November 2008

SLOW DOWN FOR THE DEER

If you and your car have ever collided with a deer, you’ll know it’s not a pretty sight.

Apart from the damage to the deer themselves – and if they are not killed outright then a park ranger will usually humanely put them down – they can cause a great deal of damage to your vehicle.

What’s more, road kill – whether it’s deers, badgers or smaller animals - can have a huge impact on British wildlife populations.

As many as 74,000 deer are thought to be hit by cars every year in the UK, the vast majority in England out of a total deer population thought to be up to one million strong.

Several people are killed each year and more than 700 injured as a result of these accidents, either through direct accidents or swerving to avoid deer, especially at this time of year with longer hours of darkness.

But even that shocking statistic does not account for other animals that crawl off the road to suffer and die after being hit by cars and other vehicles.

Breakdown service Autonational Rescue has voiced its support for The Deer Vehicle Collisions project – the first study to centrally collect data on road accidents involving deer.

Says Autonational’s marketing manager Ronan Hart: “We need to know the scale of the problem in the UK’s countryside and on the outskirts of our towns and cities. Previously there was no system for central registration of road accidents involving deer.”

There are thought to be around 200 accidents a day involving deer, and the costs per vehicle, with an average insurance claim costing just £300, could reach as much as £60,000 per day across the UK! That’s up to £21 million pounds a year, even before considering human casualties.

Added Ronan: “What many motorists don’t realise is that deer related traffic accidents very often don’t kill the animal outright – which is bad enough – but they have to be either put down by rangers, vets or RSPCA staff afterwards or they escape to die later of their injuries.

“What’s more, especially at night in winter fog and rain, they are a major safety hazard to road users.”

In the worst case scenario, the deer can, in a high speed collision, come through the front windscreen, hitting the occupants.

Added Ronan: “Hopefully the study will also help to identify measures that can be used to try to reduce deer collisions, such as fencing, underpasses, warning signs and the use of roadside deterrents.”

* Six main species of deer live wild in Britain (Fallow, Roe, Muntjac, Red Deer, Sika and Chinese water deer) with a combined population of between 700,000 and one million head.

In England alone, accident blackspots for deer include:

• Epping Forest, Essex
  
• Cannock Chase, Staffordshire
  
• Dinmore Hill, Herefordshire
  
• Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
  
• The Mendips, Somerset
  
• Halden Hill, Devon
  
• The New Forest in Hampshire
  
• the Southampton to Portsmouth area
  
• Ashridge Woods in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
  
• Thetford Forest, Norfolk.

But, says Dr Jochen Langbein, who is leading the Deer Initiative’s national study, with increasing numbers of deer in suburban areas, there are very few places in England or Scotland unaffected by deer/vehicle collisions.

You can do your bit to help avoid deer: take special note of warning signs, drive with extreme caution and slow down for wildlife especially at night and in severe weather conditions.

High risk times are from sunset to midnight (when it is virtually impossible to see fast running deer on a country road), so after dark always use full beam when there is no opposing traffic.

Your vehicle’s full beam can pick out the eyes of the deer and if one runs across in front of you, watch out, as there are likely to be more around following the leader.

Don’t forget, you are particularly vulnerable when driving close to thick hedges or woodland. And if you are unlucky enough to hit and injure a deer, then call the police who will contact a local woodland or forest ranger to help.

The Deer Initiative is backed by the Highways Agency and you can find out more about the deer collisions project at www.deercollisions.co.uk

Autonational Rescue is the car breakdown service with the no claims bonus, for more information visit www.autonational.co.uk or call 08459 100 345.

Ends

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Issued by: CPR Works Ltd
Contact: Roger Eversley/Jenny Carr
Tel: 01902 680068
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