Deer vs. Car: A Common Game Everyone Loses

Everyone who drives eventually goes through it.

You're driving down a peaceful Alabama country road and you see the animal leap into view, its white tail standing high and straight as it darts toward the highway in a series of graceful bounds. Your grip tightens on the steering wheel and your foot instinctively goes to the brakes. Your heart begins to pound in your chest.

If you're lucky, you avoid the deer, but, according to State Farm Insurance's 2016 deer collision statistics, one in every 145 drivers in Alabama didn't.

In fact, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) estimates that 1.5 million drivers collide with a deer each year in the United States, causing an annual estimated $1 billion in vehicle damage. In addition the IIHS says 186 people died in collisions with deer in 2015, the latest year for which statistics are available.

And according to Brad Price, owner of Price Paint and Body in Wetumpka, Millbrook and Tallassee, November is just the beginning of the time of year when cars collide with deer most frequently.

"Specifically, we'll really see a spike after our first big frost," Price said. "That kills all the brows, kills all the greenery and the deer have to travel farther to fill their bellies. In January and February, during the rut, the mating season, they're running all over the place."

Price said he does repairs ranging from $200 for a simple bumper job to approximately $7,000 should that accident cause the vehicle's airbags to deploy.

"For deer wrecks, $2,500 is probably a good estimate of the average repair," Price said. "Generally speaking, with deer wrecks the airbags won't deploy, but if they do, you not only have to replace the airbag, but the seat-belt pretensioner, the airbags' computer module and any impact sensor on the vehicle. You're looking at in the neighborhood of $7,000."

The potential for hitting a deer alone is reason enough to have more than the simple liability coverage required by Alabama law on your vehicle. State Farm's Ken Owens says that while deer collisions spike in fall and winter, they occur year-round.

"We always process a lot of claims of people hitting them in the fall when the deer start moving," said Ken Owen, a State Farm insurance agent in Wetumpka. "I just did a claim for someone who had hit a deer for $3,200. We see the most in the fall and winter during the rut. That's when the numbers go up.

"Still, we see deer claims all the time throughout the year. I probably average about one deer-related claim a week year-round."

Experts with the IIHS say there are a few ways to improve your odds of avoiding a crash with a deer. Those include:

* Slow down and be wary of deer crossing the roadway especially around dawn and between sunset and midnight, when deer are most active.

* Stay aware. Look out for deer-crossing signs and wooded areas where deer are likely to travel. And if you regularly travel the same routes, you might find deer consistently grazing in the same fields. Make mental notes of when and where you regularly see them.

* Stay alert. If you see a deer near the road, slow down and, at night when traffic permits, use your high-beam headlights to increase visibility.

* Brake, but don't swerve. Swerving to avoid an animal can put you at risk of hitting another vehicle or losing control of your car and confuse the deer as to which way to go. Instead, slow down as quickly and safely as you can. Your odds of surviving an accident are better when hitting an animal rather than hitting another vehicle.

* Assume the deer you see has friends. "Where there's one, there's usually more" is often the case since deer travel in groups. So if you see one run across the road, expect more to follow.

* Buckle up. A seat belt is your best defense for minimizing your risk in a crash. A past IIHS study found that 60 percent of the people killed in animal-vehicle collisions weren't wearing seat belts.

"The best ways to reduce your personal risk in a collision with a deer are common-sense things," said Russ Rader, senior vice president for communications with the IIHS. "Things like always wearing a seat belt and, if you're a motorcyclist, always wear a helmet. That's because your greatest risk is usually from something secondary to the actual collision – losing control of your vehicle and hitting another vehicle or running off the road and overturning or, if you're on a motorcycle, laying your bike down in the roadway."