Tulsa World (OK) October
30, 2018
Fall is in the air, and so is love - a kind of love that
can be oh so costly, especially if you own a newer-model car.
Vehicle-deer collisions will become more common in weeks
to come, according to AAA Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
Conservation - with a robust white-tailed deer population in Oklahoma, cooler
weather that sends deer searching for more food sources and the mating season
just around the corner.
Tim Wolf, owner and president of Floyd and Son's Body Shop
in Tulsa, has a lifetime of experience in the deer woods. He said he sees
vehicles damaged by collisions with deer - and feral swine - all year long, but
odds of collision increase in November. On the way to a deer hunt last weekend,
his party counted five deer on the side of the road in one 30-mile stretch.
"It's just starting to pick up now," he said.
"I think we'll start seeing more and more of them now. The Wildlife
Department has done a good job conserving our deer populations."
Hunters observing deer in the field now are reporting some
early chasing of does and other behaviors that indicate the mating season is
heating up. That sort of movement, and distraction, will only increase through
the month.
"Deer are on the move now seeking new food sources,
which often require them to travel further distances during the fall and
winter. Typically, the greatest number of deer-vehicle crashes occur in
mid-November when the rut, or mating season, peaks," said Colin Berg,
information education supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife.
According to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, 186
vehicle crashes reported in 2017 were deer-related. That is, crashes in which a
deer and vehicle actually collided or the presence of a deer was a contributing
circumstance.
"In addition to injuries and loss of life, deer
collisions often cause significant vehicle damage that can lead to large
expenses for the vehicle owner if not properly insured," said Mark Madeja,
public and government affairs senior specialist for AAA Oklahoma. "Of the
animal strikes reported by AAA Insurance policy holders in 2017, the average
cost per claim was more than $4,500."
Wolf said costs of vehicle repairs are only rising with
new technology that is installed in front and rear bumpers, side mirrors,
around headlamps, and on windshields. A $2,000 repair is almost a bare minimum.
"One of the newer trucks on a turnpike hitting a
deer, it's going to be $10,000 easy," he said. "You're talking about
some pretty expensive venison."
AAA Newsroom reported last week its testing has shown that
although vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems improve safety, the
costs for vehicle damage may inevitably increase.
Repair for minor front or rear collisions on such cars can
cost nearly 2.5 times that of a car without those systems, AAA reported. The
company urged consumers to perform an insurance policy review and consider the
potential added costs.
Added costs for something like front radar sensors used
with emergency braking and adaptive cruise control systems are about
$900-$1,300. Rear radar sensors used with blind-spot monitoring and rear
cross-traffic alert systems can run $850 to $2,050 in additional costs. Other
items included $1,300 to $1,650 added to windshield replacement or $500 to
$1,100 for side mirrors.
A bit of good news for Oklahoma drivers is the odds a
driver will hit a deer here still ranks in the middle compared to other states,
and those odds decreased just slightly this season, according to State Farm
Insurance's annual survey.
State Farm estimated that animal collisions nationwide
dropped slightly to 1.33 million between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018 -
compared with 1.34 million in 2017 - and adjusted the odds that a driver might
hit a deer accordingly.
Average risk across the nation is 1 in 167. The company
put Oklahoma's risk at 1 in 165. For the 12th consecutive year West Virginia
posted the highest odds, at 1 in 46, and Hawaii, which always is the lowest, at
1 in 6,379.
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