DRIVERS BEWARE
Every day, a car hits a deer in Wisconsin. This week is among the most dangerous.
Motorists beware. This week is among the most dangerous times of the year for folks traveling Wisconsin’s roads and highways as white-tailed deer, consumed with their annual mating season, increasingly run into traffic.
In 2017, Nov. 8 was the peak day for vehicle vs. deer crashes, with 213 across the state, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis of Wisconsin Department of Transportation data. The year before, the peak was Nov. 10.
While the number of crashes peaks this time of year, no day is safe: For the second straight year, not a single day passed in 2017 without a motorist striking a deer somewhere in Wisconsin, the DOT data shows.
The lowest number of deer crashes was on New Year’s Day, when only seven deer crashes occurred in the state.
From the forested north to the densely populated south and from Lake Michigan in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, 19,899 vehicles crashed into deer on Wiscon-
sin roads and highways last year.
During the past five years, the number of deer crashes in Wisconsin has remained fairly steady between 18,300 and 20,400, according to state DOT numbers.
Most of the deer crashes involve damage to vehicles, but some have resulted in people dying or being injured.
In 2017, nine people were killed and 604 were injured in crashes with deer.
Motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable. Of the nine people killed in 2017 deer crashes, six were motorcyclists. All of the 11 people killed in deer crashes in 2016 were motorcyclists.
Dane County had the most deer crashes in 2017 at 934, followed by Waukesha County at 855 and Manitowoc County at 784.
Accident costs are rising
Beyond the human toll, the crashes are taking an increasing financial toll.
Cars are increasingly likely to have safety technology that helps reduce death or injury for humans. But all that technology also makes repairing deer collisions more complicated and costly.
Madison-based American Family Insurance, which insures more passenger cars than any other company in Wisconsin, said it handled 9,046 deer-vehicle claims in 2017, with an average payment of $3,362. That’s 6 percent more than the $3,175 average in 2016, and 13 percent higher than $2,968 average five years ago.
New research by AAA – The Auto Club Group showed that advanced systems such as automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring and lane departure warning can cost twice as much to repair following a collision of any type because of expensive sensors and their calibration requirements.
“If that gets misaligned or damaged, you’re looking at more shop time, more repair time on those types of vehicles,” said LeRoy Hamilton Jr., a damage appraiser for Sheboygan-based Acuity Insurance.
In addition, many typical repairs require original equipment manufacturer parts instead of aftermarket parts, which can add to the cost.
“Whenever there’s cameras or sensors involved it’s got to be OEM (original equipment manufacturer) strictly,” said Phil Gillingham, director at Ball Body Shop in Middleton, a division of Smart Motors.
While higher-tech equipment has been available on luxury cars for a while, more regular cars now feature it.
“It’s only the past two or three years that more safety technology is standard equipment,” Gillingham said.
AAA’s research, which is national, illustrated some of the costs — beyond the normal body work — that technology damage can add to auto collision repairs:
❚ Front radar sensors used with automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control systems: $900 to $1,300.
❚ Rear radar sensors used with blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert systems: $850 to $2,050
❚ Front camera sensors used with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and lane keeping systems (not including the cost of a replacement windshield): $850 to $1,900
❚ Front, side mirror or rear camera sensors used with around-view systems: $500 to $1,100
❚ Front or rear ultrasonic sensors used with parking assist systems: $500 to $1,300.
Even the humble headlight has, in some cases, become very expensive to repair, said Todd Gillette, owner of Gillette’s Collision Center in Waukesha.
“Some self-leveling headlights can be $1,500 really easily,” Gillette said.
Crashes year-round more common
Jim Fleury, owner of Fleury’s Body Repair in Mukwonago, said while the typical peak season for deer-car hits is now, there are more throughout the year than in the past. He’s been in the auto body business for more than 40 years.
“I don’t remember years ago seeing them so much all year long,” Fleury said. “It was always in the fall. But now it seems we’re seeing more deer hits all the time.”
A deer-car collision often will damage fenders, headlights, hoods, bumper covers and even the reinforcement areas of those parts, depending on the speed of the vehicle and the size of the animal, Fleury said.
It’s not unusual for a deer that has been struck to bounce along the side of a vehicle, peppering it with dents in addition to damaging it at the initial point of contact, he said.
“They can total cars out easily if they are going fast enough and it’s a big enough deer,” Fleury said.
‘I never saw it...’
For all the sophisticated safety equipment on vehicles these days, there isn’t a lot that can prevent deer crashes.
Some higher-end vehicles with big price tags have sensors that can detect heat that would let a driver know a critter or a pedestrian is up ahead, Gillette said.
But that is only a small portion of the vehicles on the road.
For most motorists, avoiding deer is a decidedly low tech process.
Slowing down and keeping your eyes on the road — especially during the early morning, late afternoon and at night — are among the best defense motorists have in avoiding a deer crash.
“We are having at least one vehicle vs. deer crash a night,” currently, Chief Peter Hoell of the Germantown Police Department said in an email.
Even when you have your eyes focused squarely on the road, deer often
Cars are increasingly likely to have safety technology that helps reduce death or injury for humans. But all that technology also makes repairing deer collisions more complicated and costly.
appear seemingly out of nowhere.
“I remember one night working third shift and a deer ran into the side of my squad,” Hoell said. “I never saw it come out (onto the road). I remember it hit so hard, and made such a loud bang, I darn near jumped out of my uniform.
“Sometimes the speed at which they are running makes them hard to see cross a road before it is too late,” Hoell added.
Deer can run about 30 mph.
No one is immune, including the folks who repair deer crash damage.
“There was a 6-pointer that even ran out in front of me last night,” Gillette said.