[Takemrarely]

The 10 states where you face the greatest risk of crashing into a deer
Pennsylvania, the 6th-largest state by population, had more than 3,600 auto accidents involving deer in 2015, according to the state's Department of Transportation. A half-dozen people were killed in those crashes. State Farm says a motorist's likelihood of hitting a deer in the Keystone State has gone up 4.5% since last year.

 

[TrashPanda]

Pennsylvania, the 6th-largest state by population, had more than 3,600 auto accidents involving deer in 2015,

That number seems very low to me. I remember when the PGC used to track and publish those figures and it was always over 60,000 incidents. I looked it up on Wikipedia and the latest figures available (2013) put the number at over 100,000 deer-vehicle collisions.

 

[JasonN]

I recall seeing some stats about this years ago broken down by county. The collisions per capita were highest in Potter county, but the actual highs by number were around Philly and Pittsburgh areas.

 

[fall gobbler]

It would be interesting to see a comparison of miles of roads, and miles driven by residents between states.

I live in the country but there are roads everywhere and plenty of traffic on those roads. I've often thought, how could ANY deer make it through?

 

[bassnleo]

PennDot's numbers are primarily ones that are deemed to be "Reportable" which means someone suffered injury or a vehicle sustained disabling damage and required towing. They would not include 'NON-reportable" car vs. deer crashes nor would they include the thousands that aren't reported to the police, and I assure you there are thousands every year that aren't.

 

[JasonN]

PennDot's numbers are primarily ones that are deemed to be "Reportable" which means someone suffered injury or a vehicle sustained disabling damage and required towing. They would not include 'NON-reportable" car vs. deer crashes nor would they include the thousands that aren't reported to the police, and I assure you there are thousands every year that aren't.

Sure, I've personally hit deer (and had deer hit me) that caused no damage to my vehicle and didn't kill the deer (or at least at that moment at minimum). What is there to report in those cases? Kind of like reporting a bug splattering on the windshield, right?

 

[btbowhunter56]

Havent seen the PGC publish a report on roadkills seperately in a very long time but when they did, the numbers were in the middle 20 thousands. I remember that my home county of Westmoreland held the top spot for quite a number of years

 

[R. S. B.]

The Game Commission no longer reports highway killed deer because they don't remove them from the state or interstate highways anymore. They will, at least sometimes, still remove them if they are on a township road or off the highway in someone's yard.

PennDOT has always received federal funding to remove highway killed animals and they will pick up some dead deer but I am not sure if they keep much of an auditing or reporting system on them.

I too highly suspect that the numbers showing up now are only for reportable accidents and that wouldn't even scratch the surface of the true numbers of deer hit and/or killed on our highways.

I know I am seeing more highway kills this year and a lot of them over the past month.

Dick Bodenhorn

 

[dce]

I own an insurance agency and track deer claims.The 3rd week of oct a switch flips and I'll go from having a few over a several month period to 2-5 every day til the end of Nov.They started picking up this week.I had two people hit deer and the cars were still driveable until they hit another one the next day lol.Another thing that impacts deer collisions in this part of the state is the mast crop.When we have a good mast crop,I'll have noticeably less deer claims because the deer spend more time back in the mountains.When the mast crop is poor,the deer are in the fields more and spend more time crossing roads.

 

[Boatman]

If penndot would stop dumping 30,000 tons of salt on the roads every storm it would stop baiting the deer to our vast highway system mineral site. You will see more deer driving to camp then a week of hunting the woods at camp.

 

[Curly Maple]

When you can drive at the speed limit anywhere in Pa and be the slowest on the road......

 

[triggercreep]

NC probably isn't high on the list. Here in western NC I've only seen one roadkilled deer in the last year. Maybe the eastern half makes up for the rest of it though.

 

[yellodog]

They put those deer crossing signs in the dumbest places. If those designated crossings had crossbucks like rr crossings i'm sure less deer would be killed there. How about crossing guards or specific hours, like in school zones? If we expect the deer to use these crossings, shouldn't we at least make it safe?

 

[oaktowntom]

Nowhere in the United States do more vehicles collide with whitetail deer than in Pennsylvania.

In fact, 10 percent of all deer collisions that State Farm insurance processes in the entire U.S. come from Pennsylvania.

State Farm reported 126,275 collisions in the state from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015. And those are just the accidents drivers reported. Minor collisions not covered by insurance were likely not reported.