September 29. 2005 5:58PM
UNC study shows N.C. car crashes involving deer topped 15,500
The Associated Press
Motor vehicle crashes involving deer hit a new level in North Carolina last year with 15,509 accidents, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study released Thursday.
As in 2003, about 6.7 percent of all reportable crashes involved a motor vehicle and a deer in some fashion, said Highway Safety Research Center senior database analyst Eric Rodgman, who headed the study. Car-deer crashes have risen from about 4 percent of the total in 1994.
Nine of the 2004 crashes were fatal to motorists, the study found.
The crashes were counted by the study if investigating law enforcement officers used the word `deer" in the narrative portion of reports submitted to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Rodgman said. The true number of deer-car crashes are likely to be many more than the number reported, the study said.
Almost 93 percent of collisions involving animals were with deer, he said. The rest tended to be dogs, cats or farm animals.
Deer crashes occur most frequently in October, November and December and are more likely to happen from 5-7 a.m. and between 6 p.m. and midnight, Rodgman said.
The likelihood of a crash involving deer is higher in the east than the Piedmont or mountains, he said.
Wake County had the most deer accidents with 900 - which was nearly double the number in Duplin and Guilford, the next leading counties. No deer-related auto accidents were reported in Jackson County in 2004.