Animal Collision Accidents More Frequent in November

Though it's no laughing matter, our best advice would be to stay away from your car and the open road during the mating season of animals, because that's the best time when an enamored stag might prove his love to a foxy deer by jumping in front of incoming traffic.

The Highway Loss Data Institute says that November is a bad time of the year for drivers as incidents tend to be more often. But what's even more worrying is the fact that overall, the rate of incidents like this has risen by 14.9% in the last 5 years. Though the figures aren't big, they do become a cause of concern, as on the longer time span they're even more worrying – 50% since 2000.

The fact the urban landscape today takes no notice of breeding habitats seems to be the main cause of that rise in accidents. Another trend is the one involving motorcycles and animal collisions that are more frequent during the summer months, when people are more likely to ride a two-wheeler.

In America, the states with the most collisions are Texas (227 between 1997 and 2007), Wisconsin (123) and Pennsylvania (112). Most of these occurred in October and November, so 'tis the season to be careful motorists!

So the morale is that if you live in “deer country”, you best keep your eyes peeled on the road in November. As a side note, we could add that in Scandinavian countries, cars must pass a “moose test”, a collision test that ensures the cars are beefed up in case a moose accidentally ends up on your windshield.

A reminder from specialist is to wear your seatbelt or helmet if you're riding a bike, because “A majority of people killed in these crashes weren't killed by contact with the animal. As with other kinds of crashes, safety belts and motorcycle helmets could have prevented many of the deaths”.