Dangerous season for deer, drivers

This weekend is expected to be the peak of breeding for whitetail deer.

The same hormones that cause bucks to crash through the woods looking for a date with a doe can spell bad news for drivers.

“They’re not really thinking about looking both ways before crossing the highway,” said Craig Broadhead, senior biologist with the Washington Department of Transportation.

Thousands of Inland Northwest drivers crash into deer, elk and moose each year. Sometimes, the collisions do more than just damage a car and kill wildlife. In the last three years, 11 people have been killed in wildlife-related crashes in Washington, including four people last year when their vehicle hit an elk on Interstate 90 just west of Snoqualmie Pass, according to the transportation department.

In Idaho, three motorists have been killed and 48 others seriously injured in wildlife-related collisions since 2000. Seven others were killed after they hit livestock or other domestic animals. “Idaho is still a free-range state,” explained Jeff Stratten, spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department.

Although the crashes seem to pick up in fall, deer-vehicle collisions happen year-round, Broadhead said.

Some of Washington’s highest rates of roadkill have occurred just north of Spokane. In the last three years, 670 vehicle-killed deer have been hauled from the side of U.S. Highway 395 between Spokane and Kettle Falls. Another 300 carcasses have been picked up along a 45-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 2 between Spokane and Newport. The thick forest near Chewelah seems to have particularly high rates of vehicles meeting deer, said Broadhead.

Since 2002, nearly 9,000 deer and 265 elk have been killed on Washington’s roads and highways, according to state records. Many others, however, limp off the highway, never to be found by roadkill collection crews, Broadhead said.

In Idaho, about 7,000 wildlife-related crashes have been reported since 2000.

State Farm, the nation’s largest insurer of automobiles, recently published a report ranking Washington 33rd out of all states for deer-vehicle collisions. Idaho was 39th in the ranking, which was compiled from insurance claim statistics between June 2004 and July 2005. The top three states for collisions were Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois. The least likely place for a collision, according to the State Farm ranking, was Hawaii, which had only one deer-vehicle collision claim.

Nationwide, deer-vehicle collisions cause 150 human deaths and $1.1 billion damage, according to State Farm.

The insurance company report also cited a federal study showing a 24 percent rise in vehicle-animal collisions between 1992 and 2000.

Closer to home, the number of crashes has risen with the human population surge in North Idaho, but has stayed relatively flat in Washington.

“Surprisingly, it stays fairly steady even as our population gets more and more,” Broadhead said.

Engineering and wildlife experts are trying to find new ways to prevent crashes, Broadhead said.

Underpasses are being considered in certain migratory routes. Tall fences have been installed along other crash-prone stretches. State officials also analyze records to determine the best placement of warning signs, but Broadhead said many drivers seem to consider the warnings little more than visual noise.

“They’re there for a reason,” he said. “Slow down and be watchful.”

Along with fall breeding season, the hours before a storm also seem to send more wildlife moving across highways, said Idaho State Police Lt. Curtis Exley.

Many drivers hit deer in dark hours when they “overdrive their headlights,” Exley said. Along with slowing down, drivers should remember that if they see one roadside deer, there are likely others standing out of sight in the brush.

But Exley admitted that deer sometimes bolt out onto the roadway and even the fastest foot in the West is too slow for the brake pedal. Exley’s wife recently hit a deer, he said. “Sometimes there just isn’t a chance to stop.”