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It's not just a case of deer misses on Britain's roads

It’s believed that anything up to 50,000 deer are killed annually on Britain’s roads.

And that doesn’t include injuries and near misses.

But no one can be certain – because official figures simply aren’t kept in the UK.

Then there are the inevitable number of human deaths and injuries as a direct result of fallow and muntjac – deer collisions.

Breakdown service Autonational Rescue is today calling for a permanent national register to be established to record deer collisions, similar to those already kept in other European countries such as Germany.

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.

“At present there is no system for central registration of road accidents involving deer or other wildlife come to that.”
But a recent survey by the Highways Agency estimated, that the toll of deer killed annually in traffic collisions in the UK is likely to lie between 30,000 and 50,000.

That means there are probably around 100 accidents a day and the costs per vehicle – even with an average claim costing just £300 – runs up a national bill of more than £10 million worth of vehicle damage a year.

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 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 and lead to expensive damage to cars and human injuries and even deaths.”

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

Thankfully, some progress towards keeping a register for the first time is being made.

Various bodies, including the Highways Agency and Scottish Executive, are just coming to the end of two years of funded research towards developing a nationwide system for recording deer-related road accidents in England, Scotland and Wales.

It will help to identify real numbers of incidents for the first time as well as report back on the geographical distribution of the problem and identify accident black spots.

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

Sometimes wildlife reflectors, which mimic wolves eyes, can be used as well as audible and even chemical repellents to help keep deer off the roads.

But you can do your bit as well 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. 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.

You can find out more about the deer collisions project at www.deercollisions.co.uk

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For more information about Autonational Rescue, the car breakdown service with the no claims bonus, call 07000 999 911

Issued by CPR Works
Tel: 01902 680068
Contact: Jenny Carr/Roger Eversley
E-mail:jenny@cpr.co.uk
Web: www.cpr.co.uk

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