Warning as drivers face peak deer season

DEER cause 9,000 collisions on Scotland’s roads every year, figures show.

And more than 65 Scots a year are injured on average in accidents involving vehicles and the animals.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) yesterday warned drivers to slow down due to the ‘high risk’ of deer on roads this month and next. Around 40 per cent of incidents occur on A-class trunk roads or motorways. SNH, with Transport Scotland, will place signs warning ‘High Risk of Deer on the Road’ on trunk roads from Monday until June 11.

The messages will target roads in the Central Belt around Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as Kinross, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.

Most collisions occur in early evening to midnight, with a slightly lower peak from 6am to 9am. Jamie Hammond, SNH deer management officer, said: ‘We must be vigilant this time of year.

‘The risk is higher from dusk through to early morning when deer are more active.

‘If you do hit a deer, report it to the police even if you are uninjured as the deer may be fatally injured and suffering.’

The cost of collisions with deer in Scotland, through injuries and damage to vehicles, has been estimated at £7million a year. Dr Jochen Langbein, a deer collision consultant to SNH, said: ‘Roe deer in particular are spreading into parks and other green spaces close to the centre of cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

‘Late spring is when we often see more deer moving across motorways and other main roads, especially as young roe deer leave the areas in which they were born and look for new territories.’