Ill. Insurance Officials: Urban Sprawl Fueling Car-deer Crashes

Albert Doyle hit the road early last month for a University of Illinois football game, but he says he wound up sidelined instead when a flash came out of nowhere along a familiar stretch of interstate.
“The first I saw of the deer is when its head was almost to my front fender … It happened so fast that it kind of numbs you,” said Doyle, 75, of Rock Island. He walked away unhurt, but his car was crumpled in the Oct. 7 crash on Interstate 74 east of Galesburg.

Officials say car-deer collisions are on the rise across the nation as more Americans trade congested city living for fast-growing suburbs or rural subdivisions that have invaded the countryside where deer once roamed.

“All of the construction, whether for highways or new households, is pushing the deer out of their wooded areas,” said Melissa Miles, a senior research analyst for State Farm, the nation’s largest car insurer with 40 million policy holders.

State Farm’s claims from car-deer crashes were up 6 percent for the 12 months that ended June 30, rising to nearly 193,000 from about 182,500 the year before, according to a new company report. The increase is the first since the Bloomington-based insurer began tracking car-deer accidents in 2002.

Pennsylvania has topped State Farm’s list every year, followed by Michigan and Illinois, Miles said. Nearly 19,000 Pennsylvania claims were filed in the insurer’s latest report, with about 13,000 in Michigan and just over 12,000 in Illinois.

Officials say no national statistics are compiled on car-deer crashes. But most agree accidents are climbing due to urban sprawl, coupled with fall mating and hunting seasons that historically make October through December the most dangerous time of the year.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit research group funded by insurers, estimates 1.5 million car-deer crashes occur every year in the U.S., causing more than 150 deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage.

In Illinois, which has tracked car-deer crashes since 1989, accidents dropped 8 percent to about 23,700 in 2005. But the state recorded 11 deaths, nearly double the previous high of six. Alarmingly, officials say, eight of those killed were on motorcycles.

Russ Rader, spokesman for the Arlington, Va.-based insurance institute, says motorcycle crashes are increasing overall because more bike are on the road. Nearly 288,000 motorcycles were licensed in Illinois in 2005, up 51 percent from a decade earlier, said secretary of state spokesman Randy Nehrt.

“Motorcycle ridership has increased, especially among baby boomers,” said State Farm’s Miles. “They’ve got more money; they’re riding their Harleys.”

Repair costs from car-deer accidents also are on the rise, with State Farm reporting an average claim of $2,800 in its latest report, up $300 from the year before. Miles attributed the increase to higher repair costs and more expensive cars on the road.

Officials say car-deer accidents can occur almost anywhere, and urban areas aren’t immune. Cook County topped Illinois with nearly 1,000 crashes in 2005, almost double the 572 recorded in rural Pike County, highly regarded by hunters for its share of the state’s estimated 800,000 deer.

Collisions are often nearly impossible to avoid as deer dart onto roadways in the dim light of dawn or dusk, leaving motorists almost no time to react, officials say.

But they say drivers can trim the odds by slowing down and watching roadsides in areas with posted deer crossings, or around woods and streams where deer feed.

“The main thing is slow down,” Rader said. “Sometimes, it’s almost impossible to avoid a crash, but by slowing down you reduce the risk that you will be injured. And absolutely wear a seat belt. And if you’re on a motorcycle, definitely wear a helmet.”

Transportation officials estimate that about 12,000 deer died in accidents in Illinois last year, compared with about 190,000 harvested during the hunting season.

Tom Micetich, deer project manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, says he hopes hunters have even better luck this year, thinning a herd that eats into farmers’ income by nibbling on crops, along with the dangers they pose on highways.

“Farming and driving are both pretty important in Illinois,” Micetich said.