A collision with a love-sick deer will cost drivers more money to fix, providing another reason for drivers to be wary as deer mating season starts.<\/p>\n
That can result in a costly crash that AAA Northeast says now is 9 percent more expensive to repair than in 2024, due to complex collision avoidance technology.<\/p>\n
Statistics vary about car and deer collisions, since some go unreported if the damage is minor and the deer runs off. While AAA reports a slight decrease in those crashes, state Department of Transportation officials said they picked up more dead deer over the past four years. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere tend to be more deer that are hit in the fall and late spring because of their increased activity at those times of year,\u201d said Steve Schapiro, a state DOT spokesperson.<\/p>\n
The problem is deer mating season which starts in October and lasts through December. That danger is compounded when Daylight Saving Time ends on Nov. 2 and more people will be driving in the dark. <\/p>\n
\u201cDeer can be spotted near roadways any time of the year, but drivers should be especially vigilant in the fall, and especially during times of darkness,\u201d said Tracy Noble, a AAA Club Alliance spokesperson in statement. \u201cDeer can be unpredictable, so even the best drivers are at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deer and other animals are active during the same hours as commuters, <\/b>roughly from 5 to 8 a.m. and 5 to 8 p.m., she said. <\/p>\n
Over the past four years, the DOT has steadily picked up more dead deer from state highways with 5,849 carcasses collected in fiscal year 2024 which started July 1, 2023, and ended on June 30, 2024. <\/p>\n
That was an increase from the 5,467 dead deer the state collected in fiscal year 2023, Schapiro said. Those numbers don\u2019t include deer killed on toll highways, county and town roads, he said.<\/p>\n
AAA data shows more collisions occurred than the DOT pick-up numbers reflect, with 8,925 collisions reported in 2024. Those numbers also include incidents where a driver took evasive action, missed the animal, but lost control and crashed. <\/p>\n
In 2023, 9,940 animal and vehicle crashes were reported. The highest number so far in this decade was 10,212 collisions reported in 2020, AAA reported. <\/p>\n
For drivers, the more damaging statistic is the higher insurance claim to repair their vehicle, which AAA\u2019s Insurance Agency said was $7,347 in New Jersey last year, a 9.5% increase over 2023. <\/p>\n
The reason is due to sensors and cameras mounted on the vehicle front end, windshield and mirrors for collision avoidance and lane departure technology. <\/p>\n
If a driver lacks comprehensive insurance coverage, that is a repair they will pay for out of pocket. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe cost of repairs may put a serious dent in your wallet if you don\u2019t have adequate auto insurance coverage,\u201d Noble said.<\/p>\n
Deer weight can range from 80 to 160 pounds. <\/p>\n
In the worst case, sometimes a crash with an animal can be more severe. Two people suffered minor injuries when their pickup truck hit a bear <\/a>that wandered onto Interstate 80 in Roxbury on Monday night.<\/p>\n AAA\u2019s tips to avoid deer collisions include using high beam headlights at night, if there is no approaching traffic, watch the side of the road for deer and to expect other deer to follow, if one crosses in your path, AAA said.<\/p>\n Tactics to avoid a crash include blowing the horn for one long period to frighten them from crossing the road and not to swerve out of lane. A fast lane change can put a driver in the path of ongoing traffic or cause them to lose control and hit a tree or other object on the road side, AAA said. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A collision with a love-sick deer will cost drivers more money to fix, providing another reason for drivers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":332790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[12540,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-332789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-processedbyclaro","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115437962719859744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}