The Problem
Every year deer-vehicle collisions take a huge toll in lives, money and time.
Last year there were: 1
- An estimated actual 1,500,000 deer-vehicle collisions.
- Over 110 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries.
- Over $1.2 billion in property damage.
- Escalating insurance premiums.
- Increasing carcass removal costs.
- Increasing accident investigation costs.
1. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In a
report published in September, 2009, State Farm indicated that the
deer-vehicle collision frequency across the United States has jumped 18%
in the last five years! To put it another way, one of these
unfortunate encounters occurs every 26 seconds (although they are much
more likely during the last three months of the year and in the early
evening). The average property damage cost of these incidents was
$3,050, up 3.4 percent from a year ago.
The report includes a
U.S. map showing the
percentage increase in each state. For example, California (22%),
Oregon (9%), Washington (19%), Colorado (19%), Nebraska (54%), Iowa
(17%), Minnesota (9%), Illinois (3%), Michigan (14%), New York (28%),
North Carolina (33%), Florida (38%), Alabama (16%), Texas (33%).