,” he said.
Deer-vehicle crashes are so prevalent that several state transportation departments and universities have created an information clearinghouse to share data and solutions.
Iowa created a “Don’t Veer for Deer” public awareness campaign after researchers there found most human injuries and deaths in deer crashes happened when drivers tried to avoid the animals.
While deer provide the greatest danger, wild hogs are a growing phenomenon in Mississippi. But because they shy away from human activity, crashes with them have been rare in the Magnolia State so far, Wilf said.
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