Deer in the headlights
Cities search for ways to alleviate buck-to-bumper encounters
TOWN & COUNTRY, Mo. — Like a deer in the headlights.
That's how most people react when seeing a deer in their headlights.
The deer always loses, but some take out a motorist in the process.
The results of these confrontations play out every day in places like St. Louis County, where deer have a stronghold in an area surrounded by major thoroughfares.
I ran face-to-face with one myself 20-some odd years ago at Missouri Baptist College, right off the outer road of Highway 40, and was a bit surprised sprawling suburbia hadn't sent them further down the country road.
Last month, when one of my buddies said state police are overloaded with these accidents locally, and when a recent family get-together turned into commiserating over a damaged Volvo after a deer ran across from my old high school and slammed into it, one wonders what's going on?
Auto accidents involving deer total 1.5 million a year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports — and they result in 150 deaths and $1.1 billion in vehicle damage. So what's a town supposed to do when the deer herd overflows its wooded areas and poses dangers on the streets?
Thin the herd, naturally. See Metro buck hunting story.
What not to do? See Town & Country in St. Louis County.
The place is plain lousy with deer. While some residents enjoy seeing the 200-pound reminders of nature on their jaunts about town, others curse deer for eating their hostas or even worse — for wrecking their Hondas.
When the rut gets deer moving, so do law enforcement agencies, which work multiple accidents every day — some resulting in multi-car wrecks with serious injuries.
Jason Klump, who bowhunts in a nearby residential area allowing controlled hunts, said deer on the roadways have become a major issue that needs to be addressed. His friend on a local police force said the accidents keep them busy. "According to this officer," Klump said, "during the primary rut, there are an average of 15 deer-related automobile accidents per day."
An alderman said one of the methods to be considered is a captive bolting program, where deer are trapped and killed with a bolt shot into their brain.
"It is considered the most humane method," William Kuehling told West Newsmagazine. "It's not a nice thing to do, and not something that anybody relishes, but there are no natural predators now to reduce the deer overpopulation."
In the past, the city tried to thin its herd by capture and relocation, which the Missouri Conservation Commission allowed so they could study it. Kuehling said that option also remains open, but it cost the city about $83,000 to transplant 233 deer from 1999-2001.
Yet deer don't take well to trapping and transplanting, as the stress caused many to die agonizing deaths.
Studies show the only proven change in driver habits that reduces deer collisions is using flashing hazards signs where deer normally cross. Drivers slowed about 8 mph on average, and collisions dropped 50 to 70 percent on those stretches of roads.
Another possibility being researched is active alert signs, triggered when deer are in the vicinity of a roadway, but there are still glitches, as small critters also trip the alerts.
Limiting the deer running across roadways is a public safety issue. Cities like Washington, D.C., and New York have asked bowhunters to help thin their herds.
"I strongly encourage Town and Country to consider ethical hunting as a means of reducing herd sizes," Klump said. "There is a range in the severity of these accidents, but I can emphatically state that conservation and ethical hunting are critical to reducing herd sizes — and helping to prevent injury to humans."
No one wants to be faced with deer in their headlights.
Editor's note: We'd like to hear your auto-deer collision stories. Comment in ESPN Conversation below.
