Do Not Make Sudden Moves to Miss A Deer

What are your first instincts when seeing a deer or any kind of animal on the road? More than likely it is to make every attempt to avoid hitting it by swerving left or right to be able to go around.

What you should not do is make sudden, erratic maneuvers. Do not go into other lanes or panic if a deer is in front of you. Slow down as quickly and safely as you can and if you must make contact with the deer that is what you have to do. By jerking the steering wheel or making a panic move you could lose control of your vehicle and end up jackknifing, going off the shoulder and overturning, or getting into other traffic. The damage that occurs to the front end of the truck will be less than the damage that could result from going head on into other traffic or rolling over. Beside the fact that you can cause yourself greater damage by trying to avoid the deer you can involve others either by, as mentioned, going head on into another vehicle or sideswiping others. If you were to rollover other vehicles could drive into your overturned trailer.

If you hit a deer, and you have avoided having a crash other than your contact with the deer, be very careful when approaching it; if it is still alive it could start kicking and very possibly hurt you. If you hit a deer call 911 and report it to authorities.

The stats on deer hits are astounding. 1.5 million Deer related accidents are estimated to occur in the United States each year, according to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. These accidents result in over $1 billion of vehicle damage.

There are certain times when you must be more aware of the increased danger of deer; whenever you are traveling through heavily wooded areas, at dawn and dusk, mating season which is in the fall, hunting season which will make deer run. Ohio is one of the leading states in the number of annual deer related crashes – other states among the top in this unwanted category are IL, IN, MI, PA, GA, and the Carolinas.

Also remember that deer do their traveling in packs, there may be 3 or 4 running together; so always be ready when you see one to see more.